[Rick Lee]

Opening day is obviously bigger than the next several. I think it's usually kicked off with the mayor of Munich tapping a keg. I've been to Oktoberfest twice and it can get insane. A lot of those tents are booked a year in advance. I didn't know this the first time I went and it was pretty low key when we went to the Augustinerbräu tent in the daytime. Foreigners don't know that beer, so it wasn't crowded. But at night, man, that's a whole other world. We only got in through a connection at BMW and I can't even remember which tent it was, but just insane. Second time we also only got in through a friend's company who had booked a table a year in advance. You ain't walking into the Franziskaner tent at 8pm and looking around for a seat.