Gemütlichkeit at the Cannstatter Volksfest

Gemütlichkeit at the Cannstatter Volksfest

Every year Stuttgart celebrates the change of season from summer to fall with a trip to the Cannstatter Volksfest. Colloquially called the "Wasen" (so named for the fair grounds on which the event is located), it's the second largest beer festival in the world after Munich's Oktoberfest. There are carnival games and rides, as well as plenty of food stands and beer tents in which you can order a mug of beer and sing off-key to a combination of traditional German beer-drinking songs and old American rock music. 

This past year the Wasen was held from September 26th to October 12th. I make it a point to go to the Wasen at least once or twice with friends. It's a fun evening, and I need a reason to wear my dirndl, a type of traditional dress in southern Germany...

Recap: A Weekend in Arnhem

Recap: A Weekend in Arnhem

While I feel like I've been working nonstop for the past two weeks, my current exhaustion is well worth it since I got to spend the past long weekend in Arnhem. It's one of the many perks of my day job that I get to travel on school trips when the kids need chaperoning! I've been to Arnhem, which is just across the German border in the Netherlands, twice over the past couple of years on school trips. You may recognize the city for the battle that took place there during World War II and that was dramatized in the 1977 film A Bridge Too Far. 

Despite the historical significance of the city, I'm not sure I'd make a trip just to Arnhem on my own unless I was already in the neighborhood. Still, I've enjoyed my time there on both occasions. The city is small, and has some beautiful examples of the typical Dutch architecture with its long, slender row homes. I also appreciate the variety and quality of the restaurants and shopping in Arnhem, which always seem to offer so much more than Stuttgart. 

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things at the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

These Are a Few of My Favorite Things at the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival

One of my favorite festivals of the year has got to be the Ludwigsburg Pumpkin Festival. I'm just wild about pumpkins -- our wedding cake was even pumpkin flavored -- and this festival is completely dedicated to them. 

I remember our first fall in Stuttgart when we attended the festival for the first time. I was amazed how such a quirky event had become a staple here. The stately Ludwigsburg palace gardens were completely transformed into a wonderland of gourds, with fantastic shapes and carvings, all with the theme of Switzerland. We got to see the Swiss Alps of pumpkins, a Swiss army knife, and even a Swiss Alpine man blowing a horn made out of pumpkins. 

The following year we returned again, to the theme of the Olympics. We saw pumpkin skiers, pumpkin torch bearers, and pumpkin bobsledders.

This year, in keeping with our tradition, we returned to see the Royal theme...

A Treasure Trove of History at the Ludwigsburg Antiques-Mile

A Treasure Trove of History at the Ludwigsburg Antiques-Mile

This past weekend Ludwigsburg hosted their annual Antiques-Mile. During this event, the market square was filled with dozens, if not a hundred of stalls, all manned by local antique merchants selling a selection of their wares. You could find everything there, from record players to typewriters, kitchen ware to linens. 

While this event is not exactly food-related, I felt it worth a mention because you can find lots of great food-related antiques. I loved seeing old cookie cutters, measuring cups, bread boxes, silverware, and glasses. This was definitely the place to go if you're looking for something special for your home...

Checking Out the Czech Beer Festival

Checking Out the Czech Beer Festival

Last week after blogging about upcoming events in the Stuttgart area, a fellow blogger alerted me to a Tschechisches Bierfestival happening over on Kronprinzplatz, just off of Stuttgart's main shopping street, the Königstraße. Matt and I very much enjoyed our trip to Prague in the Czech Republic last spring, and so we decided to make it a point to check out the festival. 

While out with friends on Friday, we made our way over to Kronprinzplatz to see what the festival was all about. The company sponsoring the festival had set up a huge, though rather plain-looking, tent in the middle of the square. According to the company's website, they aim for a "rustic-style" which could be seen in the traditional(looking) outfits worn by the Czech-speaking servers, the large murals showing beer-hall scenes on the tent ceiling, and the rows and rows of beer tables draped in clothes from the Czech brewery on tap...

Celebrating 15 Years of Mövenpick Weinkeller

Celebrating 15 Years of Mövenpick Weinkeller

On my last visit to Mövenpick Weinkeller on Rotenwaldstraße, the man ringing up my wine was kind enough to let me know about the store's 15 Year Anniversary Celebration on September 19th. The store would be having a small celebration with a tasting and some snacks, and might I be interested? Yes, please!

