Tag Archives: Afrika Fest

Böblingen

The 2018 Böblingen Afrika fest… and back to Sindelfingen’s street fiesta!

I posted yesterday about how Bill and I visited Sindelfingen’s Street Fiesta.  This weekend event was a first for us, and we had a great time.  Last year, I remember very well visiting Böblingen’s Afrika Fest, which is one of several local Afrika fests held in the summer.  In the four years we’ve lived in the Stuttgart area for the second time, we have also attended Afrika fests in Stuttgart and Tübingen.  By now, I know it’s a great place to enjoy African products– clothes, food, music, furniture, dishes, and art.

Today, we decided to visit Böblingen’s 2018 Afrika fest.  Afterwards, we went back to Sindelfingen, because, if I’m honest, there was more food, more entertainment, and more beer.  But if your aim is to shop, I will admit that Böblingen is a good place to be during the last weekend in August.  Below are pictures from both events, along with my usual comments.  I have been drinking… 90% of which was done in Sindelfingen.  I’m sure it won’t be hard to determine which fest I liked better.

This guy was on stilts, entertaining everyone….  I got a lot of shots of him.

 


 I bought one of the plates in this photo…  The salesman was Tunisian, which meant something to me. I visited there over New Year’s 1977-78.

More Tunisian wares!  I want one of those birdcages!

Another salesman.  We didn’t stop in.

You had to buy a coupon to get beer or wine.  It was a pain in the butt.  We did it anyway.  I had a glass of wine from South Africa. 

Lots of people were enjoying African cuisine, German beer, and Cuban cocktails, along with a mashup of Cuban and African music.  

Set up for the afternoon’s performance by an orchestra from Senegal.  We didn’t stick around for it, but I bet it was lovely.

Another shot of the guy on stilts.  He was very engaging.  Bill says this is an West African thing.  Wikipedia tells me this is called “Moko jumbie“.  “Moko” means healer and “jumbie” means ghost or spirit.  He watches over his village and guards it from evil spirits!

Lots of clothes to be had.  I’m not a fan of the deep crotched look.

Bill got a turkey shwarma, which was full of turkey, grilled onions, and a “light sauce” with a kick.

He brought me a plate of stuff… this was West African and had chicken, lamb, and possibly pork or beef.  I couldn’t tell.  It also had cous cous, rice, and peanut sauce, which I loved.  And there were two fried dough rolls that were kind of like hushpuppies.

 

Longer lines for food at the Afrika Fest.

He was everywhere and wanted to be photographed!

 

 Böblingen is quite nice, if you know where to go.  This is the Marktplatz, which, in six total years of living in this area, I will admit I have spent very little time.

We left Böblingen at about 2:00 and decided to go back to Sindelfingen.  I wanted to try some of the craft beers we missed yesterday.  Once we found a place to park, it proved to be more our speed.  There’s was more live music, played by the band pictured below…

They were playing good songs and their arrangements were great, but the lead singer was lacking vocal range.  Sorry, I really am a snob when it comes to music.  But they played stuff by the Beatles, the Rolling Stones, Golden Earring, AC/DC, and Black Sabbath.  Not bad.

Good beer.

Plenty of stuff for the kids to do.

Plenty of food, too… everything from fish n’ chips to burgers, along with some vegetarian selections, sweets, and beers.

We spent a good portion of the afternoon talking to an American guy named Zach who came here from America to get his master’s degree and is now helping to launch Germany’s craft beer scene.  I asked him to join my wine and food group, mainly because even though there is a local beer group, I am not in it and I like my beer.  Anyway… if you also like your craft beers, you are invited to check out Cast-Brauerei, which has operated since 2010 and has a Web site.  You can visit, buy beer, and talk to Zach, who is friendly and knows about Saved By The Bell.  Zach’s colleagues recognized us from yesterday, when we were accosted by the drunk guy who was having a very good time trying everything.  See my previous post for the story on that.

These fests are now over, but the good news is, they run every year.  So if you missed them this year, you can probably catch them next year, if you’re around.  And if you come back every year, chances are good you’ll see a lot of the same people.  Talk to them.  They don’t bite, and will teach you a little something about what is here in Germany.  And who knows?  You might even make new friends.

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The Sindelfingen Streetfood Fiesta meets Music! And Bill and I meet new friends!

You’d think a person like me would me chomping at the bit to attend a “streetfood fiesta” coupled with music.  I am a food lover, and it shows.  And I also both love and create music.  This should have seemed like an event of my dreams.

