Great weekend at Neustadt an der Weinstraße. The Weinstraße (wine road) is the B271 highway that runs north to south through the Rhineland-Pfalz and one of the state's major wine growing areas. The Weinstraße meanders through numerous wine growing villages and towns, including Bad Durkheim. Neustadt is the largest city on the Weinstraße about 12 miles south of Bad Durkheim.
We knew that Neustadt's festival wouldn't be as large as the Bad Durkheim Wurstmarkt, which is the largest wine festival in the world, but since Neustadt is about three times the size of Bad Durkheim, we figured it would be pretty big. Well, we were surprised to find that the it was a rather small festival. The Neustadt festival was located right in the city center, next to the Bahnhof (train station). That was a good thing because finding some of these festivals can take some time, especially in a larger town like Neustadt.
Well, regardless of the size it was great fun. They had one large band stand where some type of band played almost continuously. And, there was an interesting mix of bands; a traditional 50+ member band, an interesting group called Chaos Orchestra and another one of those strange flugal horn bands. All the necessary festival pieces were in place; rides, vintners, beer vendors, food merchants. One particular food booth was kind of interesting, a vegetarian vendor. Jeff steered clear of that because he said if it didn't have alcohol, sugar or meat he wasn't going to put it in his mouth.
Here's a few of the sights.
The bandstand and city May pole.
Jeff with a glass of Silvaner and a brezel.
If you like sweets this is the place to be. These types of vendors sell all kinds of amazing treats.
The wine king chatting up some Deutscher chicks.
The Chaos Orchestra in action. Take a look at some of their instruments, especially the tuba, pretty beat up.
Hey, look at me I'm with the Chaos Orchestra.
The flugal horn band.
Close up of a flugal horn. Actually I have no idea what these musical instruments are called. Even though they all look pretty similar, some are played like a woodwind, some like a brass instrument.
A pretty unique festival tent, all clear plastic. Makes for a great view at night with all the rides lit up.
Pork, potatoes and beer. The perfect meal before heading home.
If you've read some of our earlier blogs you saw pictures of our house here in Germany. It's a pretty typical home; white stucco/plaster exterior, red terracotta tile roof. Very well built and solid.
Back in Texas, our home is in a housing development called Highland Meadows in the city of Colleyville, part of the Dallas-Ft. Worth metroplex. It's a very nice community but very different from here in Germany. In Highland Meadows we have a homeowners association that establishes rules for the appearance of houses and yards. This is, of course, an effort to ensure that property values in the development steadily increase. We have an architectural committee that must approve certain building additions and materials to be used. So, even though each house is different, these building rules can result in the homes looking very much like the next the one. One reoccurring issue is the color of the roofing material used on the homes in our Texas housing development. The roof nazis on our architectural committee, within the established rules, maintain a strict adherence to the requirement that roofing materials must have a weathered wood or slate color. Strangely, that does not include brown and of course, doesn't include red, blue, yellow or any other colors. It's gotta be some shade of gray. So, the roofs all pretty much look the same. The exteriors, most are a red brick veneer, pretty much look the same. So the houses in Highland Meadows, overall, pretty much look the same.
Back to Germany. Although the actual design of homes can be quite similar, Germans are happy to use different colors, sometimes quite drastically, to make their home look unique. Here's a few examples that would drive our Texas architectural committee totally crazy.
A simple blue but even that's a bit shocking.
They like yellows. This one is very agreeable.
Another shade of yellow. Kind of a lemon custard.
I call this color YIKES Yellow. Notice the boxy object in front of the red car. That's a cigarette machine. There'll be a blog on that later.
Light pink.
Hot pink.
Orange sherbet.
Orange outrageous.
An agreeable green.
A really raucous red.
Here's one last house. He couldn't make up his mind what color to go with. Jeff says he likes that round window. Says every time he looks at it he thinks it would be such a great place to aim on a strafing pass. A-10 guys, always so practical.
Now all those colors would just make the skin crawl on the members of our architectural committee back in Texas. But this one, good grief, would give those roof nazis a heart attack. Not a blue roof!!
