video transcript

Drinking … dancing … singing. The 179th annual Oktoberfest beer fest gets underway in Munich. And in keeping with tradition, the city's mayor, Christian Ude, taps the first beer cask with the cry, "It's tapped!" SOUNDBITE: Christian Ude, Mayor of Munich, saying (German): "My only wish is a peaceful (Oktoberfest) without anything bad happening. On its own the atmosphere is fantastic." Oktoberfest organizers are expecting around 7 million visitors to consume about the same number in liters of beer at this year's festival. And hundreds of thousands of chickens and more than 100 oxen will be used to feed those masses. The world's largest beer fest ends on October 7th.