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Donning a dirndl at the Weindorf on a Monday…

A brand new dirndl pic for 2017, as opposed to the 2016 one I have on Facebook right now.

Bill and I totally wanted to visit the Stuttgarter Weindorf over the holiday weekend, especially since we had no plans to go anywhere for Labor Day.  Sadly, our dog Arran was not feeling well on Saturday or Sunday.  He was vomiting and had diarrhea and I didn’t feel comfortable leaving him alone.  So we spent the long weekend mostly binge watching ER on iTunes.

This morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day.  Arran was feeling a whole lot better.  He and our other dog, Zane, took an energetic walk with Bill.  They enjoyed their breakfast and neither one was throwing up or suffering from diarrhea.  We felt safe going to the Weindorf.

Here’s the thing, though.  I had planned to wear my expensive and pretty dirndl over the weekend and probably would have felt pretty fine doing so, since I reckoned that’s when a lot of my fellow American countryfolk would be there dressed for the fest.  I remembered last year, we visited the Weindorf over the weekend and saw people wearing Trachten.  Granted, I think they were all Americans, but we did see them decked out for the occasion.  And since I don’t know if we will attend the Canstatter Fest this year, I wanted to wear my lovely blue dirndl and get some use out of it.

I asked Bill what he thought and he said I should wear it.  He doesn’t have an outfit himself, so all he had to do was be seen with me.  I must admit, there are few styles as flattering to my zaftig figure as a dirndl is. There was even a time in my life when I wore one daily, because I worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia in the German section of the park.  And since I blew a big load of cash on my dirndl last year, I decided to wear it, even though I knew none of the locals would be dressed up unless they were waiting tables.

We got to the festival in downtown Stuttgart and walked around.  I felt a little silly in my fancy fest dress.  Looking around, I caught the stares of a few Germans and they were grinning broadly.

We walked over to the area where we sat last year.  I noticed the signs warning people not to climb on the arches.  I’m sure the sign was there because it’s been a problem in the past.

This booth was in the same spot last year…

As was this one… In fact, this was where we sat last year.  This year, we tried a different restaurant.

Just before I took this picture, a slender, pretty blonde woman approached and asked if I was “Jenny”.  I said I was and she identified herself as a reader of this rag of a blog!  I always love meeting people who take the time to read what I write!  Of course, they spot us because of all the pictures of Bill.

Thank God for the WC.  Fifty cents, as usual, worth every euro penny…

We decided to eat at the Zum Reussenstein booth.  We enjoyed a nice dinner last year at their restaurant, so I had a feeling the food would be good.  It also offered seating deep enough so I wouldn’t feel like I was on display in my sapphire blue and silver dirndl with rhinestones all over it.

Bill enjoyed the view of my melons…

I tried an iPhone selfie, which turned out weird because the camera reverses everything.  I don’t photograph particularly well under the best of circumstances.  Add wine and there is the potential for disaster!  But I felt like this shot captured my silly mood.

I decided on a half duck for lunch…  

It came with bread.  If I had wanted kraut and/or dumplings, we could have spent three more euros for that.  As it was, the half duck was too much.  However, it was very tasty!

I decided to tuck the napkin into my blouse, bib style.  I figured it would be more of a disaster if I dripped gravy on the white blouse than the blue dress.  Although last year at fest, I overdid it and needed some serious dry cleaning services…  I am grateful to add that the dirndl won’t need a dry cleaning before the next time I wear this get up.

Bill went with the “Ochsenbrust”, which I pointed out to him (couldn’t have him ordering a cheese plate if I was eating duck, right?).  It came with fried potatoes and a very nice creamy horseradish sauce.  He said the meat itself reminded him more of a tenderloin than a breast of any sort.

 

I was quickly finished with the food, so I turned my attention to the wines.  I had four of them.  We started with a lovely white burgundy… the one at the bottom of the list on the picture below.  It was crisp and slightly fruity and I enjoyed it immensely

But it was 8,50 euros…  not cheap!

 

Bill enjoyed the next vino for him, a dry German red…  I had one made from Lemberger grapes, while his was Salucci blend.