For years we've been told by some people, Americans and Germans alike, that they don't like to go to Oktoberfest; too many people. Interestingly, a lot of these same folks have told us to go to the Stuttgart beer festival. They say there's fewer people and the beer tents are just as much fun. So, a beer fest with no crowds? Well, since Jeff and I now live just two hours from Stuttgart we decided to go see for ourselves.
To start with, the Stuttgart beer festival is actually called the Cannstatter Volksfest. It's held in a part of Stuttgart called Bad Cannstatt on the Cannstatter Wasen festival grounds which is why the locals refer to the fest as Wasen. The Wasen has seven main beer tents. Three are comparable in size to the big Oktoberfest tents but without the big outside seating areas. The other four Wasen beer tents are half to two-thirds the size of Oktoberfest tents but, again, with really very little outside seating.
Although it had rained constantly on the drive down, the rain was done for the day just as we checked into our hotel. Jeff and I arrived at the Cannstatter Volksfest and walked into the Fürstenberg Fest Tent at about 1130 on an overcast Saturday morning. Every table in the tent was reserved at some point in the day so we sat down on an empty table that said it's reservation time wasn't until 1630 (4:30PM). We had a great time. Had a few beers, talked with some nice people. At two o'clock we decided we wanted to see some of the other tents so we left the Fürstenberg tent. That may have been a mistake because it was the last tent we were able to get into for the rest of the day and night.
Here's what it was like in the Fürstenberg Fest Tent at 1145 in the morning. If you're familiar with Oktoberfest tents, you might be able to see this tent and bandstand are both smaller.
I took this picture just after we sat down in the Fürstenberg Fest Tent. Although it was going to be a picture of Jeff smiling with our beers. I took it early when I saw this opportunity. Jeff always says flexibility is the key to success and he thought this was a very successful picture.
Of course, while we were wandering around the Wasen eventually we needed a toilet and that turned out to be a problem. The toilet locations were not easily marked and there certainly weren't enough of them. In fact, it wasn't uncommon at all around the perimeter of the festival grounds to see guys relieving themselves against a wall or behind some available structure of some sort.
When you gotta go, you gotta go.
We did have a lot of fun at the Cannstatter Volkfest but when comparing it to Oktoberfest our misgivings about the Wasen, the Stuttgart beer festival, is ability to access the festival tents and the lack of toilets.
Three of the big tents at Cannstatter Volksfest.
After early afternoon, in Stuttgart, if you don't have a table reservation, you don't get in a festival tent. All tables are reserved. Plus, what little outside seating there is at the Wasen is also controlled access by security. Big, disorganized groups of people were, standing waiting at the entrances to each tent. I talked with one of the security people and she said just what we suspected; no reservation, no entry. At Munich's Oktoberfest, there are large outside seating areas around every tent that are not reserved and easily accessed. Inside, there are always tables that are not reserved and we have never been denied entry to a tent at Oktoberfest, day or night, with or without reservations.
This big blue object is called the "fruit column." It's a quasi-permanent, fixture and symbol of the Wasen. That other thing is one of the hairy rides that you find at almost all the big festivals here in Germany.
They always have a House of Horrors at these festivals too. The one here in Stuttgart is probably the best we've seen in Germany, at least from the outside. I don't like to get scared and this big creature outside gave me the creeps. Notice the pool of blood to the left.
The toilet situation at Stuttgart is inexcusable. Way too few and not always that easy to find. Even in the tent we were in, although the toilets were well kept and clean, they should have been twice the size. Out on the festival grounds the lines for toilets were long and, as I mentioned, resulted in plenty of men just finding their own solutions elsewhere. In Munich's Oktoberfest there is no toilet issue. In the tents the toilets are huge and clean. Behind every tent is another toilet facility that allows you to walk outside, get some fresh air, while doing your busy than walk back in. On the Oktoberfest grounds toilet locations are well marked and plentiful, resulting in little to no lines.
Here's something you won't see at most carnivals and fairs in the U.S. A condom vendor.
