Romanianflyer

The Oktoberfest in the Bavarian capital of Munich is world famous, and deservedly so. What's not to like about boozing on quality beer served in steins a liter in size, enjoying good old German singalong songs, eating hearty grilled meats while admiring the girls showing off their cleavage in their dirndls. I can easily understand why the festival is so popular and a bucket-list thing for many (overseas) travellers.

That said, there are many things not to like about the Oktoberfest: first of all, it can be very expensive. Leaving aside flight tickets, this mostly counts for accommodation in the Munich area. Prices literally skyrocket and easily get booked out a year in advance. It is not uncommon to find even the last hostel beds being sold for close to 100 EUR per night. Second, many foreign visitors forget or simply do not know that for the big beer tents, you must reserve well (10-12 months) in advance if you want to be assured of a place inside. Yes, going at off-peak hours you can get an unreserved seat or grab a table the hours before the next reservation kicks in, but at times this requires VERY long waits outside - for those who hate queuing and crowds this is not exactly a pleasant way to spend the festival. Personally, I find the Munich Oktoberfest also too touristy. Nothing against individual Italians, Americans and Australians, but when they come in huge groups and make up the majority in a certain tents (and it happens in certain Oktoberfest tents), the atmosphere just changes.. Also because many of them really are not used to drinking (quality) beer and have sometimes a blatant disregard of rules and traditions it often causes unpleasant situations.

There are however some alternatives where you can have an equally great time as in Munich! The Oktoberfest in Munich is only one of the many "volksfesten" ("people's festivals" in German) found around the entire country. These often involve giant beer (or wine in some areas of Germany) tents and a travelling fun fair. Some of them might be once a year and coincide with a local celebration, others such as the Munich one are seasonal, where there is a major volksfest in autumn, and a smaller one in spring. You can find these festivals all over Germany, although the ones in the southern German states (especially Bavaria, and to a lesser extent Baden-Wuerttemberg) are more "traditional" in a certain way (let's say, more what overseas travellers would expect of it with men dressed in lederhosen and women in dirndls).

This is why I prefer the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart in Baden-Wuerttemberg above the Oktoberfest in Munich. After the Oktoberfest, the Cannstatter Volksfest (don't call it 'Oktoberfest' as it will insult the locals) is the second biggest volksfest in Germany - and it is basically the exact same style as the festival in Munich. It is celebrated around the same dates, there is a funfair and some huge beer tents - but instead of the known Bavarian brands such as Augustiner, Lowenbrau or Paulaner they serve only local beers from Stuttgart. The great thing about the festival is that it is easy to find affordable accommodation in the Stuttgart area even a few months out (although it is advisable to reserve tables about 6-7 months ahead if you want to be assured of a seat). For the last six or seven years, me and my old hometown mates have made a visit to the Cannstatter Festival an annual tradition - and I was also very much looking forward to visit it this year.

Booking my flights was never as easy as this time, as TAROM recently started thrice-weekly Bucharest-Stuttgart flights with a stop in Sibiu - and the dates matched perfectly with our plans. I would fly out on Friday morning, giving us the entire Friday afternoon and evening, as well as the Saturday, at the Cannstatter Wasen. On Sunday afternoon I would then fly back to Bucharest - again with an intermediate stop in Sibiu. At 140 EUR for a return ticket I couldn't complain at all. Given the flight would actually count as 4 segments it was also great for scoring some XPs for my platinum re-qualification for Flying Blue.



Highlights to look forward to in this trip report include:
- Four segments (two domestic, two international) on TAROM in economy class
- Gallons of beer
- Good amounts of grilled pork and chicken
- An insight into beer fest etiquette and culture

Fredrik74

Are you ever at home? Looks like you're travelling all the time.

roadwarrier

Sitting in Johannesburg at 35 C on a Sunday, having some of my own home brewed beer, really wants to read the rest of this TR. ^

wxman22

Very well described.
And if beer is not your thing, the wine fests that take place in the fall in the Rheinland Pfalz and further north, are not to be missed. All the culture and tradition of the beer fests without beer.
For me it allows me to enjoy the food even more..

And TAROM, how I miss the good old days, punctuated by a flight from Bucuresti to Constanta, on a 4 engine prop job with the fire bell going off the whole flight. The flight engineer would come back to the cabin every few minutes to check out the port wing to see if there were any flames yet. Nowadays, the computer would probably turn off the engine and the pilots wouldn't know how to fly.