And here you can read in German about what we had…  Mine was the last one on the page, while his was wine #2

Bill was reading up like a good boy…

and he almost had me talked into ordering the merlot…

But I decided to try a very nice and dry rose.  

 

Bottoms up…  Yikes!  Another freaky iPhone selfie!

At around this time, I decided to go to the ladies room again.  When I came back, a couple of the servers, also clad in dirndls, were putting down reservation notices on the tables.  The table where we were sitting was reserved for 7:00pm.  When she saw that I was wearing a dirndl, she requested in German that I show it off.  I had been covered up with a pretty blue cashmere shawl that I bought in the Miami airport a few years ago.  It happens to match perfectly, as does the lapis lazuli jewelry I bought at Novica last year.  For all I know, she went in the back room and had a good laugh!  But honestly, most of the people I saw today seemed tickled that I dressed up, even if it wasn’t the norm.  Most people were smiling at me appreciatively… or, at least I like to think they were.  After a couple of wines, I didn’t care.

As a last hurrah, I had a glass of sekt.  It was the cheapest and driest one.  

 

I’m proud to announce that we spent less this year than we did last year.  Of course, Bill stopped at two glasses of wine because we were forced to drive to the fest instead of taking the train, like we did last year.  All told, we paid about 76 euros before tipping.

I had brought a change of clothes in case I either decided I was too uncomfortable or I had an unfortunate mishap with my dirndl, like I did the first time I wore it at the Cannstatter Fest last year.  As it turned out, I didn’t throw up and I wasn’t so uncomfortable I needed to change.  So we went to the Feinkost Bohm in search of sushi for dinner.  There was no sushi, but we did buy a couple of nice Scottish steaks.  And I was very flattered when the guy at the meat counter asked in German if we were Germans or Americans.  I was also rewarded with a huge smile from one of the cashiers as I strutted through with my sapphire colored dirndl with its silver trim and sparkly crystals.  Indeed, I have come a long way from the crappy machine washable polyester dirndl I wore when I was twenty years old and working at Busch Gardens in the early 90s.  Now I am festing in style!  I’m still wearing polyester, but it now requires dry cleaning!

In all seriousness, I don’t know that you need to dress up on a work day for the Weindorf.  I had a feeling that would be the case.  But I was in the mood for some fun and it’s not often I get to wear my German garb, so I happily trotted it out for the lunch crowd.  I think some people enjoyed the spectacle… almost as much as they did the very funny clown who was entertaining people with his whistle.  I have noticed that Germans seem to enjoy people who are willing to act the fool and they are a good and very gracious audience.  But if you’re going to wear fest clothes and don’t want to look silly, you might want to do it on a weekend or in the evening, when others are more likely to sport dirndls and lederhosen.  On the other hand, you only live once… and I did have a good time attracting attention to myself, as usual!  It was a treat to meet another person who has read this blog, too!

The Weindorf runs until Sunday, September 10th.  It’s in downtown Stuttgart and opens daily at 11:30am.  If you like wine, be there or be square.

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Friday festing!

Yesterday afternoon, Bill and I went to the Cannstatter Volksfest for the first time since 2007.  The Cannstatter Volksfest is a pretty big deal.  I have heard it is the second largest fall fest in Germany behind Oktoberfest in Munich.  This year, the Volksfest runs from September 23rd until October 9th.

The first time we experienced the Volksfest was just days after our arrival in Germany.  Bill’s office at EUCOM had reserved a table.  We were brand new and knew no one.  I remember going to the tent and sitting among a huge crowd of people, many of whom were much younger than I was.  The band played fun songs that they never seemed to finish.  I distinctly remember hearing them play “So Lonely” by The Police several times, but they only seemed to know the chorus.  I also remember a bunch of young guys, maybe 17 or 18 years old, with bras on their heads.  They hit on me, even though I was old enough to be their mother.  I think they had their beer goggles strapped on pretty tight!