Well, I’ll be honest.  I wasn’t that excited about it.  It was in my Facebook alerts and, because Bill is my husband, he noticed it on my Facebook feed.  He asked me if I wanted to go.  To be truthful, I was kind of thinking I might like to stay in and enjoy the day.  Yes, it’s been hot in Unterjettingen lately, but the forecast was calling for rain.  I don’t like getting caught in the rain.

The Afrika Fest was also going on in Böblingen and will also be tomorrow.  We went to it last year and enjoyed ourselves.  I was thinking it would be good to see the Sindelfingen Streetfood Fiesta, if only because it would be different.  This event, by the way, will also be happening tomorrow in  downtown Sindelfingen.  You can enjoy food from food trucks, lots of craft beers, and plenty of live music.  To be honest, as much as I enjoyed last year’s Afrika Fest in Böblingen, given a choice between the two events, I’d pick Sindelfingen’s event.  But then, I really like food, beer, and music.  I also know that there will be an Afrika Fest in Tübingen.  We attended in 2016 and had a great time.  Pretty soon, the 2018 fest will be on, affording us to enjoy African cuisine and buy African products.

So we went to Sindelfingen, parked at the Stern Center, and started walking into the familiar downtown area.  The first thing I noticed was a lovely German lady singing a song I translated to “Dance with Me” in German.  I was pretty proud of that, not that it was that hard.  She had a great voice and I kind of wanted to get a table at a restaurant and listen to her and her acoustic guitar playing friend some more.  But we kept walking and eventually ended up at a craft beer tent where there were a couple of Americans.

We heard the telltale accents and it wasn’t long before the wife and I were realizing we have a whole lot in common, even though I am way older than she is.  She’s 30 and I’m 46, but we both lived in Northern Virginia for awhile.  We were born in the same Hampton, Virginia hospital.  She went to William & Mary for grad school and my sister got her undergrad there.  I also did a lot of temp work there after I finished my degree at Longwood.  And our husbands both work on Kelley Barracks…  As we talked longer, we learned that we had even more in common.  It was freaky!

Bill enjoys a new craft beer.

Then, I noticed she and her husband were updating their beers on Untappd, an app Bill and I both use.  In fact, Bill had his Untappd baseball hat with him and was able to show it off.  This was a beer loving couple, which Bill and I both are.  I showed them some of our more interesting beer vacations and we had another round.  We kept chatting and eventually moved on to a food truck…

These guys make some great craft beers.

 

More craft beers.

Bill got me a “crunchy box”, which included a couple of dumplings and what appeared to be homemade potato chips.

 

He was very pleased with himself.

But there was actually a lot to choose from.  There were burgers, Polish goodies, Korean goodies, and barbecue interspersed with different musicians stationed throughout the route.  Sadly, we didn’t get to see the whole thing… or maybe it’s not so sad, since we truly did make new friends.

There was even a truck that used a Camden, New Jersey schoolbus for dispensing its burgers.

This guy met us when we were tasting craft beers.  He followed us and was very keen to share the moment, German style.

 

The whole time we were enjoying beers and food, we were getting acquainted with new people in our community.  And, besides meeting new people, we also got to pee for free.  This event has a public restroom truck that doesn’t cost anything to use and is surprisingly clean.

Homemade potato chips!

And craft beer…

And if you hit the Sindelfingen fest, you should hit this truck.  There are good eats there.

Our drunk German friend again, who was very nice and harmless, although we didn’t understand everything he said.  I did do some nonverbal bonding with the craft beer sales people, who were enjoying watching us communicate with him.  He wasn’t a bad dancer, either.

See?

They have stuff for kids to do, too.  Even a “bull” for those who think they can hack it.

I probably should have been more conscientious about recording the scenes, but we were having too much fun getting to know our new acquaintances and soaking up the atmosphere.

I don’t know what we’re going to do tomorrow, but I wouldn’t be averse to visiting this fiesta again… or maybe hitting the Afrika Fest.  Having been to both, I can say that both are worth the stop, depending on what you want to do with your time.  The lovely thing about Germany in the summer is that you are spoiled for choices when it comes to things to do.  Someone is always having a fest if you haven’t already planned to see a park or another attraction.

If you didn’t get out today, I highly recommend making the attempt tomorrow.  You never know.  You might make new friends, too!

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Sundays

Afrika Fest in Böblingen, 2017

Once again, Bill and I were confronted with a weekend and no plans.  After checking out the Stuttgart Area Events and Celebrations Facebook group, Bill and I decided we should check out the Afrika Fest in Böblingen.  It started yesterday and continues through tomorrow.  There’s a bouncy house for kids, lots of exotic things to eat, live music, and shopping galore.  Bill and I usually don’t buy a lot at these fests, but we made an exception today.  We came home with a few things for the house, coffee, and products for my skin.  Here are some photos and anecdotes…

After parking in a garage near the Hendl Haus (the bibliotek), we had a short walk to the fest.  The first thing we encountered was the bouncy house.

