In a theme to be repeated often, we had a plan! for Sunday, only to find that one of our key assumptions was in error -- but happily, this often works out just as well.
We thought we were going to a wine festival, since it was listed as such in our local English paper. Also, Vin translates to "wine," and this was named Vinzenzifest. So off we went to Wendlingen am Neckar, found a parking place of dubious legality, and strode off in the same direction as everyone else towards the town center.
It was lovely! Fest tables all about, oompah bands playing, tons of people in tracht, traditional German dresses and lederhosen, and plenty of.... beer? Where was all the wine?
Well, not to let a good time go by, we walked about, found a table, procured pommes (French fries) and bier, and chatted with the Germans next to us. Fest tables can seat about sixteen people in all, which either means your entire club can share a table or two, or you will inevitably sit next to people you don't know and end up being friendly. It's quite a good theory!
We found out that it was not Vin-zenzifest, but rather Vinzenzi-fest -- that is, in honor of St. Vincent. As to why it is called Birnsonntag, literally Pear Sunday, our tablemates had no idea. I've googled it only to find references to Vincenzifest.
At 1330 the opening shots to the parade were fired. We ambled towards the end of the parade route, in a residential neighborhood near where our car was parked, hoping to find a spot in the shade that wasn't too crowded. Happily, this worked out nicely, and we began to watch the Umzug, which was the reason for so many people wearing tracht : it was, in fact, a parade of traditional costumes & life in Germany.
How delightful! Four or five farmers' groups handed out fresh fruit to the children -- grapes, plums, little apple-plums. There were, of course, many bands, and several large carts pulled by draft horses, advertising beer. There were even groups from the Netherlands and Wales, and to our surprise, a group marching with an American Confederate flag dressed for "Gone With the Wind." My favorite was to watch a group of men & women carrying arches of greenery dance and to see how the arches intertwined in the dance; I had thought they were merely ornamental.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and vicariously coming along with us on our Sunday afternoon!
We thought we were going to a wine festival, since it was listed as such in our local English paper. Also, Vin translates to "wine," and this was named Vinzenzifest. So off we went to Wendlingen am Neckar, found a parking place of dubious legality, and strode off in the same direction as everyone else towards the town center.
It was lovely! Fest tables all about, oompah bands playing, tons of people in tracht, traditional German dresses and lederhosen, and plenty of.... beer? Where was all the wine?
Well, not to let a good time go by, we walked about, found a table, procured pommes (French fries) and bier, and chatted with the Germans next to us. Fest tables can seat about sixteen people in all, which either means your entire club can share a table or two, or you will inevitably sit next to people you don't know and end up being friendly. It's quite a good theory!
We found out that it was not Vin-zenzifest, but rather Vinzenzi-fest -- that is, in honor of St. Vincent. As to why it is called Birnsonntag, literally Pear Sunday, our tablemates had no idea. I've googled it only to find references to Vincenzifest.
At 1330 the opening shots to the parade were fired. We ambled towards the end of the parade route, in a residential neighborhood near where our car was parked, hoping to find a spot in the shade that wasn't too crowded. Happily, this worked out nicely, and we began to watch the Umzug, which was the reason for so many people wearing tracht : it was, in fact, a parade of traditional costumes & life in Germany.
How delightful! Four or five farmers' groups handed out fresh fruit to the children -- grapes, plums, little apple-plums. There were, of course, many bands, and several large carts pulled by draft horses, advertising beer. There were even groups from the Netherlands and Wales, and to our surprise, a group marching with an American Confederate flag dressed for "Gone With the Wind." My favorite was to watch a group of men & women carrying arches of greenery dance and to see how the arches intertwined in the dance; I had thought they were merely ornamental.
Hope you enjoyed the pictures and vicariously coming along with us on our Sunday afternoon!
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