The drivers of the "Augustiner" carriage have parked the carriage. Apparently they were also quite thirsty - the beer steins are already half empty.

A visitor is patting one of the horses of the "Paulaner" brewery in front of the "Winzerer Fähndl" tent. He is wearing the traditional male clothing ("Tracht") - leather trousers ("Lederhosen") and a white shirt. As you can see, the horses are also quite pretty with that special harness garnering their foreheads.

The Oktoberfest is barely open for 35 minutes, yet the stairs leading up to the "Bavaria" are already packed with people. You can, by the way, climb up inside the statue to get a perfect view across the fest area.

This is the view from the "Bavaria" stairs across the Oktoberfest. The opening day was dry (fortunately!), and so the place was really packed. In the middle you can see the carriages of the tents and breweries. The Fest is expected to draw 6 to 7 million visitors this year.

This driver of a Löwenbrä carriage is looking at the people walking by.

At 5,440 available seats you need to get in early into the "Schützen-Festzelt" which is quite popular with the masses. It is conveniently located below the Bavaria statue. Its unique feature, however, is a shooting range with 110 lanes for the traditional Oktoberfest shooting.

Once you've got your beer (or even beers), stumble over to one of the fun rides. Then you might see the world as blurry as this photo shows it. :-)

Another photo of the "Bavaria" statue, this time with the "Löwenbrä" tent and the "Winzerer Fähndl" tent on the right side.

One part of the fest is dedicated to the singing, the beer, and the food. The other part is basically some clean fun with a big tradition. The "Teufelsrad" (Devil's Wheel), for example, is present on the fest since 1910. Basically you sit on a consistently turning wheel trying to not fall down. This is getting more difficult by the minute, especially if the host of the show is starting to tell funny jokes in Bavarian language.