Last Night of the Wiesn

Wiesn is the Bavarian word you will see most often used for the Oktoberfest - Wiese is the German word for meadow/ grass field and the  grass field site in the heart of Munich where the Oktoberfest was held for the first time in 1810 to celebrate the marriage of King Ludwig to Theresa, thereafter was called "Theresa's Meadow" - Therieseienwiese.

18 days, 6.2 million visitors, 7.5million litres of beer, over 1 million roasted half chickens, 127 whole spit roasted ox (castrated male cattle)  ..... 120,000 confiscated stolen beer krugs, 7,000 medical team "events" with everything from heart attack to the scraped knees. The police were overall very happy and described it as a "peaceful" event. The number of reported crimes were generally down on last year although this year was two days longer. The crime that did increase was the "sexual" type, mainly due to a change in the law making an offensive remark of a sexual content a crime and also thankfully the public being far more aware of the issues and reporting them.

In fact the Wiesn 2017 has been descibed as "griabig", Bavarian for "Gemuetlich" - jovial, comfy, homely. In the photo the Munich Police Spokesman, Marcus da Gloria Martins (a Cologner), talking to a renowned Bavarian TV presenter, Uschi Daemmrich von Luttitz or officially Ursula Dämmrich-Freifrau von Luttitz.



The weather was not the best and indeed the remains of Hurricane Maria swept over Bavaria this morning but by afternoon the sun was out and the event could finish at 10:30pm with the traditional singing and swaying. Thank goodness it all went off so well.

For anyone thinking of coming, the Wiesn is not just beer. Far from it, it is a Volks Festival for the entire family and simply going on to the site - there is no entrance fee - and walking around is an experience you will never forget. You can drink wine, coke, tea, coffee, spirits; eat meat or vegan; take hair raising rides or a slow Ferris wheel.

I was laid out all day with what I quickly realised was a kidney stone "event". It's my stomach that tells me I have a problem not the kidneys. By evening it hadn't got much better and Angie said "drink a wheat beer". For once I took her advice and within two hours out popped several large stones (+0.5cm dia)  and by 11:00pm I was as fit as a fiddle.

As they say here, the end of the Wiesn is the start of the (next year) Wiesn. Anyone interested in flicking through Bavaria's "Last Night of the Wiesn" with lots of items looking back over the 18 days can try this video link. Simply jump through it and you will see that there is a lot on offer for everyone - oh and by the way, they ran out of alcohol free beer on the last night at the tent the TV presenters were using and they had to start on the hard stuff.

PS Today was a public holiday - German Reunification, hence the Wiesn being extended by two days. Normally ends on the first Sunday in October.