And so this past Friday, Matt and I headed out with a few friends to Mövenpick to taste some of the wines they had on offer for the special event. In addition to their usual selection, representatives from Domaine Perrin from the Rhône region, Staatskellerei Zürich from Switzerland, Azienda Vitivinicola Condé from the Emilia-Romagna region, and Rainer Schnaitmann from Fellbach were on hand to offer a number of wines from their respective vineyards...

Recap: An Unscheduled Trip to Heidelberg

Recap: An Unscheduled Trip to Heidelberg

A couple of weekends ago a friend of mine decided to try out a 13 kilometer hike that she'd heard of around Murrhardt, and asked if we wanted to join. And so early one Saturday morning we packed a day pack with water and snacks, suited up Leo in his harness, and headed to the Hauptbahnhof to take the train to Murrhardt.

We arrived at our scheduled platform about 10 minutes early, when we saw that another train which had been delayed was still waiting to leave. Not a big deal. I was content sipping on my Pumpkin Spice Latte from Starbucks as we waited for the other train to leave. So we waited. And waited. And waited. 

Finally, we asked one of the platform conductors what we should do, but she had no other advice than to continue waiting. Apparently there had been a strike that morning by one of the freight companies, and it was causing a three hour delay for many of the commuter trains. It was already an hour after our train's scheduled department, and no trains in that direction had left the platform since that time. (I should note that despite the popularity of public transportation, strikes and general tardiness of the trains is in my experience extremely rare in Germany.)

Determined to go on some kind of hike (and make use of the Baden-Württemburg ticket that we'd purchased for the four of us -- Leo included), we decided to hop on the next train leaving for Heidelberg instead. From Stuttgart, it only takes about 45-50 minutes on a regional train, so it's very close, and the city is easily walkable, making for a great day trip...

Stepping Into Another World at the Ludwigsburg Venetian Festival

Stepping Into Another World at the Ludwigsburg Venetian Festival

I first heard about the Ludwigsburg Venetian Festival three years ago when we moved to Stuttgart. A friend of mine went with her young son and husband, and said it was a great event that I should try. So, the following year (2013), a group of us decided to go together. We picked the same weekend, took the train to Ludwigsburg, and strolled to the Marktplatz on that drizzly Saturday.

However, we knew something wasn't quite right as we approached the main square. Where were the tents and the costumed revelers? Had we missed something? A quick check of our smartphones revealed that the Venetian Festival is a bi-yearly event, and somehow five sets of eyes had missed that fact, because not one of us had ever heard of a bi-weekly festival until that day. 

No matter. Our disappointment was soon replaced by good pizza, cheap wine, and new friends as we retreated into the underground dining room of an Italian restaurant along the square. Next year we would be sure not to miss the festival. 

And so this past Sunday we once again planned our weekend, took the train to Ludwigsburg, and strolled to the Marktplatz...

Upcoming Festivals and Events in September/October 2014 (Updated)

Upcoming Festivals and Events in September/October 2014 (Updated)

I started my blog to talk about all of the great foods and restaurants that I've gotten to try since moving abroad. However, over the summer I found myself blogging more about festivals than restaurants. This is fine since I love a good festival, and especially "street-food", but the downside for my readers is that I often blog about the event after I've been (and thus after it's over). 

Not anymore. 

I'm going to make it a point every couple of months to post a quick "Upcoming Festivals" post so that you can know about events, too, and go to them before my review comes up. (A special thanks goes out to Meredith at Kaffee und Kuchen for the inspiration!) I also hope that if you know of an event that I haven't listed, that you'll be kind enough to share it with me...

Date Night Thai at Kanjana

Date Night Thai at Kanjana

It seems like we've had a million things going on the past two weeks, what with my school schedule, some big projects at Matt's work, and the many festivals that we've been trying to attend on the weekends. This past weekend wasn't any different between the Dinkelacker Festival and the Venetian Festival in Ludwigsburg. We managed to push the Venetian Festival visit back to Sunday in hopes that the weather would be nicer, and so we had out Satuday night free. The blogging side of me wanted to check out the Dinkelacker Festival. This is the third year that we've been here and that the brewery festival has taken place. However, the wife side of me just couldn't pass up a chance to enjoy a nice meal out with my husband, just the two of us. And so, date night won out. 

Our craving for that evening was somewhere in the realm of Asian, so we had a quick look at our "Restaurants to Try" list (yes, we really do keep one) and decided on Kanjana. We've had a couple of friends recommend this restaurant to us, and we've even passed by the restaurant a couple of times while out with friends...