Romanianflyer

Ha I do try to travel at least once a month, even if it is just for a (long) weekend trip away! Not having a fixed office makes it also much easier to do so, as I can combine it at times with work as long as I have an internet connection and laptop with me.

But actually there has not been that much travelling in recent months - it's more that I have a huge backlog on writing trip reports, sorting out thousands of pictures I took etc. The last TR (Indonesia) was a travel in August, but it took me two full months to write and post the entirety of it here on FT!

I'm officially jealous sitting at home, temperatures of 0 degrees Celsius outside and it being the first day of the season I have to fire up the heating in my house! Still have to try home brewing once, weirdly enough I have never attempted that..!

I totally agree that wine goes better with most food than the average beer - although for some typical volksfest food (grilled rooster, pork knuckle) it matters a bit less IMHO. Weirdly enough I have never visited a wine festival in Rheinland Pfalz, even though I have visited the state on hundreds or occasions since childhood as my grandparents have their holiday address there. I definitely should put that on my own list of travel wishes!

Great story about the TAROM flight! That was still in the days of old Soviet aircraft? (I can't think of any aircraft which match the description of a four-engine prop owned by TAROM in the past except for the Ilyushin Il-18)

darthlemsip

Finally someone else who prefers Stuttgart to Munich for this!

gaobest

Romanianflyer

Great to see there are others who think alike! I'm curious though how celebrations would be in other (smaller) Bavarian cities, eg. Passau. But I would have a hard time convincing my friends to join there as its a few hours driving more for them

Unfortunately I'm far from an expert when it comes to regional German food and doubt that anything which I tasted is typical Schwabian (although it's all most definitely German). I'm already happy that I know that a weisswurst is typical Bavarian breakfast food and that Nurnberger rostbratwurst is the sausage typical for Franconia

About the historical/cultural area of Schwabia you are correct, Stuttgart is most definitely located right in it! Strangely enough I've visited the Cannstatter 4 times with my mates, but have never really set a food in (the centre of) Stuttgart - I should definitely add a day of sightseeing in the area the next time.

lloydje33

Subscribed! Looks like a fun event to visit in the near future.

Romanianflyer

Part 1: Bucharest (OTP) to Sibiu (SBZ) on TAROM in economy
Flight RO 721 - Airbus A318 - Seat 2F
STD 7.50am - STA 8.35am (flight time 45m)

I arrived relatively early at the airport (6.20am) as Otopeni is as unreliable as it can be during the morning rush hour. Sometimes the queues are so light that you ease past relatively quickly, at other times it can be hell with crowds and slow-moving security checks. This time, the queue at security moved pretty quickly.


One of the two security checkpoints at OTP – afterwards you head left for the domestic terminal, right for passport control and the main (international) departure terminal. Note: picture from an earlier TR.

Unfortunately this meant I had quite some time to kill in the domestic departure terminal – which is absolutely bare-bone. The average waiting area at your local dentist has more charm. There is one overpriced bar in the middle of the sea of seats and that's just it. There is a domestic lounge, but the doors of it were firmly shut. Given how bad the main TAROM lounge at international departures is, I doubt I missed much.

As I had taken a good book with me time waiting went by fast. All domestic flights are boarded by (antique) buses – somehow the normal Cobus airport buses we all know are only used for proper international flights.



The only good thing about waking up early is the sunrise light over the airport.



We had to sit however some ten minutes on the tarmac together with a dozen or so other airport vehicles to wait for an aeroplane to pass by..



Today's plane was an Airbus A318, which would fly Bucharest-Sibiu-Stuttgart-Timisoara-Stuttgart-Sibiu-Bucharest today. On the domestic sectors it is operated in an all economy class configuration, although on the international sectors it has a business class product (albeit with crap Euro-business class seating). The advantage is that at OLCI you can snag seats in front of the curtain for the domestic sector. The tray-tables on the middle seat were not removed which meant at least on this sector I would not have a direct seat mate. The seats to go for are 1A-C or 2D-F as these are the bulkhead seats with lots of legroom.






Business class on the A318 – pictures taken on an earlier trips

We took off on time on this cloudy September morning from one of OTP's two runways.



The distance between Bucharest's Otopeni airport and Sibiu's airport is only 129 miles as the crow flies, although the actual distance is a bit longer given the aeroplane has to cross the Carpathian mountains which form the immediate backdrop to the south of Sibiu. This means the plane first heads straight to the north, to make a 90 degree turn there across the mountains to align with Carpathians and the east-west runway at Sibiu. Even with the slight detour the plane has to take the flight is still very short with a flying time of only 45 minutes.


