Bergkirchweih

Buying sweets

After a day of road-tripping and seeing sights, we arrived in Erlangen to see my brother's girlfriend. It just so happened that it was the last weekend of Bergkirchweih, the town's annual beer festival.

It was epic. I think the best way to imagine it is to picture the Ekka or the State Fair of Texas, and add 1L steins of locally brewed beer, girls in dirndls and guys in lederhosen.

All the local breweries were selling beer from cellars along the street. Their main beer was one they'd all brewed especially for the festival -- it was kind of like a hefeweizen but not quite as fruity. Damn good stuff. You put a 5 euro deposit on a giant 1L stein, and the vendors will re-fill it for 5 euros.

Ich Liebe Dich

It was great to see folks of all ages mixing together and having a good time. All ages groups were represented - families, teenagers, adults, old-folk, all having fun and respecting each other and the event. No-one was concerned with checking ID, and no-one seemed to get really out of hand.

Bratwurst vendors

Then there was the food. Oh, the food. All the classic German street food was there - bratwurst, pretzels, and schweinhaxe amongst others. Here's a hot tip -- if your brother orders you a schweinhaxe (pork knuckle) "as big as you can" you may run out of room for beer. Just sayin'.

Buying pretzels in leiderhosen

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