The Kocherlball is one of those must-try-at-least-once-if-you-live-in-Munich kinds of things. This yearly event is a throwback to the 1800s, when the rich people of Munich were so mean that they only let their servants have free time in the wee hours of the morning, which is when said servants would meet up for some dancing and beer.
The modern version of the Kocherlball involves lots of tracht (traditional Bavarian dress, ie dirndls and lederhosen), beer, and oompah music.
But Jul, how does it differ from every other event in Munich? you ask. Excellent question. As far as I can tell, there are three distinguishing characteristics of this event: 1) candelabras; 2) in addition to lots of run-of-the-mill Oktoberfest tracht, there are several people in lovely period outfits from the 1800s; 3) that ass-crack-of-dawn feeling.
The Kocherlball takes place at the Chinese Tower beer garden in the English Garden (Munich’s big park). Officially the event is 6am till 10am, but people start arriving much earlier than that; you’d have to wake up around 4am (or never go to sleep) if you wanted to actually snag a table.
It’s an eerie feeling to be out and about as the summer sun comes up, and bizarre to find yourself holding a beer less than an hour after getting out of bed. But hey, the 10,000 people all around you are doing it, so it must be a good idea. Right?
The date for the 2012 Kocherlball is July 15th.
Only in Munich 🙂
that is just the weirdest thing 🙂
oooh, we stayed in bed. Thanks for getting up and to it, and for taking the pics. Maybe next year…
It was surprisingly not that hard to get up for (I say this after failing to get up for it any previous year). The sky was already a bit light, and the temperature was quite pleasant. Way easier than waking up at 4am for a ski day trip, at least.
Here from ICLW. What a fun blog! I love all of the food pics. I will be in Europe in just a few weeks and you are helping to get me excited about it.
This is completely sane and absolutely brilliant, I love it. And I so want a dirndl.
@slowmamma – Have a good trip!
@Frau Dietz – Dirndls are fabulous. Get one!
Hello from ICLW! This sounds like so much fun!! I can’t wait to make it over to Europe with Mr. T and experience some of these fun events!
ICLW #114
Hey Jul — what a great post. Especially as I’d never heard of this particular Munich event. Nice to know about things like this; Stuttgart is never far off! 🙂
Take care, Michael
Looks like fun!
I love Munich. This sounds like so much fun and love your pictures! 🙂
Love the pictures! That sounds like a wonderful and fun event. Waking up so early in the morning (or just not going to bed) isn’t so hard to do in the summer, especially up in Finland where it just doesn’t get dark. I love the summer light. I hope you had fun at the event.
(ICLW)
Light definitely helps me get out of bed. Conversely, I think I’d be tempted to sleep all the way through winter if I lived much farther north than here. I’m sleepy just thinking about it.
Interesting festival, beer for breakfast is always good!