Wednesday, March 3

Munich

I go for a jog following the plane, where we find this enormous cement field in the middle of Munich. I assume I pose on extremely valuable real estate and wonder: why fallow? Of course it is reserved for Oktoberfest which, I am told, sees six million people descend upon the city and 600,000 at once on this spot - the world's largest fairground. Germans and tourists gather inside white tents and drink beer from 10AM until 11PM when the police shut things down. This year the 200th anniversary. The celebration lasts 16 days and, a taxi driver informs me, not unusual for someone to drink more than six litres in a day. Women, he adds, show their tits. Sounds like fun to me.

Our first meeting in offices overlooking this space. We joke, of course, about such convenience - but really it is just the opposite since parking disappears in an instant.

"It feels like a kegger at the psycho ward."
--Wired Magazine on Oktoberfest Etiquette