OTP to SBZ – with in red the route as the crow flies, and the line in orange more or less being the actual flight path.

Surprisingly, there is even a (limited) service once at cruising altitude! A dry croissant is served, together with a drink (choice only between coffee/tea/orange juice or water).



Needless to say, views over the Carpathians are quite decent. A seat on the left-hand side of the plane gives you the best mountain views on arrival, although the seats on the right will give you a view over the Sibiu city centre.

Where the weather on the southern side of the Carpathians was cloudy, it was a gorgeous day on the Transylvanian side to the North with clear blue skies.







Being seated on the right, I had some great views of the small city of Sibiu – which by the way is well-worth a visit for its gorgeous Medieval city centre.






Views over Sibiu on approach to SBZ – if you look carefully you can see the main Germanic protestant church, the city watchtower, and the big main square.

All passengers have to disembark in Sibiu – and it seemed that only a handful of passengers were continuing to Stuttgart. Sibiu's airport isn't exactly made for transfer passengers as you do need to go landside first in order to connect. You just walk straight from the plane to the small arrivals hall (no buses!), where you walk 20 metres towards the check-in desks where also security and passport control are located. Even while you need to go through security again, this really does not matter much as crowds were completely absent as passengers originating in Sibiu heading for Stuttgart all already seemed to have cleared the checks. There are 50 minutes between scheduled arrival and departure – I managed to deplane, go through security and passport control in ten minutes.

Sibiu is a small and really friendly airport – it may have to do with the relaxed and slow Transylvanian nature of the locals, but what a difference from the crowds and stress at Bucharest. It's the kind of regional airport where everyone, from police manning the passport control booths to the baggage x-ray staff are all smiling and genuinely helpful and friendly. The airport has a small duty free shop, a coffee shop/bar and a small library where you can take a book for free (but are expected to return it on your next flight out if you can).





Boarding commenced on time, and it was fun to greet the same crew on the same aeroplane again.







Sibiu (SBZ) to Stuttgart (STR) on TAROM in economy
Flight RO 221 - Airbus A318 - Seat 3A
STD 9.25am - STA 10.25am (flight time 2h)

For the international sector, the plane has a proper business class cabin (in which one passenger was seated). This meant I had to select another seat for this sector during OLCI; I selected 3A directly behind the curtain. The load in economy was pretty decent at 80% (compared to around 50% for Bucharest-Sibiu).

There were some lovely views of the Carpathian foothills on take-off.







On this sector, an OK sandwich is served, together with a bag of salty nuts. There is a drink run with the sandwich, as well as a coffee/tea run afterwards. I ordered a red wine – but was weirdly served a white wine. Well never mind, I can drink that as well!



We arrived on time in Stuttgart and luckily had a proper aerobridge, which meant I was one of the first at passport control and through in no time.





In short: Two perfectly fine TAROM flights – which give a pretty decent picture what you can expect when flying them on short haul flights (mid-haul has a warm meal in economy). The crew was friendly and seats are relatively comfortable (much better than modern slimline seats!). Even though the 50-minute layover in Sibiu might seem tight and inconvenient, it is super easy to clear security again and to clear customs, and I had almost half an hour remaining waiting at the cute little airport.

Next up: Beer!

gaobest

Romanianflyer

It is good fun, and I can highly recommend it! Also, seeing your location (Netherlands) it should be extremely easy to reach (my friends joined me by car from the Eindhoven area).

Sibiu is in my opinion the most beautiful city in the country (although Brasov and Sighisoara aren't bad either). Given that it was founded by German settlers in Medieval times and historically had a large German-speaking population (although currently it's more than 2% of the population) the city has strong ties to Germany. There are quite some flights to airports like STR and especially MUC from Sibiu.

The small library was new for me as well, never seen that!

Romanianflyer

Part 2: NH Hotel Ludwigsburg
Twin room: 80 EUR/night

The hotel we opted to stay was the same as during previous years: the NH Hotel Ludwigsburg. As I wrote before in the introduction, accommodation prices do rise quite a lot during the days of the festival – although in Stuttgart this is not as crazy as in Munich. That said, most city centre hotels were asking quite hefty prices when we were searching some 4-5 months in advance – and those Stuttgart hotels which were within our budget had very bad reviews.

