West Germany: Across a Sea of L

Under the towering cast-iron statue of a busty Mädchen who symbolizes Bavaria, Munich crowds gathered at the Theresienwiese fairground last week for the year's biggest community beer bash, the 16-day Oktoberfest. Dating from the come-everybody wedding reception 155 years ago of Bavaria's Crown Prince Ludwig, Oktoberfest today is an excuse for games, gourmandising and, among Bavarians, whose per capita annual beer consumption is 218 quarts, for quaffing the amber Märzenbier.* Seven big beer tents steined out Märzenbier last week, but nowhere was it downed faster than at the largest —the Löwenbräu...

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