So that's our assessment of Munich's Oktoberfest vs. Stuttgart's Cannstatter Volksfest. Both of them lots of fun. Lots of good food and beer. Crowds are crowds and they're going to always be at both festivals. Our recommendation: if you don't have reservations, go to the Oktoberfest. If you have a weak bladder, go to the Oktoberfest. We've been to lots and lots of Oktoberfests and we'll be going again. We'll go to the Cannstatter Voksfest again but certainly not without reservations.
In case anyone was wondering, the legal drinking age in Germany is 16. Very strange to see some of these inebriated youngsters.
Got a little worried last weekend because we had no plans whatsoever. No festival, nothing. Luckily, our little town of Weilerbach had their annual fall festival to save the day. Weilerbach holds their festival from Saturday through Monday with a parade on Sunday. First time we've ever been able to walk from our home to a local festival.
The fest had all the regular stuff; couple of vintner booths, three beer vendors, rides for kids, marching band and all the great German food and treats.
Talked with some of the locals who are very nice for the most part. One German local, after we told him we had just returned from Oktoberfest, told us that no Bavarians go to the Oktoberfest, it's all foreigners. Jeff asked him who were all the people wearing the lederhosen? Who were all the pretty young girls in the colorful dirndls? Where did the hops farmers we sat and talked with come from? When Jeff told him that of the thirteen times we've been to the Oktoberfest in Munich we've noticed thousands of Bavarians in every tent we've ever been in, the guy just turned and walked away. Yea, we beat the Germans again.
Beyond that we had a great time. A little stroll to the fest on Saturday night and then back Sunday afternoon for the parade and more festing. It was a little chilly though. Drinking a cold beer on a cold night is chilly experience but still lots of fun.
The parade was great fun. Surprising how long for the size of our town. The highlight was a wagon/float that handed out free cups of beer. What a great country!! We didn't get a picture of it because Jeff and I were too busy chasing it to get our cup, which we did.
Here's Jeff Saturday evening. Notice the beer tender doing the old double fingers behind the head joke. Who said Germans aren't funny. Bitte ein Bit. Sweet!!
Here's me Sunday afternoon. Notice my new plant. One of the floats in the parade was run by the local florist and they handed out various kinds of free plants.
Here's a band from one of the local towns playing Saturday night. Note the liter of beer with the long straws on the small wall. Yes, Jeff got carried away in his artistic creativity. It makes me nauseous to watch the last part of this.
Here's what the band did after playing a few songs. Isn't that nice that they share.
The guys on this float were dressed up as American Indians and doing smoke signals along the parade route. Sweet tractor!
It's tradition for the young people of the town to carry this new wine pole until it's time to mount it on the town May Pole. Guess it's better than sex texting.
Oh, I guess Jeff did get a picture of the beer wagon before we stepped out to get ours. Here you can see one of the town fireman getting his portion of free beer. What a great country!!
WOW!!! What a wonderful week we just experienced!!!
Once everyone had arrived, one couple from Brussels, one right here at Ramstein and everyone else from the States, we drove to Bad Durkheim Friday for that city's 594th Wursmarkt, the world’s largest wine festival. We stayed at the Kurpark Hotel in Bad D, just a short walk to the festival grounds. The weather was as perfect as perfect could be. We spent two incredible nights drinking the wines of the Rhineland-Pflaz, some always great German beer, eating some of the most scrumptious food imaginable and enjoying the company of good friends and a couple new acquaintances.
Rachel Mitchell, Jeff, Mike Franklin and I at our favorite vinter tent, #15.
The video below has a great image of the size of the wine glasses at the Wurstmarkt. Watch for the Jeff on the right and the glass of wine he's holding. You also can see the traveling band that's been performing here ever since we first visited the Wurstmarkt in 1988. Probably the same guys.
Hey, look at me, I'm with the band.
A great view of a small part of the Wurstmarkt festival grounds from the top of the ferris wheel.
The colors and sound at these festivals is just mind boggling; in a very fun way.
Here's our group Sunday morning before leaving Bad Durkheim. From left to right. Mike and Gloria Ryan (from Brussels), Kevin and Tina Anderson (Ramstein), Jim Nelson (Colleyville, Texas), Jeff, Wally Ziebarth (Portsmouth, Maine), Me, Chris Hayden (Maine), Scott Hughes (Maine), Peggy Nelson (Colleyville), Jodie Hughes (Maine), Rachel and Rick Mitchell (Valdosta, Georgia), Kathy and Mike Franklin (Colleyville). We all look pretty good after two nights at the Wurstmarkt.