This time, Bill and I went with people who work with him at AFRICOM.  Instead of attending at night, we went at 11:00am.  I was surprised by how much emptier the tent was.  I was also surprised to see so many people dressed in proper Bavarian attire.  Lots of guys were wearing lederhosen.  Lots of women, myself included, wore dirndls.  I did not get any pictures of myself yesterday, which is probably a good thing.  By the time we were finished festing, I’d had four Maßkrugs of beer and was definitely in no shape for photos.  Our tickets, included four drinks and a meal.  Maybe next time, I’ll stick with apple schorle.

Anyway, I did take a lot of pictures and got some video, which I will probably turn into a YouTube movie.  Here are some of the highlights of yesterday’s festivities!

At 11:00am, the food stands and rides were pretty idle.

 
 
 

White horses in front of the Dinckelacker tent.  We didn’t realize there was a guy with a camera taking official photos until he told us to vamoose.

 
 

Black horses in front of the Schwaben Bräu tent, which is where we enjoyed our afternoon.

Obligatory shot of Bill.  He promises me he’s going to shave this weekend.

 

Bill was one of the few in our group who didn’t dress up.  He did wear his Saint Obnoxious t-shirt, though.  For those who don’t speak German, it reads “Life is too short to drink shitty beer.”

 

At one point, an older German lady came up behind Bill slowly and read his t-shirt.  She had on a sequined turquoise and white dress and wore lots of make up.  I didn’t quite catch what she said to Bill, but I could tell she liked the shirt.  Meanwhile, I got stopped by a young German man who wanted to know why Americans like Germany so much.  I don’t remember what I told him, but I do remember kissing him.  I thought it was the only way he was going to let me get back to the table.

The tent after we’d been sitting there awhile.

I got a big kick out of this sports team near us.  They were having a blast!  All of them had nicknames on their backs.

The band broke into a rousing rendition of “Looking for Freedom”, a song made famous in 1989 by David Hasselhoff.  As you can see, the lead singer dressed the part!  I got footage of this performance that I will probably put on the Internet for all to see.  ETA:  Here’s the video.

 

David Hasselhoff sings the famous original.

There was much dancing and singing.

There was so much beer!  I drank four of these and paid for it later.

And yes, there was delicious, fresh, roasted chicken with bread… Germans sure do chicken right!  

A good time was had by all! 

 

All in all, I think I like the midday festing better.  It was a lot less crowded and chaotic.  There was never a wait for the ladies room.  Believe me, after four big beers, I sure needed a potty with no line.  I dozed off on the train ride home  and got my dirndl stuck in the car door, which earned me a gentle chastising from a German lady.  But, aside from being a little tired this morning, I’m not too much worse for wear.  The new dirndl is headed for the cleaners and I’ll put it away until the spring fest!

There are a couple of things I did that turned out to be smart.  I brought an extra pair of comfortable shoes to wear on the train ride home.  I also brought a shawl, which serve to keep me warm and covered up an unfortunate spill on my blouse.  I only wish I’d remembered to buy a hat this time!

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I just bought a dirndl of my very own…

I swore I wouldn’t do it.  For four summers, I worked in the Germany section of Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Two of those summers, I wore hideous fake lederhosen that weren’t really lederhosen as much as they were ugly culottes with shirts and suspenders.  The second year, they sewed all the suspenders to the shirts.  In a way, that was a good thing.  When the suspenders were loose, they’d catch on things.  I once got one caught on the yogurt machine that never worked in any of my four summers there.

Then, during my third year, the powers that be decided all the females should wear dirndls.  I didn’t mind that at all.  For one thing, dirndls are fairly flattering, especially if you have big boobs, which I most certainly do.  For another thing, it was a lot easier to use the bathroom when we were wearing the dirndls.  The fake lederhosen culottes fastened in the back, which made dropping trou kind of awkward.  With the dirndl, all I had to do was hike up my skirt.  I wore shorts underneath so my thighs wouldn’t rub all day and it was great.

After the summer of 1992, I thought I’d seen the last of my dirndl days.  Then, the other day, I got a wild hair up my ass and decided I wanted to have a dirndl of my own.  I do have German ancestry, even though it’s buried under a lot of Scottish and English ancestry.  And we are planning to go to the fest next weekend.  Why the hell not?  Germans wear them.  Why can’t I?  I must admit there was a fair amount of peer pressure from Facebook friends, too.

