There were also many stalls selling gingerbread hearts decorated with colorful icing around the edges and words written with icing in the center. These Wiesn-Herz (“Wiesn” is the local name for the Munich Oktoberfest celebrations, so the literal English translation is “Oktoberfest heart”) are also a classic to eat at Oktoberfest. The hearts are also sold attached to a lanyard, so can wear them around your neck as festival attire! My friends and I wandered around for a while and bought one of the gingerbread hearts to share—cool, right?
As we walked further into the thick of the festival, we saw multiple large, building-sized “tents” decorated in fun ways. These “tents” are actually temporary wooden structures specially constructed for the festival. Each tent has it own feeling when you go in. Some play louder music and have dimmer lighting, while others play more traditional folk tunes in a cozy setting. Even though it was a rainy Wednesday evening, all the tents we stopped by at were quite full. We eventually found a seat a table in one, though!
Another fun aspect of Oktoberfest was that there were many people attending the festival in traditional southern German clothing. For men, these are leather breeches called lederhosen (pronounced “ley-der-ho-sen”), often accompanied by a jacket, hat and stockings. For women, it is a high-waisted dress with a blouse and an apron called dirndl (pronounced “durn-dle”). Though of course there were many people like me who showed up in casual wear, others wearing traditional clothing definitely gave the festival a unique feel.