As Stuttgart has an excellent (sub)urban public transport network (also at night after the festival grounds have closed) we therefore went looking a bit out of the city. We ended up booking this hotel in the adjacent town of Ludwigsburg, which is part of the greater Stuttgart area and just a few metres away from the railway station. Transport from the airport to the hotel was simple and cheap (around 6 EUR) as it requires just one change of trains. First there is a direct S-Bahn train from the airport directly to Stuttgart's main railway station (S-bahn stands for Stadtbahn – which means 'urban railway' and are slower trains which stop at all stations).

Stuttgart Hbf (Hbf stands for Haubtbahnhof and means main station) is a terminus station and is very big and slightly inconvenient to change trains. This however does not count when you are travelling on the S-Bahn as these trains do not halt in the above-ground terminus station but are diverted into a long city tunnel and stop at the through-part of Stuttgart Hbf a few floors below ground. As there is only one platform with one track on each side, it is super easy to change trains – it just works like a metro station! And whichever direction you need to go travel, you rarely wait for more than five minutes for a train going your way. The massive building project to construct this underground railway was highly controversial as it required quite some digging and demolition of historical buildings, and many German locals are complaining the system doesn't work as perfect as it should. However, each time I travel to Stuttgart I find it working like a charm.



It took about thirty minutes from the airport to the main station, where after a two minute wait the train towards Ludwigsburg arrived. Add another twenty minutes and I was already standing at the station of Ludwigsburg. All super quick and efficient – especially as the hotel is only a 2 minute walk from the station.



Unfortunately I could not yet check into the room, although that did not matter that much as I had to wait anyway for my friends to arrive (they were travelling by car from the Netherlands to Ludwigsburg). I thus did what everyone in my position would do and sat down in the hotel lobby and ordered my first beer of the day – a tasty Weizen. Perfect to get the party started.





After a bit more than an hour my friends finally arrived and we were able to check into our rooms. The rooms are acceptable: they look fine, have all needed amenities and are spotlessly clean – but there are some inconveniences and weird details which are slightly annoying.




Twin room at the NH Ludwigsburg




View from one of the hotel rooms

First of all I find the beds at the NH Ludwigsburg ridiculously small. They are barely acceptable in length but really downright small size in width. The door to the bathroom does not fully close/lock and is also made of a weird kind of frosted glass – which is however not frosted enough as you can still look through a bit.

That said, the hotel employees were all outstanding – and the location next to the train station with easy access to Stuttgart and a short walk to the city centre of Ludwigsburg is unbeatable. When travelling alone (or for our purpose of immediately crashing on our beds when returning at night after a full day binging beer) the hotel is perfectly acceptable and the cons are not much of a deal breaker as they don't outweigh the many positive sides. But if I were staying for a longer time and/or travelling for other purposes I might look for a different hotel.

Next up: Our first day at the Cannstatter Volksfest!

Romanianflyer

Part 3: First day at the Cannstatter Wasen

Also the ride from Ludwigsburg to the location of the Wasen is perfectly doable by public transport. You first take the S-Bahn back to Stuttgart Hbf, where you make a same-platform change to the very frequent trains heading towards the Bad Cannstatt railway station – which is just a five minute walk away from the festival grounds.


Ludwigsburg station

Since the terrorist attacks to hit Germany in recent years, the festival grounds are guarded and there is a cursory bag check by security personnel before you can enter. Note that you cannot take large backpacks and suitcases with you.

It was a beautiful September day (yes, the Cannstatter Volksfest – as well as the Munich Oktoberfest – are predominantly held in September but run into a bit of October as well) so ideal weather to discover a bit of the festival grounds. The Volksfest basically consists of two parts: there are the huge beer tents (more like big wooden pre-fab barns) and there is the funfair consisting of dozens of thrill rides, a giant Ferris wheel and plenty of smaller tents, bars and stalls where you can get a beer, a snack, or sit down for a full meal.









The centre of the terrain is the Fruchtsäule (fruit column) – which features, eh well, fruit. It has a long history dating back to 1818 when the first fruit column was designed by a court architect of the Wuerttemberg royals and placed at the Volksfest. It was banned for a while after World War I as it was considered a "monarchist" remnant of the old days, but since 1935 each edition of the Volksfest features again a fruit column.



As you might have already noticed from pictures and expected, there are plenty of people dressed in tracht – the traditional clothing which involves either lederhosen or a traditional leather jacket for men, and the lovely dirndl for women. Contrary to belief this is not so much of an ancient tradition of people wearing this to the festival – but mostly a relatively new trend in which people from young to old started to rediscover these costumes.