On Sunday we drove to Nürnberg for some sightseeing in the old town, Nürnberger sausages and, again, some great German beer, at the Altstadthof. After a walk through the Kaiserburg (Imperial Castle of Nürnberg) we drove out to Lengenfled, a village southeast of the city where the Winklerbrau gasthaus and brewery is located. An incredible meal and, of course, a great German beer, Winklerbau Dunkel, served in the world’s greatest beer glass, made for a most kickass night.
Just below the Kaiserburg is the Aldstadthof a great gasthaus and brewery. If you want a bottle of their beer you need to be ready to step up. It's only served in liter bottles.
Incredible architecture inside the Kaiserburg.
I think Jeff's expression and shirt make it quite obvious how we enjoyed Winklerbrau. By the way, Jeff's holding the world's greatest beer glass full of Winklerbrau Dunkle.
Monday we drove to Munich but along the way we had quite an adventure. First, we stopped at the oldest monastery brewery in the world, Weltenburg Kloster which sits on the shores of a majestic bend of the Donau River, better known as the Danube. We were a bit surprised when our GPS took us to a point on the wrong side of the river, just across from the Kloster. But, a quite unique ferry took us across the Donau and, once there we enjoyed a great German beer in a place that’s been brewing since 1050. From there we drove on through the Bavarian countryside with a stop for pictures in a hops field. Our last stop before Munich was at Weihenstephan, the world’s oldest brewery, beginning operations in 1040. More great German beer. Finally in Munich, we checked into our hotel, just a block from the Marienplatz and two blocks from our destination for the night, the world famous Hofbrauhaus. Even more great German beer and stupendous food.
Weltenburg Kloster from the wrong side of the Donau (Danube)River.
Luckily, a convenient and quite unique ferry, was there to take us across the river. It has no power, connected to a cable across the river uses the current to go back and forth.
The Weltenburg beer garden. What a great concept, religion and beer.
Quick stop for a photo op in a Bavarian ops field.
Finally, passing through the sacred door of the world's oldest brewery, Weihenstephan.
A beer drinkers dream; Weihenstephan beer garden.
Monday night in the Hofbrauhaus. Prepping the group; Rowdy explaining the proper Oktoberfest etiquette for Tuesday and Wednesday night.
Tuesday we got out to the Oktoberfest grounds early so that we could see all the tents, rides and special sights that can only been seen at the world’s largest party. At 4PM we took our seats at our reserved tables in the Hofbrau festival tent. What a wild, wonderful night!!!
In Munich's Marienplatz. About to get on the underground and begin our short trip to the Oktoberfest grounds. Jeff, soon to be Rowdy, McGraw, Peggy, Rachel, soon to be Holly (her new party alter ego).
In the Hofbrau Fest Tent. Rowdy, Chris, and a stoic, somewhat goofy McGraw.
Wednesday, some of us walked into the English Garden to visit the Chinesischer Turm (Chinese Tower) and Munich’s largest beer garden. On the way back to the hotel we discovered the the mid-70 temperatures and warm sun brought out the sun worshipers. Yes, nude sun bathers, However, the somewhat disappointing and disturbing thing was that they were all men. That night we were in our favorite tent, Löwenbräu. Another maximum fun night.
In the Löwenbräu tent at our regular table. Look how close we are to the bandstand. L to R, Mike, Me, McGraw, Rachel, Rowdy, (some Deutscher in white shirt) Jodie, Chris, Scott, Wally.
OK, done eating. Time to get up on the benches and have fun.
Rowdy now in his new 2010 Oktoberfest shirt taking a sip of the amber nectar. Ah, sweet ambrosia!!
Thursday everyone went their own way; some back to the States, some to Prague, some to Garmisch. Jeff and I drove back to Weilerbach. In spite of where each one of went, I have no doubt that everyone of us left Munich with fantastic memories of a unique, world’s greatest week.
What a happy week and I think everyone else left feeling the same as me.
