So here I am in Dallas, Texas on a business trip. Its Saturday, and I have a weekend to kill. Having never been at the real Oktoberfest in Munich, what better to get beginners accreditation on the Wiesn in Addison, TX. And, it was right beside my hotel anyway, which besides giving me a good reason not to use the car, I imagined there would be quite a bit of noise and other rumblings coming from that direction.
After paying my $10, I strolled the grounds. It was still well over 30deg celcius which is well above my comfort zone. So, first things first, I needed a beerto cool down. They had a concept where you had to buy coupons, and then you traded the coupons against food and drink. Now this system is pretty clever for several reasons. The first, they only have cashp flowing around at the two big change stations. And you could pay with credit card. Next, they sure earned quite a bit extra, because there was almost no one who didn’t have some extra coupons at the end of the evening… That is no effort profit.
Any, back to the beer. They had three type. A light, dark and a Franziskaner Hefeweizen. I asked what the light and dark beers were, and got the expected answer… They were light and dark. Ok.
So, with my beer and my camera in hand (I decided for a simplistic version, just my D700 and my 50mm f/1.4), I meandered around the festival area. There were four main areas, and even though everything is big in Texas, this was quite manageable. There was a small amusement park, which I didn’t go to. There was an outside stage area with a nice sloping lawn in front and behind that main lawn, a series of chairs with umbrellas to also enjoy the shows. Then there were the small market booths which sold everything from traditional bavarian beer mugs for $300 to leather pants and dirndls. But, it was better than that. They sold spices and soaps, clothes and cowboy hats. Finally, there was the tent. It was as you imagine a german beer tent, except that the tent was airconditioned… Yes, airconditioned. But there were thousands of people, and the bavarian and german flags were hoisted everywhere. There was a stage and a small dance floor (no beer on the dance floor please) where people were doing the polka. There were sausages and saurkraut, lighgt and dark beer, drunks and nearly theres. The bands were mainly local bands that tried to sIng the german folk songs. All sounded good until you tried to decipher the lyrics. But, there was also one real german band, and I do have to admit, as they played, the place was just a madhouse. It was great. Dancefloor full, everyone trying to sing, clap, tap. It wass great fun.
Here are some initial impressions of Oktoberfest in Texas. This is my first post from my iPad, and the whole workflow was done using the iPad, including some limited picture editing. I still need a better editing software, as I am using Photoshop and it is a bit limited. I’d welcome any ideas and suggestions.
Oh, and one thing. The single biggest disappointment (and probably only one) was that there were none of the bavarian ladies with 10 ‘Mass’ in their hands to serve you…

Blogged from my iPad.