Next, we came across the first of many places to buy African clothes…  I am always afraid of humiliation, so I rarely stop to look at the clothes.  

I did end up buying some olive wood here… after we did some other shopping.  

 

The food at the fest was excellent.  There were several stands selling food from Ghana, West Africa, and East Africa.  It all looked and smelled wonderful and was a nice change of pace.  Bill and I shared a plate for two that included chicken, turkey, shrimp, rice, and coconut sauce.  There was also a really delicious slaw included (which I usually don’t like).  It was delicious.

If you want mixed drinks…

or smoothies…

Before too long, we found ourselves at a stall where cosmetics featuring argan oil were being sold.  We came away from there with soap, oil, and a lovely smelling face cream.  The salesman was very astute and managed to get us to part with plenty of euros.

Bill says this is a much prized oil in Morocco.  We’ll see what it does for me.

Plenty of seating for eating and enjoying the festivities, which includes live music and impromptu dancing from kids and adults.

We made a stop at this table with beautiful silver and pottery from Morocco.

My sister was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Morocco, so I recognized a lot of the stuff and liked it…

I was tempted by the shiny silver and then realized I’d have to clean it.  

Very cool toys for kids.  Made me wish I had one so I could buy stuff…

We sat next to the fake lake for lunch.

Our yummy shared lunch.  We didn’t wash this down with African beer.  Instead we had our ever present suds made by the Schonaich Brau.  That chicken was so tender it fell right off the bone, but I was most surprised by the slaw.  

The band was coming…

After lunch, we headed for the bank for more cash and went on a shopping spree.  It was handily located right across the street.

Lots of pretty things to see.

After a few passes through the market, we decided to walk around the lake.  It was our first time doing so, despite living in the area for a total of five years, off and on.

I got a kick out of this sign, especially since a little girl was feeding the ducks.

Those ducks are well fed, despite the signs prohibiting feeding them.

A pretty view from afar.

I did not know that the fair city of Böblingen has a rose garden dedicated to the Scottish poet, Robert Burns.  I know this verse from a choral piece I learned in college.  That was before I realized how much Scottish heritage I have… or how much German heritage, for that matter.

The rose garden dedicated to Robert Burns.

Something strange happened at about this time.  I was standing at a table, waiting for Bill to bring us some beer.  It was pretty loud because there were drummers on stage beating their skins.  A woman came up to me and said in halting German, “Ist hier frei?”  I was so taken aback that I took a moment to respond and shook my head.  She moved to the empty table next to ours.  I felt kind of bad about it, but then again, no American has ever spoken German to me.  I must be fitting in.  If that lady happens to read this, I sincerely apologize.  I was genuinely shocked.

Here’s the loot… We got two bars of heavenly smelling soap, some skin cream, and lotion from Morocco.

A new stool for my kitchen because I’m short and the dog looks like Arran.  It was only 25 euros.  I hope I don’t break it.

The elephant plant stand and the beautiful Moroccan bowl on top of it…  The plant stand is from Thailand and is nice and heavy.

Coffee and a little olive wood container for nuts and such.

Because I have a foul mouth and a raunchy sense of humor, I was really tempted to buy a baseball hat with the word “Fuck” written on it in ghoulish florescent green letters.  I didn’t do it, because I knew I’d feel too self conscious to actually wear it in public.  But even as I was considering buying it, I saw a guy with three young kids wearing a wife beater shirt that said “Fuck, tomorrow is Monday.”  It made me realize that language really is a relative thing.  Germans don’t seem to care that much about the word “fuck”.  Still, as an American, I do have some shame.  Besides, I almost never wear baseball caps.  It was kind of funny, though.  I saw several Germans wearing shirts with German swear words on them.  Made me wish I’d worn this shirt…

Maybe next time.

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The 2016 Afrika Fest in Tübingen…

Somehow, I managed to get wind of the Afrika Fest in Tübingen this year.  I think I read about it on Facebook.  Having done last year’s Afrika Fest in Stuttgart, I didn’t have especially high hopes.  But, in all honesty, Bill and I really enjoyed ourselves at the larger festival in Tübingen.  We had a blast.  In fact, it was so much fun that, as we were winding down our visit, I was actually talking about joining the Peace Corps for a second tour.  My time in the Peace Corps changed my life, but I didn’t leave it thinking I’d want to do it again.  If I go through an experience making me consider a second go at life in an exotic place, you know it must have been something special.

