Kulmbach beerfest, or, I just had the one beer

On Tuesday night, Brittany, two of her friends, Katie and Melanie, and I drove to Kulmbach for my first beerfest. Katie and Mel's husbands are also deployed at the moment. Brittany wore her dirndl, as did her friend Katie. I'd assumed that dirndls and lederhosen were the Americanized stereotype of German attire, but at least half of the crowd at Kulmbach were rocking the traditional getup.

I don't know what I was expecting, but I didn't expect a giant tent with a band playing, and hundreds of people standing on the benches singing and clapping along. The noise was incredible. Sorry for the poor-quality photo, but at least it conveys the size of the tent.


I had a liter of beer--that was one stein of beer (although it bears noting that the word stein is an English neologism; it means "stone" in German). Not only was it an enormous mug of beer, but German beer has a higher alcohol content than American beers (or so I was told). I went to the fest thinking I'd have several beers over the course of the evening. Yeah, I had one and it was more than enough. We all got dinner from the food carts surrounding the fest test--mostly bratwurst in rolls with french fries, but there were other food options as well. I got my bratwurst with curry sauce: "currywurst."

The four Germans sitting next to us as we ate and drank didn't speak very much English, and we didn't speak much German, but that didn't stop them from attempting to converse. They were two couples, and in between "Prosts!" they asked us why we were in Germany. Katie, the best German speaker of the four of us (she's been here a year and a half), gestured to we four and said, "Mann ist Soldat," which means "Husband is a soldier." I leaned over and said, "Nein mann. Nein mann! Prost!"

Servers were offering small trays of some kind of white wavy item, and Mel got me some so I could see what it was. Turns out it was peeled, salted radish. I did not like it, but Brittany did!


We walked around and inside the fest tent, amid the deafening crowd singing along with the music. The songs were usually traditional German folk songs, with some popular songs as well. Dessert to follow (my delicious chocolate-dipped banana not shown).

Castra Regina

Brittany and I drove to Regensburg last Monday (wow, I need to get better at this posting thing), a gorgeous town on the Danube, an hour's drive away from Weiden. The downtown area where we walked around was almost stereotypically European, with pastel-colored buildings and cobblestone alleys.

There was a restaurant on the river that Brittany wanted to show me as a place we could possibly eat lunch, but on the way we stopped at a wine and oil shop called Ziegler. They had bottles, decanters, kegs of different kinds of oil. Brittany wanted a refill of her favorite garlic olive oil.


Then we came to the the stadtmitte, the city center, where the largest building in Regensburg by far resides: Regensburger Dom, or the Regensburg Cathedral. It was colossal. We walked around the hushed interior and marveled at the soaring vaulted ceilings (105 feet in the air!), and even got to walk down into the creepy crypt.



After the cathedral, we went to the Historical Sausage Kitchen or, in German, Historische Wurstkuchl. It's right on the water, and the weather was fantastic, so all of the outdoor seating was of course full. We could have stood in line for take-away, but even that line wound out the door. Brittany had raved about the quality of the sausage at this place, so we waited for a table. In Germany, one does not wait to be seated out of doors by the maitre d'--one just watches like a hawk for patrons reaching for coats and/or purses, and swoops in politely but firmly. It got pretty hairy, but Brittany and I commandeered a table (that's an exaggeration. We just swooped.).




The "usual" at the Historical Sausage Kitchen is simply sausage (you can choose 6, 8, 10, or 12) over sauerkraut. And that's it. I ordered a Hefeweizen, just to balance out my first authentic German meal. Everything was delicious. I've never like sauerkraut nor mustard, but I enjoyed both with the sausage immensely.


After lunch, we went to find the Porta Praetoria, a remnant of a Roman fort built almost 2000 years ago. Brittany was able to find it from memory, which was awesome! This plaque was next to the gate itself.


I had to use Google Translate in German and in Latin to figure out almost the entire message. It reads (more or less): "The gate of the camp commanders' quarters/the Roman fort/Castra Regina ("fortress by the river Regen"; the Latin name for Regensburg)/built in 179 A.D./by Emperor Marcus Aurelius/revealed (something) 1885." The Porta Praetoria itself is an arch (the gate itself) and part of a tower.


We walked over the Danube on the stone bridge, which provided a gorgeous view of the cathedral from afar.


We also found a lovely well, and... it's Europe. Despite the fact that I'll be living over here for the foreseeable future... I feel like I'm in the puppy-love stage with Europe. We're in the first, new, giddy phase of a relationship. Europe and I haven't even kissed yet; just shyly held hands. Everything is a "first" and novel and exciting. I know that I was here when I was sixteen, but I was sixteen. I didn't know anything when I was sixteen. I get to have a second chance at my Europe "firsts", at being over here, at remembering everything and making it count. Hence, I pose when we find this well.


After Regensburg, there was one more stop that I wanted to make. Walhalla, modeled after the Parthenon in Athens (kind of mixing up our mythologies, aren't we?), was supposed to be closed on Mondays, but there was no harm in checking. And, lo and behold, it happened to be open! We were there at the perfect time, as well. Despite the clouds in the picture, it was actually gorgeous. It was so great that it happened to be open--kismet and closure for a fantastic day.

I know I'm in Germany...

but just LOOK at the fish that my parents caught. JUST LOOK AT IT.

I promise I'm still here

Hello dear readers! Sorry for the lack of updates. I don't have a good reason. But here's a picture of the stone bridge over the Danube in Regensburg. Click for larger view.


Posts to come about the Kulmbach beerfest and Volksfest (literally "carnival"), which was held on the Grafenwoehr army post (about twenty minutes from Weiden).

Magzilla in Regensburg