Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest & Fellbach Winetasting

If this weekend had a theme, it would be spring!  Spring has made it to our balcony in the form of blue skies and lots of flowers.  

We very much enjoyed carrying all these things up the stairs.

Just kidding, the theme would totally be alcohol.

We started the weekend with a wine tasting and cellar tour organized by one of our running group friends.  We hopped on the U Bahn for a quick trip out to the Fellbach Weingärtner. The Weingärtner is a wine collective growing grapes in the Fellbach region, which is just to the east of Stuttgart.  The wine was pretty good, and it was great to see running folks in clothes other than sneakers and smelly t-shirts.  

Looking spiffy for wine tasting.  If the guy on the barrel is fancy, you should be too.

After we were done with the tour, we got down to the main event -- the tasting.  We had 7 more glasses of wine, and some tasty cheese, wurst, ham and bread.  Yum.  

"P" is great wine, "S" is good wine, and "C" is a Boone's Farm competitor.

And we ended up with a case of Number 85.  Having the cash register at the end is pretty dangerous after all of those glasses of wine.  They are definitely heavy-handed with the pours!

Our location for the evening -- the Grandls Hofbräuzelt.

On Sunday, we headed to the Stuttgarter Frühlingsfest, which is like Oktoberfest--but in the spring and in Stuttgart.  It is the largest spring festival in all of Europe.  In addition to all the carnival-style rides, including a huge ferris wheel, there are a number of enormous beer tents.  It is so convenient to be able to hop on the U Bahn and arrive at such a fun and uniquely-German event in just a few minutes.

The tents are huge with rows upon rows of tables and benches.  The only time folks are sitting on the benches (rather than standing) is when they are eating dinner, which comes with your ticket.

Chicken and bread.  Excellent.

Of course, the main event is the beers.  Huge liter-sized mugs.  The best waiters carry around 12 at a time.  I could barely lift 3.

Matt lifted 4 across the course of the night.

Kristin drank Matt's leftovers.

The bands and other entertainment throughout the evening were great.  The songs were mostly covers of American music, with a few German songs thrown into the mix.  It's the best place to do the YMCA with 5,000 of your closest German friends.  We had such a great time, we can't wait to get back next weekend!