There is a system how women tie their dirndl apron. If the bow is tied on the left side, it means a woman is single. On the right side, they are married or in a relationship. There is some confusion with other ways of tying the bow. When the bow is in the middle, it might mean that a woman is not interested or has an uncertain relationship status, although traditionally it can also mean the woman is a virgin. On the back it can mean that the woman in question is widowed, but it can also mean that the woman in question is on duty as a waitress!

We all were dressed in lederhosen as well (although on day one I was dressed in Romanian traditional attire) – but it is by no means compulsory or needed as there are plenty of people without. For us, it is just part of the fun!

Given it was such a beautiful day and our reservation inside one of the beer tents only started from 5pm onwards – we had a beer or two outside on the terrain.



For day one we had reserved a table inside the Sonja Merz tent – one of the few private tents not directly owned by one of the Stuttgart breweries (but of course it serves Stuttgart beer). When you make a reservation, you will receive a package at home containing paper wrist bands and coupons which you can use for drinks or food. So even if prices might seem a bit high when making a reservation, know that you always get some value back like this.

The wristband is an absolute essential – it kind of works like gold status at an airline as you can use the fast track entrance where there are never queues if you do not have such a wristband you cannot enter through this entrance and have to use the other one – where they only let people in based on how crowded it is inside/what the expectancy is for later on. So even if at 4pm there might still be plenty of empty places left, they might not let anyone enter as they know that at 5pm the people who reserved a table for the evening slot will arrive. Do not even think to tinker with the wristbands. We have seen people removed from the tents by the bouncers in a very rough way trying to cheat their way in. They will notice it when you wear a wristband from another day or use a damaged wristband (eg. when someone rips it off for a second person to wear it) as you need to raise your hand and show the wristband to enter. And trust me, you don't want to f**k with German bouncers – ze rules must be obeyed!

We quickly found our reserved table in the tent (tables feature a number and also the name of the person who made the reservation is printed). If you did not reserve you can still technically get a table by queueing and waiting until you can finally enter through the other entrance. You can then try to find any table which is not yet occupied – but know that if the group of a reservation turns up you have to leave. There are however frequent no-shows – in which case you might be lucky and able to snag a table! Yet this is not recommended if you are with a large group. If you are with let's say two to four people, it is a bit easier as you can always kindly ask if you can join a not fully occupied table which might have a few seats available on the long wooden benches. These volksfests are social events, and socialising, singing and drinking with others is the norm!

Do remember you will not get served if you are not seated behind a table in a beer tent!



Beer is traditionally served in a mass – the one-litre big jars of beer. Volksfest waiters carry easily up to ten or even twenty of these in one go! It's one heck of a hard job – so remember to properly tip, be it at the end one big tip when you leave or the waiter announces that he is finishing his shift, or with each round which you order. For Americans this is customary – but many Europeans fail to realise this. I know that tipping culture is not common in Europe like it is in the US – but such Volksfests are really an exception to the rule. I've heard waiters complain about groups of tourists just leaving one or two euro only after sitting down the entire night, it really is frowned upon. Also a deposit for the glasses is added (they get stolen or broken a lot). Expect to pay around 11 EUR for a one litre of beer.





The beer served in the Sonja Merz tent is Stuttgarter Hofbrau. The lager beer is specially produced for the Volksfest and is typically a slightly higher in alcohol content than the normal version which you buy in supermarkets or would drink in a normal Stuttgart pub. Needless to say, they do taste great!



Having already drank one 0.5L Weizen at the hotel, one 0.5L can in the train going to the Wasen, two 0.5L glasses of beer outside on the grounds, and having almost finished my first mass inside the tent – I was getting quite hungry! Food in the tents (well, food anywhere on the terrain!) is relatively expensive. Expect to pay about double as much as you would for the same dish in a low-key restaurant in the city. I ordered the 1.5 kilogram schweinshaxe (roasted pork knuckle), which costs around 25 EUR. The dish might not look that great (it only comes with some bread and it is not exactly beautifully plated) but it was absolutely delicious and is by far my favourite dish at such festivals.



At certain intervals a band is playing live schlager music, most of it German sing-a-long songs but at times also international classics are played (think 'country roads' and similar songs). Of course, the later the evening progresses, the more people stand up on the benches and sing along shoulder to shoulder! Do note that it is an absolute no-no to stand on the tables – strict security might even kick you out if you do this, so only stand on the benches. When the singer or presenter of the entertainment programme shouts “Die krüge hoch!” ('raise the glasses') and the ubiquitous song “Ein Prosit” ('a toast') starts to play, you are supposed to raise your glass and clink glasses with all others around you. Jolly fun!

