Weekend Wrap-Up (Cannstatter Volksfest) - (Germany) Day 291 & 292

Inside one of the "tents" at the Stuttgart BeerFest. One big

party where everyone has a great time.

Saturday: We woke up and got ready for the day, then headed to the park and ride off post to catch our bus for the "Cannstatter Volksfest". This fest is also known as the "Stuttgart BeerFest" and I keep hearing that it's better than Oktoberfest, so I had to check it out. The local MWR facility scheduled a trip, so we signed up and headed out. One of the great things about attending this event via a bus trip is that we don't have to worry about driving, parking, or drinking and trying to drive home. Just get on the bus, sit back and relax until we arrive.

The bus ride was a bit over an hour. We headed into the fest and it turned out to be similar in size to the Oktoberfest in Munich. It was huge, with several beer halls, rides, games, and vendors. We went through one of the beer halls first just to check it out. We then decided to go on some rides before we drank anything. Thankfully it didn't rain on us like Oktoberfest. We went on several rides and then headed back to the beer halls, but by this time they were packed. It's crazy how difficult it can be to actually get a beer at a beer festival. We decided to head to one of the beer gardens outside. We had some chicken and beer, then did some more walking around.

It's true that the festival was not as packed as Oktoberfest, but there were still plenty of people everywhere! From what I could tell, you would have to arrive early and get in a tent (beer hall) and stay if you wanted to drink in there. There is live bands, everyone seems to be standing on the tables drinking. It looked like a fun time, but we did indeed have fun just checking everything out. Our bus left at 2100, which turned out to be about the perfect time. Everyone had plenty of time to experience the festivities, and nobody got too drunk to make it back. There was some sort of incident with the German police and some of our passengers, but the bus driver was able to get them all back to the bus before we left…not sure what went on there.

Sunday: Not much to write about here…we slept in, cleaned house, did laundry and watched some TV shows. Not too exciting, but it was a nice relaxing day before I head back to work tomorrow. I would start counting down the days until next weekend, but I have staff duty again next Saturday, so I will have no weekend….Grrrrr.

Check out pictures of the BeerFest in the slideshow below or my flickr album:

Created with flickr slideshow.

Weekend Wrap-Up - (Germany) Day 277 & 278

A view down the street during the "Heidelberger Herbst"

Saturday: We slept in and took our time getting ready this morning, then we made the trip to Frankfurt airport to pick up my wife's cousin. He's in the military and going on a deployment, but as luck would have it, he has a one night layover here. We jumped at the chance to pick him up and have him stay with us for the night instead of a hotel. He was going to have to take a taxi from the airport to Ramstein Air Base on Sunday. We wouldn't have that, we said we would just have him stay with us and we would take him there ourselves.

After getting home we unloaded the luggage from our car, then took him out to eat at a local restaurant we've both heard a lot about. Everyone calls it the Schnitzel House, so we found out the directions and checked out the reviews on the web. It's a little off the beaten path, but was worth it. The food was awesome and it was the least we could do to treat family to a nice meal before he leaves for his deployment. He'll be away from his immediate family for a while. I may not have been deployed yet, but I do know what it's like to be separated from family. When you're on your own, it just sucks.

We headed to downtown Heidelberg to check out the "Heidelberger Herbst" (the Heidelberg Fall Festival). The place was packed! While the streets usually have plenty of people on them, they were completely packed everywhere we looked. There were vendors all over the place selling everything from wonderful smelling food to various items or services. There were street performers all over as well. I wish we could have stayed longer, but our guest wanted to be able to video chat with his family.

We came back to the house and he was able to video chat with his family before turning in for the night. It broke my heart watching the video chat, his daughter was getting ready for homecoming and he wasn't able to be there for that. He'll also be missing the upcoming holidays as well as birthdays. All I can say is that it really sucks.

Sunday: We slept in again, then after getting ready we headed to the Rammstein Air Base. We ate lunch there and then shopped around a bit before seeing my wife's cousin off. It was emotional seeing him off. Knowing that we're the last family he's going to see for a while. He gave us both big hugs, then we headed out.

After we got back to the house, I had to use my little portable shock treatment kit that was issued to me during my follow up session with my doctor. This little device can attach to my upper back and neck and give me the same treatment I received while in physical therapy. It really helped a headache that was killing me, as well as the pain that I had in my neck. All this from a little 9 volt battery!

We just took it easy the rest of the day catching up on all our TV shows that finally started up again. I'm at the tail end of a cold, and my wife seems to be just starting hers…so we were both happy to just cuddle up on the couch and relax for the rest of the day with some tea and then soup for dinner.