The weekend of September 10th/11th, the local Dinkelacker brewery had it's annual festival on the brewery grounds. Shanna & I had gone last year, but we brought the dogs with us, so we couldn't go inside the brewery grounds. We had to stay outside where they had live music, benches, food, & drinks. This year we left the dogs at home and walked through the brewery. Within the brewery grounds they had people making clothing with old fashioned tools, like they would hundreds of years ago. They had Woodsmiths, Metalsmiths, and all kinds of Medieval tools, weapons, and clothing being made. They even had a Pottery making tent. It was neat to walk around in. The best part for us, though, was this big truck they had inside with all kinds of prizes. You paid one Euro for a scratch card, and whatever number was on the card corresponded to a prize on the truck. We got a mug, long socks, salt & pepper shaker, and more. Outside the brewery grounds, they had people who owned classic cars giving people rides in them.
While we were there, we also took a tour of the brewery. It was in German, but between what we already know about the brewing process, and the guide speaking slowly because he knew we weren't German, we were able to understand a decent amount. After we were done, we were heading out & ran into a friend of ours who lives nearby, so we ended up staying later with him.
Two weeks later kicked off the official start to Volksfest. We had gotten tickets through some friends for opening night, and met up with them down there Friday evening. It was our first chance this season to put the Lederhosen & Dirndel back on, and we couldn't wait. I don't have any pictures from that night, but the two videos on the picture page I'll link to at the end are from the night. One is the band getting ready to kick the night off, the other is some dance off that started right next to our table. When you hear someone yell "Doug Lee", that's a reference to a friend of ours back home who was the first person we thought of when we saw it.
The next afternoon some friends from the US came in to town. Chris Comes, and his girlfriend Hillary, showed up Saturday afternoon. They were doing a European tour, and arranged to stay at our place for that weekend because we were going down to Munchen for Oktoberfest the next day. They would leave after that, head to Italy & other places for the week, then come back Friday for Volksfest. That evening we tried to get downtown so Hillary could buy a Dirndel, but all the stores were closed by then. We ended up taking them to one of our favorite German restaurants, Zum Paulaner, for dinner. After that they were exhausted, so we headed home.
The next morning came bright & early. The bus from base to Munchen left at 7am, and we were able to make it there with plenty of time. On the ride there our USO escort passed out an "Oktoberfest Survival Guide". I laughed at one page that said "Don't Sleep on the Train"...if only I'd had that advice last year at Oktoberfest. :) We get there a little early, before our tent reservation was set to start, so walked around and picked up some souvenirs. We also stopped to see the horse carriages with the decorative beer barrels in them. They have them every year to show how they used to bring beer to the festivals.
At noon, we met back at the Hippodrom tent, where our reservation was. It was at this point we realized there was no way we were doing this again next year with the USO. We had one escort who had to look after & accommodate almost 50 people. That's tough to do on a regular tour, but next to impossible when you're taking everyone to a beer drinking event. It was made more difficult by the tent who had a ridiculous method for keeping track of food & drinks. Every tent we've been to before would give out coupons to everyone. You get one for your meal, and 2 or 3 for drinks. This tent instead just had a total Euro amount, and once that amount was reached for all 50 people (not individually), you had to start paying. So some people ate/drank faster then others and got more then the slower eaters/drinkers. That, of course, led to huge complaints with our escort, who had no control over that. The four of us just ended up taking our drinks out of the area and walking around the tent, only coming back when we wanted a refill. Once we did that, we started having a good time. We even got a commemorative mug from the tent.
Our reservation ended at 3pm, but we didn't have to be back at the bus until 5pm. We just ended up finding a biergarten near the entrance and relaxed with a few other people on the trip until it got close to 5. We got back in to Stuttgart around 9pm, and headed home. Needless to say it had been a LONG day, so we all crashed pretty early.
Chris & Hillary left the next day, but were back on Friday afternoon. Shanna had taken a half day that day, and once they arrived, we headed into town. Now it was early enough that the stores were all open, so Hillary got her Dirndel, changed in the store, and we headed down to Volksfest. Having done both festivals two years in a row, I definitely enjoy Volksfest more. It's large (the second largest beer fest in Germany) but not as large as Oktoberfest (the largest beer festival in Germany), it's not as touristy, and feels more authentic. At Oktoberfest, no one really talked with anyone outside their group, but at Volksfest we were talking, dancing, and having fun with all the tables around us. We also met up with our German teacher, Sandra, and her husband Jens. She's a lot of fun, and we hit it off with her fast when we first started taking classes. We had a lot of fun with them that night too.
Sandra wanted Jens to come out with us, because she said his English isn't very good, but after a few beers he's more willing to speak it. We found Jens to be like most people in Germany...he said his English wasn't very good, but we had NO trouble speaking with or understanding him. He told me (and I feel the same way) that normally he's afraid of messing up the way you're supposed to say something in English, but after a few beers, it doesn't bother him. When I speak German, I always stress about perfect pronunciation & conjugation, but after a few beers, I'm not as concerned. He was really nice, and it was good to finally meet him.
It was lot of fun that night. The band played good music, and we got to sing, dance, and talk with Americans, Germans, and even a guy from Italy.
The next morning Shanna made pancakes, eggs, & sausage...it more then hit the spot after a night at the fest. The original plan had been for Chris & Hillary to head to Heidelberg and stay with friends there on Saturday, then head to Frankfurt Sunday morning & fly home. Plans with their friends in Heidelberg fell through, so they stayed with us Saturday. We took them all around downtown Stuttgart, showing them the market area, Town Hall, the weekly antique market, and the farmers market. We then took them to the suburbs of Stuttgart to our favorite Italian Restaurant. It was a 5 minute walk from the hotel we stayed at when we first arrived a year & a half ago (WOW time flies). We took Shanna's parents there when they were here, and they loved it too. We get there, and I first notice something's different when the waiter who comes out is not someone I've seen there before. It's a family run business, so it's always the same people there. Then he brings out a completely different looking menu. Instead of the huge book with pages & pages of dishes, it's a laminated sheet that looks like something you'd see at a bar. We order the pizza, and when the guy brings them out, we KNOW something isn't right. The pizzas looked like cheap bar food. The guy apologized, saying they just got a new oven, and that's why they were a little burnt. Thankfully, though, he said the pizzas were on the house. It was at this point that I glanced behind us where they have the menu on display for everyone to see before they enter the restaurant, and it's a different menu. That's when we realize while the location is the same, the place we loved was no longer in business. We apologized to Chris & Hillary because we'd gotten them excited talking about how great the pizza was, and this stuff was awful. It's too bad.
We paid our bill for the drinks, and headed home. Chris & Hillary packed, then watched the Arkansas/Texas A&M game with us. Before they went to bed, they gave us a thank you gift for letting them stay and showing them around. It was not necessary, but very nice of them. It was a bottle of Limoncello from Venice, and I thought the bottle was really neat looking.
That mask isn't painted on the bottle, it's an actual mini carnival mask attached to the bottle. The next morning, bright & early at 6am, Chris & Hillary hit the road to Frankfurt. Shanna & I went back to bed after saying good bye, then spent all Sunday relaxing watching football.
It's been a fun month, and there's more to come. This weekend we're heading to Dubrovnik, Croatia. We've heard nothing but good things about it, and can't wait to head there. I'll have plenty of pictures and a blog post about it ready to go next week!
To see the pictures, click any image above or here.
No comments:
Post a Comment