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-Short Attention Span Theater-
Oktoberfest Revellers Guzzle two Olympic Pools of Beer
2013-10-08
[An Nahar] Germany wrapped up its world-famous Oktoberfest beer festival Sunday, reporting that 6.4 million visitors drank 6.7 million liter-sized Mass glasses -- more than twice the volume of an Olympic swimming pool -- of the amber nectar over 16 days.
Ah, beer and debauchery. Fond memories.
The 180th edition of the Munich celebration of beer, lederhosen, dirndl dresses and oompah music was "extremely relaxed, folk festival fun for every taste", said its organizer Dieter Reiter.
"Yersh! Very relakshed! More, beer, bitte!"
In festival kitchens, 114 oxen and 58 calves fell victim to the appetite of revelers who also washed down with frothy beer other traditional foods like giant pretzels, pork and dumplings.
I like French cooking, but when you eat in Germany you know you've eaten.
The number of visitors who needed medical attention during the gigantic beer fest fell 20 percent to 7,551, said the Red Cross, including 638 cases of alcohol poisoning and many people who suffered cuts from broken glass.
I'm not going to describe what the next morning feels like after falling down a flight of stone stairs headfirst and backwards. I'm trying not to remember.
Police said they were called out 2,031 times, exactly the same number as the previous year, including for 58 beer-fueled brawls, almost 450 cases of assault and over 500 cases of pickpocketing.
Posted by:Fred

#15  I had some of the best meals ever, when driving through France. (although I had some equally nice ones in Italy, too - I thought the roadside food in Italy had a much better chance of being better than roadside food in France, at least in the mid-1980s.
Some of the best was at tiny two-star hotels like this one in Blois. Pt. 1 -
Part 2 - here
Posted by: Sgt. Mom   2013-10-08 19:46  

#14  Perhaps I didn't get far enough away from Geneva for the lower prices to kick in. Something about 30 euros per person made me clutch my shrinking wallet and look for an open grocery store instead. (Wonderful bread)
But when I did eat out, the portions were plentiful and I didn't get flack for my threadbare French.
Posted by: James   2013-10-08 14:52  

#13  You tell 'em, JFM!

And you're right - I didn't like Paris (too big-city-ish - but great museums), but once we got outside the city, France is just like a normal country. The regular French people were nice, too (don't get me started about snooty French waiters in snobby restaurants, both there and here). ;-p
Posted by: Barbara   2013-10-08 13:55  

#12  JFM, we'll take your cooks. But we have enough crooks already running our government, thank you very much.
Posted by: Ebbang Uluque6305   2013-10-08 12:57  

#11  JFM is on fire today. As for "raped carrots", it is probably just as descriptive and a whole lot funnier. Made my day!
Posted by: SteveS   2013-10-08 12:35  

#10  Seriously. One day on TV there were a bunch of New-Yorkers, not actors, real people, from the "made a lot of money by buying dot com shares" who were talking about the French restaurant they were going to and my impression was that this guy was a crook who using the was relieving from their money a bunch of new rich who would have been unable to distinguish a low-end hamburger from a poularde demi-deuil.

But since these people vote Democrat I think he should be given a medal.
Posted by: JFM   2013-10-08 12:12  

#9  Two oops about my posts:

The sentence "Cooks we deport to the United States" should have read "crooks we deport to the United States"

and it should have been a "a portion of grated carrots" instead of "a portion of raped carrots" (in French it is carottes rapées)
Posted by: JFM   2013-10-08 12:03  

#8  Hear, hear, JFM!
Posted by: Bobby   2013-10-08 12:00  

#7  JFM, wonderful post!
Posted by: Glenmore   2013-10-08 11:18  

#6  French cooking is good, but w-a-y too expensive for the portions they serve

Pulease. Don't judge French cooking by the cooks chefs we deport who open a restauranty in the United Sates. Go toi about any village in flyover France and you can eat very, very well both in quantity and quality for less than one portion of raped carrots in one of those thieves lairs embassies of French cuisine in America.
Posted by: JFM   2013-10-08 10:49  

#5  Oktoberfest Revellers Guzzle filter two Olympic Pools of Beer through their kidneys

Consider it an old German version of crowd sourcing.
Posted by: Procopius2k   2013-10-08 08:17  

#4  Hey! I was there five years ago and it was the BEST BEER I EVER TASTED. It was SO good, I insisted Mrs. Bobby take a sip (she hates beer) and she said, "Not bad, for beer."
Posted by: Bobby   2013-10-08 07:51  

#3  Way too much foam.
Posted by: g(r)omgoru   2013-10-08 05:13  

#2  Don't like the swimming pool image.

Makes me think of the silent "p" in swim.
Posted by: no mo uro   2013-10-08 05:07  

#1  Beer, Boobs, Beef + Brats [bratwurst].

French cooking is good, but w-a-y too expensive for the portions they serve.

D *** NG IT, WAS IT OVER WHEN THE GERMANS BOMBED PEARL HARBOR ... ... ... ... OH YEAH - *HIC* - NOW I REMEMBER *BUUURRRPP* , AND IT TAINT OVER NOW!
Posted by: JosephMendiola   2013-10-08 00:06  

00:00