Oktoberfest – The History Part 2 Not until the end of the 19th century the Oktoberfest began to develop to the now known form. The Oktoberfest was prolonged and moved forward because of the warm and sunny Indian Summer to late September. Only the last weekend of the festival remained in October. The breweries replaced beer stalls through great beer halls in need of greater space for the visitors and the bands 1880. The first Hendlbraterei (fried chicken stall) was opened and electric light illuminated more than 400 stalls and halls. The number of fairground attractions increased. The picture show a building especially made for the festival in the late 19th century.

Oktoberfest – The History Part 1 The label Oktoberfest now refers to the famous Oktoberfest in Munich, but formerly Oktoberfest was only the name of any fair held in Oktober with the aim to using up the beer (which was) brewed in March. The new brew season began at 29th of September and ended on 23th of Apil. In the meantime the brewing was forbidden. The danger of fire caused by the boiling during the brew process was too high. Furthermore, the brewing process needed temperatures beneath 10 ° Celsius. The now famous Munich Oktoberfest was celebrated for the first time on Oktober, 17 1810. It started as a horse race on a meadow in front of the town walls in celebration of the wedding of the then Crown Prince Ludwig on Oktober, 12 1810. The Royal Court decided to the delight of the inhabitants of Munich to repeat the horse race the following year. Due to his enthusiasm for Greece the Crown Prince wanted to celebrate the Oktoberfest like the antic Olympic Games. Therefore, the Oktoberfest had in its early years a mainly sporting nature. The Oktoberfest is regarded as being the inspiration of the (Zappas) Olympics. The success of the Oktoberfest and of the Zappas Olympics prepared the ground for the modern Olympic Games. In the following years bowl alleys, swings, carousels etc had been added. Especially the lottery stalls attracted the poorer inhabitants. In 1819 the municipal authorities of the City of Munich took over the organisation of the Oktoberfest. The drawing show the 1810 horse race.

Pilgrimage Church Birnau Part 2 The church was built by a monastery for a wonder-working wooden statue of the Holy Virgin Mary, made about 1420, that they had to kidnap beforehand. This statue was not only very beloved by the locals it also provided a constantly growing stream of pilgrims and with that a constantly growing profit for the town. It was believed by many that the wonder-working is location-bound (standortgebunden) and any relocation of the statue is blasphemy. Therefore, the leaders of the monastery ask secretly the worldly and religiously rulers for permission and they get it. In this way they gained legal certainty. A procession of more than 2000 participants was protected by 350 dragoons (mounted soldiers) and created precedents by conveying the figure in a temporary lodging. The reason for the procession was concealed from the locals, furthermore the bishop had announced that everybody who disturbs would be excommunicated. Only shortly thereafter the abbot of the monastery died. The locals took that as a punishment for the kidnapping. This incident didn't undermine the will of the monastery leaders. They stuck to the plan and built the church wherein you can now admire the statue of the Holy Virgin as shown in the picture below. Baroque and rococo-churches in south Germany, Austria and Switzerland aren't museums. These churches are in use. They contribute to the sense of identity of all local inhabitants, not only the Roman-Catholics. ww.birnau.de

Pilgrimage Church Birnau Part 1 If you are interested in baroque churches you should take a look at the north shore of the Lake Constance. There you should visit the Pilgrimage Church Birnau (built 1747 to 1750) wich is dedicated to the Holy Virgin Mary. The Church lies at the Oberschwäbische Barockstraße. (Upper Swabian Baroque Route) a touristic theme route through South Germany, Switzerland and Austria. In case you are not familiar with Roman-Catholizisim European style, I would like to provide you with a few things about the purpose of those baroque churches which you may appreciate knowing. They were built to overwhelm the worshippers by sheer magnificent. During the counter-reformation these churches were designed as weapons against the reformed churches. They celebrate the greatness of God. Architecture, interior design, painting, all sorts of arts had to serve this one purpose. In the Birnau Pilgimage Church the different parts merge in such a way into each other that you can't say were one ends and another starts. Only the ceiling painting in the sanctuary is clearly separated from the other elements (?). Sanctuary and the space around the altar are designed as a big stage. Before the reformation the Eucharist was often celebrated behind a grid or a partitioning. As another weapon the Roman Catholic Church began to celebrate the Eucharist like a magnificent stage play. In Jesuit churches were given real stage plays about Jesus and other Christian themes.

You will never be alone in Cologne In Cologne does exist an additional human right that isn't part of the UN Convention. This unwritten law binds all Cologners to socialize. You do not have to fight for this right it will be forced up on you. They have to rescue people who are found alone in the streets or sit alone on a bench or at a table. They do not understand the concept of being alone by yourself and enjoying it. They even deny the existence of such a wired idea. To be alone is pure inhumanity and everyone has to save a person who seems to be alone. This general rule is tightened during the carnival. During the carnival the Cologners do not only have to save you while you are alone on public places, they are obliged by law to safe you if you are alone in your flat. They have to rescue a person who is sitting alone on the sofa watching TV. In case you are watching an Aki Kaurismäki film because you want to feel at home again, i. e. you are from Northern Germany, may you should leave the city during this state of emergency.

Sights in Kiel After World War II you could have sieved Kiel through a tennis racket. Therefore the plural of the term is inappropriate. Unfortunately Kiel was not only a dust, but it had been the Reichkriegshafen=military port of the Reich. It was such an important city that the Nazi architects had great plans with Kiel, i. e. blasting the whole city and building it up again accordant to their megalomania. So, in 1945 Kiel had been blasted and they had plans in the drawer, but not the necessary money. What had to be done? They sick to the plans, but they don't extend the city and they didn't build the follies. For these reasons Kiel has only one sight and much Kieler don't know it at all. They would show you things like the CAP near the central station (please, could someone blast it away) or the building of the Sparkasse (savings bank) downtown. But I've to admit it is a really impressive temple of the god of money. The one and only sight of Kiel is the sight of ship(s) right in the middle of downtown Kiel. Not only ordinary ships. These ships are higher than the surrounding buildings, and it is very impressive when the ships land or cast off. I've overheard many astonished exclamations caused by the sight of this spectacular view. They hadn't recognized it as a ship at all or they only recognized it as a ship after a laps of time. If you look at this movement it's like one of the surrounding facades begins to move, even if you are used to it, you get a little dizzy because your eye betray your inner ear.

Hops, The Flavouring and the Sign of Quality of a Beer If you stand in front of the beer department in a German Supermarket or much worse a beverage store you are lost if you don't know how to choose. There are many different types of beer (wheat bear, bottom-fermentation beer=Lager=Pils, top-fermentation beer=ale=Alt or Kölsch, pale beer, dark beer, clear beer, unfiltered beer, etc.) and your taste leads your choice. But after choosing the type you have to rate the quality. The rule of thumb is that the more it costs the better it tastes. But it isn't applicable always. Before you make your final choice, you should look at the label or check out the website of the brewery on your smartphone. If it says Hopfenextrakt=extract of hops be careful, probably you will be ripped off. If it says hops you can give it a try. Of course, this rule only applies to high end beer and not to Aldi beer or Oettinger. No one is able to make 1 liter good tasting beer for € 0,56. Additional information: There are two types of hops. Bitterhopfen=bitter hops and Aromahopfen=aromatic hops. Bitter hops is more fruitful, aromatic hops is more tasteful. The more aromatic hops was used the better tastes the beer tastes. The Hallertau in Bavaria is the world's largest coherent hop-growing region, more than a third of the world's hops are cultivated there.

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