Cannstatter Volksfest

I'm waiting for Toby to get up so we can watch Gilmore Girls. Oops, did I say that out loud? Yes, I live in Germany and yet I have chosen so spend several hours of the past few days watching season one of the Girlmore Girls instead of, oh, I don't know wearing a beret and walking around with a baguette poking out of my bag. Oh no wait, that's a French thing to do. Maybe Kelly's doing that right now in Paris. Ok ... instead of eating a bratwurst and yodelling? Or... how about drinking a large amount of beer to prepare for Oktoberfest next weekend?

Hey! I did do that! Yesterday Toby and I visited mini-Oktoberfest, the second biggest beer festival in Germany called the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart.

The big beer tents (you can see some on the left) are located amongst the mid-way, which was a lot like Stampede (complete with requisite slicer/dicer and wonder mop sales booths)


We chose the Furstenberg tent, because it was the first one we got to.


We were served these beers approximately 46 seconds after we sat down. Good service. I hope I can get a picture at Oktoberfest of the servers carrying 9 or 10 of these big heavy beers. I could barely lift two at once.


We both devoured our chickens. Sooooo gooooooood. Toby's sad because there's no more chicken.


The band played popular songs from the 80's and 90's (including Summer of '69 - YAH) mixed with German drinking songs that everybody knew but us. There were lots of colorful characters, lots of drunk people.



There were also vendors selling crazy hats, Heidi wigs, balloons shaped like Sponge Bob, etc. The Americans sitting next to us took two of everything. It's like shooting a fish in a barrel, isn't it, to sell crazy hats to really drunk people IN the tent?


Glug, glug, glug.


I was a bit tipsy after my one Maß, or one litre, of beer (sorry Laura A, you must be disappointed in me!) so I don't know how I'm going to fare at Oktoberfest. I was really craving some Mandaln (warm, sugared almonds) so we headed back onto the midway.


Then we took a lovely ride on a very large ferris wheel and got a great view of the grounds.



After some more walking around we decided it was time to head back home. Here we are on the train back home. Very sleepy.


Oh, the Sunday morning church bell extravaganza has begun. That's our Sunday alarm clock whether we like it or not. Toby should be up soon. After starting the day off with some GG we may head out to Durlach, the home of Toby's ancestors. It's been incorporated into Karlsruhe and we can probably ride our bikes there in ten minutes.

Also, we are anticipating Kelly's return from Paris (can't wait to hear about it!) and my friend Mel's arrival from Canada this evening. Safe travels girls! I have the sekt chilling in the fridge at this very moment. See you soon!