This week was a delight as I got to see one of my uncles who was visiting a nearby city for work and I also got to experience a local carnival. The cherry on top was that we got a couple days of fantastic weather so I got a nice dose of vitamin D which I desperately needed.
Second Gig at the Red Lion Pub
On Saturday night I had my second gig at the Red Lion Pub. It was a good show and I had some friends come out which was really cool. I'm definitely happy that I've been working on my social circle here in town.
At one point in the night, one table sent someone over to drop off some money in my tip jar. He had both of his hands full of coins and dumped it into my tip jar. In America, this probably wouldn't be considered as a good thing but in Europe, many of their coins are worth €1 or €2 so I estimated that they probably dropped about €20 in my tip jar which was a lot!
After the show, the owner of the bar told me she would count it up because they always need coins for the till. After she counted it all up, it turns out it was more than €50! It was a fantastic night and I'm looking forward to my next gig there in a couple weeks as well.
Hanging Out with Uncle Paul
I couldn't go too crazy on Saturday night because I had to get up early and catch a train to a city called Mainz which is near Frankfurt. My uncle Paul was getting into town for a work trip so I was excited to a see a new city with someone who knows the city very well.
We met up at his hotel which has a killer view of the Rhine River and then we took a stroll along the river itself. We went out for a quick bite of lunch and a beer and got to hang out with the locals outside since it was so sunny.
It was a perfect day for a nice beer so we ordered a round and sat back enjoying the view of this really nice city. There were people out and about walking, riding bikes and even riding a small train to make the best of the weather.
After lunch we took a nice long stroll along the boardwalk watching boats and enjoying the amazing weather. It was a much needed change since it's been about 55 degrees and raining every single day. It was probably the last good weather we're going to see before winter sets in so I was soaking up every second of it.
We decided to post up at the hotel and have a couple more pints and I can't stress enough how lovely of a day it was! I had a great time catching up with uncle Paul and we had a really nice chat about other places in the world to go see so I'll have to add them to my list.
We ended the day by going to a steak house and eating some delicious Argentinian-style steak with some decent red wine finished off with a delicious bread pudding. After dinner I left to catch a train back to Steinwenden. It was a great train ride as I got to enjoy a nice wine buzz and listen to an interesting pod cast.
As I got off the train, I heard music and shouting so I walked up the road. I saw a tent with some people and a bunch of beer in it and it turns out it was a local festival. Everything was winding down as it was the tail end of the night but I saw signs saying that it would continue on the next day. I headed home with a plan to check it out the following day.
Local Beer Fest
The next day I got a bunch of work done and then took a stroll over to the festival to see what was going on. There were carnival rides and some food stands but I have to stress that it was the tiniest carnival I've ever seen. I bought a bratwurst from one of the food stands and it was delicious. Here's a photo of the whole thing:
I walked over to the beer tent (not pictured above) and got in line for a beer. I saw the beer prices and it was cool because there were only two types of beer: Pilsner or Weizen. I did what I saw others doing and ordered a Masse of pilsner. A masse is the big mug that you picture whenever you hear the word "Oktoberfest." They handed me a mug and I found an empty table to sit and enjoy.
Here is a blurry picture of my beer (I swear it was my first drink! I just didn't want to be THAT guy taking a picture of my beer....)
About halfway through my beer, I realized I had been holding it wrong when I drank from it. I was holding it like this:
But I saw many, many other people holding it like this:
So I switched up my grip and put down the rest of the beer. I headed back for a Weizen beer (a smaller one this time), went back to my seat and enjoyed some nice German music that was being played. The crowd absolutely loved it and was really getting into it! I didn't recognize the songs but the energy was high and people were all smiles.
I took off after the second beer and went home for the evening but in hindsight, I should have stayed the whole time and soaked it all in.
However, I took a look at the event calendar of the surrounding towns over the next couple weekends and it looks like we're going to have some fun events coming up, mostly revolving around food and beer. It's a rough life!!
Otherwise...
Otherwise, I've just been putting in some hard work for the business and have been enjoying some time with my cousin. I also bought some tickets to go to Norway to visit another cousin so I'm really looking forward to that at the end of October!
I thank you for taking the time to read my blog and I hope you enjoy the rest of your week!
Tony G
No comments:
Post a Comment