Fantastic weekend! Ich leibe Deutschland!
I traveled with two other students north this weekend. We took a train to the tiny town of Lauf an der Pengitz near Nuremberg. My good friend Keith's wife is from the town and they have been telling me of the awesome summer beer festival the town throws every year. So I bought myself a dirndl (the traditional costume) and set out for an adventurous weekend of day drinking. Turns out that one of the girls in the program has in-laws that live in the town as well! Her three blond haired kids are the most angelic German looking children you have ever seen!
We could not have asked for better weather! It was sunny and warm with the deadly smell of burnt sugar filling the air! Live bands in every little plaza and enough steins of cold German beer to drown yourself. Food vendors lining the streets selling delicious goodies of every kind... donner kababs, fresh baked bread from the wood-fire ovens, fried mushrooms, chocolate covered fruit and cinnamon coated almonds! Mmmmm...
Keith's sister Kristi was in Germany to visit her in-laws Klaus and Ute (Suzi's parents) so we met up and ended up spending the rest of the evening drinking and partying with them. As it turns out, there is some family connection with the hotel (Weisses Lamm) we were staying at so most of her family was there...they are such a hoot!! We spent the evening drinking away the sorrow of the USA world cup loss, listening to the live bands and putting together hilarious German phrases. I am pretty certain I was fluent at the end of the night!
At 9am sharp the next morning the bands were back at it... built in alarm clock. We rallied, had a little breakfast and then hit the street for our hair of the dog stein! Now if only I had retained my German fluency from the night before I could tell you the German phrase, but alas... my German skills faded as quickly as they came. It is something to the effect of punching back the beer that beat you up the night before. I filled my Nalgene bottle with peach soaked white wine and we jumped on a train to Nuremberg.
Nuremberg....
Took a little stroll through the town, collected some Burger King crowns with the German flag and headed to the Fan Fair public viewing to watch Germany destroy England.
Tens of thousands of people in the park, the crowd was a frenzy with confetti and beer cups launching into the air with every gooooooooal! Crazy outfits and plenty, of course, BEER!
We hopped our train back to Munich... Jeremy dj-ed for the hour and a half ride home introducing me to a few awesome new bands. Mission amazing weekend... success!
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