We just got back from Oktobearfest in Munich. It was certainly an experience. We were there from Friday until Monday, so it was a bit of a whirlwind visit. As with any bear-event (like this was) we saw a lot of familiar faces. Not so many from Amsterdam, but all the more from Germany and the Alpine countries. And the United States were very much there as well, not in the least in the person of David – always a welcome sight.
The weekend was mostly spent hanging out with the Munich Bears, so we didn’t have all that much time for sightseeing. But we did manage a short walk around the old town on Saturday. And after the beer bust at the Edelheiss, we (David, Thomas, Henk, Joachim, Jan and me) went for dinner at the Poulaner im Tal, where Franz works. And Franz gave us the royal treatment (definitely a meal fit for a queen – or even a bunch of queens). We ‘thanked’ him for his kindness by singing all the songs we know from Carneval in Cologne – much to Joachim’s embarrasment. But I think he enjoyed it. I know we did! But seriously, I’d like to say a BIG thankyou to Franz – I haven’t enjoyed myself so much for a long time.
And then on Sunday we went for the big event: the bears-gettogether in their Box in the Bräurosl (one of the beertents on the Wies’n, where the Oktoberfest is held). Jan unfortunately was not well, and couldn’t stand the combined smell of beer and cigars and roasted chicken, mingled with the noise and the crowds, so he left early. But he missed a fun afternoon.
See the pictures in my photoalbum, and a 30 sec. AVI-clip (5.8 Mb).
We had ‘stamppot’ last night. Jan decided, as autumn has arrived now, that we were ready for some solid, wholesome food. A ‘stamppot’ is potatoes, minced meat and (in this case) white cabbage all mashed up in one big pan. And if you want to have everything cooked in a short space of time, you use a pressure cooker: the higher the pressure, the faster it cooks. So behold our enhanced pressure cooker. Control the pressure by adjusting the amount of tea in the pot.