So yesterday, I ordered my dirndl and a blouse off Amazon.de, of all places.  I know I probably should have gone to a store; but I hate shopping in stores, especially for clothes.  And I saw one on Amazon that I absolutely loved, even though it was more expensive than a lot of the other ones I saw offered.  I based my German size on what I normally wear in America; then I went a size higher.  I figured it would be better if it was too big than too small.  Turns out the size I chose was just right, if not a little big, with just a little extra wiggle room for my boobs.  ETA: My German friend Susanne says many people buy dirndls smaller than their regular size, but I figure I’d rather have more room for beer.

My new German garb arrived today, just one day after I ordered it.  I must say, I am very pleased with it, even if I do wish I could wear a smaller size…

I should mention that some dirndls come with blouses and some don’t.  My new dirndl was made by Krueger and the blouse was sold separately.  The apron came with the dirndl.  I thought about buying a matching sweater, but then realized I have a shawl in this color that will work fine.

I had to take these pictures myself… Maybe when Bill gets home, I’ll have him take one so people can see how long it is.  The necklace is a Novica find that just arrived a couple of weeks ago!  I must say, it’s perfect for this outfit!

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Ten things I learned on the Beer and Fucking Tour…

If you read this blog, you may know that after a trip, I like to reflect on the things I learned.  This trip in particular was really about drinking beer and seeing places with funny names.  And yet, I did learn a few new things thanks to our trip to Austria.  So here goes.  This is some of the stuff I learned on our Beer and Fucking Tour.

1.  Austria is home to Highline 179, which is currently the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in the world.  It’s listed in the Guinness Book of World Records.  But there are also other suspension bridges located nearby that are almost as long and not as pricey to visit.  We had such a great time in the Tyrol area that Bill and I might have to go back and explore some more… and maybe cross more bridges.  The Holzgau Bridge is free, open to the public 24/7 365 days a year, and looks like it’s pretty picturesque.  On the other hand, Highline 179 is worth visiting because it has a great museum and the ruins are beautiful.

2.  If you are a beer lover and like beer spas, Austria is a great place to visit!  In fact, there is another hotel in Austria, close to the Tyrol region, that offers a beer spa.  Hotel Diana in Seefeld is a possibility for those who would rather not visit Franking, though personally I think Franking is well worth seeing.  We had so much fun there that we may have to make a repeat trip!

3.  Austrians use some words that aren’t that common in Germany.  For instance, when I was researching places to visit in Austria, I came across the word Jausenkarte (snack menu).  I asked on Facebook what it was and my German friend piped up and explained that Jausen means snacks.  I had never seen that word in Germany, though she said her family uses it sometimes.

4.  There are many places in and around Austria with names that are funny for English speakers.  We visited Fucking and Fuckersberg, but we didn’t make it to Kissing, Petting, or Wank Mountain.  Perhaps on a future visit…

5.  Swimming in a big pool full of warm beer water is super fun!

6.  I may have to get a dirndl of my very own, even though I used to wear one every day when I worked at Busch Gardens in Williamsburg, Virginia.  Though we mostly saw people wearing them while working in restaurants, I did see a couple of people wearing them out and about.  I also saw lots of cool Austrian fashions on the men, like lederhosen and beautifully made jackets and sweaters.  Maybe if I quit drinking so much beer, I can squeeze into some Austrian fashions myself.

7.  We need to take more road trips with my Mini.  We bought it on the way back to the States from Germany back in 2009 and it’s just now approaching the 23,000 mile mark on the odometer.  The car needs to be driven and it’s a lot of fun driving it in Europe!

8.  People drive like maniacs on the autobahn.  Seriously… yes, I’ve seen them near drive like maniacs where we live, but there were a few times on our road trip when Bill was doing about 80 mph and got passed as if we were standing still.

9.  Austria has snakes.

10.  I really need to get back to studying German.  And I need to learn how to not crack up when people are using public restrooms.

So pretty!

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