After drinking 4 mass of beer (bringing the total of the day to 6 litres of beer) I definitely had my share. The tents shut down at midnight – and that really is about time to leave for home. During my first visit to the Cannstatter we made plans before to hit some pubs or clubs in Stuttgart, but we quickly realised that after a day at the Volksfest you just reach your limit in alcohol intake and energy and it's time to leave for home.

We did have a late-night walk around the grounds however and hit some of the rides, which like some of the smaller snack stalls stay open an hour or so after the closure of the tents.







Being with a group of 9, we of course lost track of some of us at this point. Four of my friends went for a walk themselves but were apparently too drunk to figure out the public transport system so they ended up getting lost while changing trains at Stuttgart Hbf and thus had to take a taxi to Ludgwigsburg (not too expensive at around 40-50 EUR).

For three of us it was also a challenge in the public transport. Even though we could easily manage and even bought a last can of beer for the ride home at Stuttgart Hbf, it was a Herculean task to keep the other two awake and not wandering off as they clearly had it. But what's a festival like this and a trip with your mates without such adventures!

Next up: Another day of beer boozing at the Cannstatter Volksfest

Romanianflyer

Part 4: The second day at the Cannstatter Volksfest

As our hotel does not serve any breakfast at all – we headed as usual to our favourite place in Ludwigsburg for a morning bite: Trölsch. It's a kind of bakery with a big assortment of pastries, pies and cakes. They do also have a nice sit-down area where they also offer such dishes as salads and cook-to-order eggs. Not that we were going to take a salad, what you need for a late breakfast during a beer festival is something more substantial!

For about 15 EUR I selected the 'Geniessers Frühstück' – which translates to something like the savourers' breakfast. It includes eggs made to order, some different cheeses and cold cuts, bread, a coffee of choice, orange juice, and even some Prosecco. Great way to start the day!





As my friends took forever to finish their meals with half of them having a hangover, I also had an iced coffee to kick out the last traces of alcohol in my own blood.



After a leisurely breakfast we headed towards the festival grounds at 1pm. It being a Saturday, it was decidedly more crowded than the day before! As the local football team (the real sport, not the handegg variety played in the US) was playing a home game in the nearby stadium there were also many fans dressed in the red-and-white VfB Stuttgart shirts on the ground, as well as some visiting fans of the away team of Werder Bremen. It all mixed perfectly without any bit of disorder.







After drinking a beer or three somewhere on the terrain, we headed to our reserved seats in the Schwabenbräu festival tent at 5pm. As we were a bit late this year with out reservations, we couldn't get a table inside the tent for this weekend day – but did manage to reserve one on the covered forecourt of the tent overlooking the festival terrain. This is not ideal as you are basically sitting at an outside table (although sheltered from any potential bad weather) and don't notice anything of the festivities inside the tent. But from experience we knew that this does not matter so much as the reservation does give you a bracelet with which you can walk freely in and outside the tent. We knew that most likely we would not have any trouble this way finding an available table inside at a later point if we would just look hard enough.

It wasn't all bad outside though. We drank a litre or two and enjoyed our dinner. I opted for the grilled rooster – yet another Volksfest classic. It was tasty enough, although I had much better ones before at other tents (the delicious grilled roosters at Dinkelacker jumps mostly to mind).





There was also a “gourmet menu” of more “fancy” dishes from which one of my friends ordered. The hamburger he got was nicely plated and apparently tasted good.



With three of my friends, we ordered a dessert platter – which was quite outrageously priced at 35 EUR or so. The portion sizes were a bit disappointingly small and the taste average.



After the meal we headed inside, where within ten minutes of one the guys in our group managed to find an almost empty table as most people of their reservation did not turn up. As it it Volksfest etiquette to share your table, they were welcoming us to take the empty spots. Score!







It was yet another great party in the tent and we stayed until closure time around midnight. Somehow we managed all to reach the hotel by public transport or taxi without any real problems. In fact, we all even had a little afterparty to celebrate one of our friends' birthday as it was past midnight. Unfortunately, the night receptionist at the hotel did not want to serve us beer as the hotel bar was already closed. Yet when one of my drunk friends starting to put his weird charms into action thinking that a “you have beautiful eyes, can we have a beer?” would work. Bizarrely, it did the trick and the young lady manning the reception made an exception for one round only. Afterwards we did even manage to find a nice enough pub next to the train station in Ludwigsburg which was still open for some more nightcaps. Good fun day it was for sure!

Next up: Stuttgart Airport and the Air France lounge