Cannstatter Volksfest

Saturday morning, we took the train to Stuttgart. When we got off the train, we were surrounded by crowds of people in their dirndls and lederhosen going to the Cannsttater Volksfest, the second largest beer festival in the world,  to work and hang out with friends. 

We spent the early afternoon touring Stuttgart. We then gathered our luggage from the main train station and went on to our hotel which was closer to the festival. The exact route from where the train stopped to our hotel was not clear, so we lugged our suitcases through the festival as the path ended and we were not close to the street anymore. We did get a quick glance of what we would be experiencing on Sunday.

After a little rest, we then walked to the local train station and caught the train to Esslingen. In Esslingen, we  met up with the Dageförde family. We toured Esslingen before heading to dinner in a quaint restaurant.  We had a great Swabish meal and tasty local wine to end our day. It brought back some good memories of when we lived in the neat little town. For our return journey, we took a different route back to the hotel as we exited the train at a stop which was closer to the hotel; however, it took us along the less traveled path, but by the large soccer arena. 

We spent Sunday at the Cannstatter Volksfest which has been held since 1818. Marcos and Isa met up with us and the kids had fun going on the rides together. Eric and Adeline went on a really high swing ride that overlooked the entire area while Emmie and I did the normal swing ride. 

After strolling around, we rested in the Klauss and Klauss  Dinkelacker Beer tent. The atmosphere was quite festive and the band was playing nonstop. We dined on the traditional roasted chicken and fries accompanied by a Mass. The girls, including Denise, had fun chanting and singing while standing on the benches with the rest of the crowd. 

We continued our day at the festival with some more rides, including bumper cars where Eric and Adeline bumped Emmie and my Dad throughout the session. We then discovered a Bavarian themed outdoor tent area for a late afternoon break. We found some tasty fair treats to take back to the hotel with us for the evening. Later in the evening, we woke the girls up from their sleep so they could see the fireworks show as we could watch it from our hotel room. This was perfect as it was drizzling out and we were already in our pajamas. It was a great family day at the fair.

Monday, Eric had a conference to attend, so he left us on our own for the day. When he was at the train station, he called to inform us there were no taxis so plan accordingly for getting around. Our plan was to take a bus to the train station so we did not have to haul our luggage; however, when no buses were seen on the street, we were hoping a taxi might show up along our route. Fortunately, a taxi rounded the corner just as we were about to start walking. We took the short taxi ride to the train station and learned the bus and street train workers were on strike. We packed our luggage in a locker at the main train station and hopped on the train to Ludswigsburg. 

In Ludwigsburg, we visited the Ludwigsburg Palace. We decided on the tour through the apartment area to  see the magnificent decoration and then enjoy the rest of our time wandering about the grounds. We stopped for lunch at McDonalds before heading back to Stuttgart. Since we had time to spare, we enjoyed the sunshine in the park and then an ice cream treat overlooking Stuttgart's residence palace. 

Our train arrived a little late in Frankfurt, so everyone was hustling to catch our connecting train to Hofheim. We made it just in time, so we were on track to be home soon. By the time we arrived back to the apartment, our legs needed the rest after a fun and eventful long weekend.