Oktoberfest 2011 - second Sunday

On the second weekend of Oktoberfest, not only did Frau A's friends L & M visit, but my friend J from Buffalo!
We had tickets to the Schottenhamel beer tent - it's the oldest one, and where the Mayor taps the first keg.

Before arriving at the tent, we noticed a stage being set up for a television concert in front of the Bavaria statue:

A closer inspection shows Swiss alpine horns, and lots of men in lederhosen with brass instruments:

To open the concert, the alpine horns were played... but they forgot to turn on the speakers.
They did turn them on after 23 seconds though!  I captured a short video below:

Then they did another short performance:

Then a conductor got the entire band going...

...and tried to get the crowd to sing along too.

Here's a video of the brass band in concert:

The next act was a schlager singer - move video for those interested below:

From there we went to into the Schottenhamel beer tent.  Our table was reserved from 11am to 4pm.
To start, they provided brotzeit ("bread time"), which is a mix of traditional Bavarian finger food.  This includes sliced radish, obatzda (a cheese spread), bread with cream cheese & chives, and bread with pork fat & bacon.

Frau M thought it was funy that she was drinking her first mass faster than Herr L...

...but Herr L was saving room for the schweinehaxe (pork knuckle) - it's really quite good, but huge.

Frau A & I were tired but happy - she returned from a 2-week trip to New York, and I've been workin' late.

Frau M borrowed one of Frau A's dirndls and looked great, then tried a hat to go with it.
That's what happens when you're working on mass #2.  (The brewery is Spaten for those interested.)

Merchandisers swarm the tents selling hats, t-shirts, pins, and anything else you can think of.

This guy's t-shirt is homemade, and really funny.  Captures the spirit of Carnival more than Oktoberfest, though.

We had to wait until almost 12:30 until the band started playing.  This guy was impatient, already standing:

Eventually the band got going, we ordered a seconds mass, and taught our friends the Oktoberfest songs.

At 16:00 we left the tent to explore the rides and games.  Below is Frau A trying the soccer/kicking game.

It's cheesy, but one of our favorite games is where you try to launch a frog onto a flower with a hammer.
Below, Herr J has set his frog on the launch pad, and will strike the other side of the lever with the hammer...

...and the next shot is of Herr L who has just smashed the lever and sent the frog flying.  We won a few here!

On the way out we noticed a new show:  Monster Truck.  Yup, behind the screen is a small dirt pit.
We didn't try it, but were surprised because it's non-traditional.  What's Oktoberfest coming to?

Again, thank Herr L, Frau M, and Herr J for visiting.  Hope to get more friends next year!