Two events: Octoberfest Sep 22 - Oct 7, MiMo Tour Guide Academy Nov 3, 10 + 17

Two important events you can't impossibly afford to miss (well... important depending on what you like):

1. Oktoberfest in Munich

Einzug der Wiesnwirte - Parade of the Breweries and Participants

The Munich Wies'n (meadows), as Bavarians call it, will start tomorrow at 12 noon, after a spectacular procession through Munich to the location of the world's biggest beerfest, the Theresienwiese (Theresa's meadows).  

The march through town involves about 1,000 participants, including the brewers' families in decorated carriages, the magnificent horse-drawn drays of the Munich breweries, waitresses on decorated floats and all the beer tent bands. It's considered an honour to be invited to the Einzug.

And as every year since 1810, the first barrel will be tapped by the mayor of Munich, accompanied by the words "O'zapft is" (Bavarian dialect for it's tapped). 

Munich's Mayor Christian Uhde tapping the first barrel, Oktoberfest 2011

More info on this year's Wies'n, including live webcams, here. Interesting historical info on the Oktoberfest at wikipedia. 

Update: 

my favourite Wies'n-webcams are at http://www.oktoberfest.de/en/, and reportedly Mayor Uhde  did a fine job at the 179th Wies'n, tapping the first barrel. No wonder – this was his 17th (!) time around.



2. A bit different taste of culture is served up at the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy

The Miami Design Preservation League offers the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy, a course designed for people who would like to know more about Miami Beach’s unique architectural styles and wish to volunteer as tour guides.

The curriculum focuses on the history of the Art Deco District, its architecture, and the efforts to preserve it. 

Graduating from the Academy requires completion of two days of educational sessions, which include walking tours, the study of architectural styles and Miami Beach history, and guest lectures. Candidates who wish to become volunteer guides need to attend a third Saturday session, primarily devoted to student presentations of selected walking tour sites. The MiMo demonstrations are available for Tour Guide candidates on the first Saturday of each month. Candidates can plan to attend this portion of the course according to their personal schedules.

The cost for the Art Deco + MiMo Tour Guide Academy is $80 and includes walking tours, lunches, briefing materials, an architectural guide, information about the architecture MDPL is committed to preserving, and information about Miami Beach history.

More info at mdpl.org

So which one do you plan on visiting?

Photo: Lincoln Road, Miami Beach, designed by Morris Lapidus. © Philip Pessar.

200th Oktoberfest

If you think "hold it, there really is no connection between "Modern", "South" or "Florida" and the Oktoberfest", think again:

Munich is located in the South of Germany.

Handy Germany map shows N, S, E, W and Munich location

Only someone supercritical  would call that stretching it just a bit.

Today was the opening of the 200th Oktoberfest, the first one celebrated 1810 on the occasion of a Royal Bavarian wedding, Crown Prince Ludwig (later King Ludwig I) and Princess Therese of Saxen-Hildburghausen (full 411 on Wikipedia.)

Now, if you think her name reminds you of a German wine label: stop that, you're being mean.

Gunshot salutes on the opening of the 200th "Wiesn". ©dpa

Munich breweries joined forces to brew (!) a commemorative beer.
Commemoration lasts until the stein is empty. ©sz/Lisa Sonnabend

15 more Oktoberfest photos – with German captions, sorry – in today's Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung. Prost!

OT: The Wiesn (aka Oktoberfest)

(OT means Off Topic: Being from Bavaria, I can't resist the subject. Of course no relation to modern architecture or South Florida real estate... this is where the "Plus" in the blog-title "Modern Plus" comes into play.)

In Bavaria, the Munich Oktoberfest is referred to as "Die Wiesn" (the meadows), after a large meadow of sorts it takes place on, the Theresienwiese. Watching over all the cavorting is the statue of...? You guessed right, Princess Theresa, who married Crown-Prince Ludwig I here in 1810.

Confused? But wait, there's more!

It doesn't start in October, but runs through the last two weeks in September and the first week of October. Which happens to be one of the nicest times of the year in Bavaria; a Bavarian Indian Summer of sorts.

To limit the confusion somewhat, the Munich newspaper Süddeutsche Zeitung, sz for short, published two very helpful guides. One is in English – The Wiesn-Alphabet, from Anbandeln (flirting) to Zelt (tent) – the other one (even better in my opinion) is in German: an interactive map of the beer-tents, explaining the characteristics of each tent and what's going on there - once you make it in, that is.

Find the glossary here: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/,tt6m1/muenchen/215/311138/text/ and the interactive map here: http://www.sueddeutsche.de/app/muenchen/oktoberfest/wiesn2008/wiesnplan/

Prost.