We decided to go to the festival this morning after determining that there wouldn’t be too much rain.  Although we usually drive to Tübingen, today we decided to take the train from Herrenberg.  When we lived in Germany the first time, we got pretty familiar with the Ammertalbahn, though now that we live closer to Herrenberg, we don’t use it.  Bill wanted to be able to drink more.  As it turned out, driving would have been better.  The Afrika Fest is being held at the Festplatz, which has plenty of easy parking.

As it was, we spent five euros apiece each way to ride the train to Tübingen, then walked at least a mile from the train station.  That wasn’t a huge deal, except we weren’t quite sure where we were going, so it was more nervewracking than it might have been otherwise.  It cost six euros per adult for admission; we got our hands stamped.  Had we wanted to visit all four days of the fest, we could have gotten a slight break by buying a four day ticket.

The Afrika Fest in Tübingen was offering a lot and was well worth the price of admission.  Bill and I ended up having a blast.  There was plenty of seating.  We never had any worries about having a rest when we wanted it.  There was plenty of good African food; although the focus was on Burundi, lots of different countries were represented, including an Ethiopian restaurant in Tübingen that Bill and I had been wanting to try.  There was also Senegalese food and Ghanian food, plus plenty of clothing, art, and food dealers.  We came home with a pound of coffee beans from Burundi and mango coconut candy, as well as several CDs from African musicians.

Speaking of music, that was probably my favorite part about today.  There were DJs playing some great music, but as far as I’m concerned, the African drummers who performed this afternoon stole the show.  I got some raw footage that I hope to turn into a YouTube video very soon.  They were awesome!  People were really getting into it!  But then a DJ rudely cut in with some rather funny but inferior performances.  Bill and I were joined at our table by a couple of young ladies who pretty much confirmed our impressions.  Anyway… here are some photos from today.  Stay tuned for a video that will probably show up tomorrow.  ETA:  Here’s the video!

Note the tip bowl on the lady’s head!  These folks were awesome and I did get some footage that I’ll need to put into a video when I’m sober.

 

Originally, Bill thought the fest was taking place in that building…

The sign…  You can still visit tomorrow if you want to.

Lots of tents with lots of vendors.

Obligatory shot of Bill.

Awesome drummers.  A couple of these guys later spent some time totally entertaining the crowd until they were rudely usurped.

I have read great things about this restaurant in Tübingen, which was catering at the Afrika Fest today.  We decided to eat lunch there…

Lovely South African red wine.

Chicken with injeera, carrots, eggplant, and zucchini all cooked together…

 

Bill’s version was prepared with beef.  It was delicious.  8 euros per person and more than either of us could eat.

German collaboration with Burundi.

Coffee from Burundi.  We bought some after tasting it in another tent, where we got to chat with a couple of very nice German ladies.

Nigerian beer.  It was somewhat better than I expected and very refreshing.

Lots of flyers.

And some angelic childlike fliers…  These girls were a joy to watch.  They were obviously very good friends and were doing cartwheels in tandem, as if they were performing.  And they were also cooperating with the hardworking German D.J. who was trying to pump everyone up.

This guy was very funny…  we bought his CDs.

Bill obviously having fun.

This guy was also pretty awesome.  He was on the stage rapping, dancing, and motivating the crowd. More people seemed into his music than the guy before him.

After a couple of beers and several hours, we headed back for the train station.  We passed this place and I couldn’t resist taking a picture, despite the threatening dog.

Once we got to the train station, we decided to eat there.  We both had schnitzels which came with the above salad.

The main course… way too much to eat.

And a very animated stag party going on in second class on the way to Stuttgart.

Weird action shot…

Yeah… the video will do it better justice.  The drummers were the highlight of the day, as far as I’m concerned.  Anytime I start talking about rejoining the Peace Corps, you know I was moved…

 

We really had a great time at the Afrika Fest in Tübingen.  I would highly recommend it to anyone interested in visiting tomorrow.  There’s lots of parking, good food, good music, and stuff for kids, including games and a bouncy house.  Also, the toilets are clean and not heavily guarded by a Klofrau.  In all seriousness, if we get bored tomorrow, we may even go back for more.  It runs tomorrow night until 8:00pm and tonight until 11:00pm.

If we’re here next year when they do the Afrika Fest in Tübingen, we’ll definitely be back.  It was probably one of the best fests I’ve ever been to.  What I liked about this fest was the emphasis on peace and the fact that everyone there was there to have fun and let their hair down.  The vibe was different than it was in Esslingen a couple of weeks ago… much less formal and more people just enjoying music, food, dancing, and drinking…  I liked that one of the DJs specifically addressed terrorism and how it had no place at the fest.  We were all there to have a good time.  It was a real win.

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