Saturday we went with a group of Shelby's coworkers to a big wine festival in Bernkastel-Kues. Somehow, even though the trip was not his idea, Shelby became the social planning committee for the night. Scheduled to leave at 4pm, the fun bus finally pulled out just after 5. I would like it publicly known I was the only woman on this trip and I had nothing at all to do with the late departure...ahem gentlemen...you're worse than girls! We made it to the wine fest in time to walk around and check out the sights. Bernkastel-Kues is gorgeous (just like everywhere else in Germany we've been) and is right on the Mosel River. The river runs down in the valley with gorgeous buildings dotting the shoreline and huge vineyards creep up the hills surrounding the valley. On top of one of the hills is a huge old castle. We headed into the festival, which has a family friendly side with carnival rides, food and crafts on one side of the river. Then you cross over the Mosel and enter the downtown part of town where hundreds of wine booths line the streets. There were tables set up for people to sit and socialize and watch bands play. They had bands on a stage as well as bands wandering the streets and playing. The streets were packed with people.
The highlight of the night is a huge fireworks show. At 9pm the whole festival and town goes dark and all the lights are cut. A huge cannon ball is shot to kick off the show and the the fireworks begin. In a form of historical recognition they are staged to look like a battle between the two castles and eventually one wins and the other erupts into what looks like a waterfall of flames from the side wall of the castle. We didn't have make it out of the wine street crowd early enough to get very good seats for the show and could only see one of the castles and fireworks from where we were. What I could see what nuts though, they certainly do not joke around with their fireworks shows!
What's funny about these things is in America when you put that many drunk people in one place you are just asking for chaos. In Germany they know how to handle their drink and they've mastered the art of pacing themselves. They are generally very happy and social drinkers and you can have an entire day of drinking and streets full of people who can't half see or walk and yet no one is obnoxious or out of control. When you go to events like these you can always spot the Americans from a mile away. They are the ones who are loud and stumbling and generally making complete asses of themselves. Sad but true.
After the fireworks the night kind of went downhill. One of our group is a happy drunk wanderer and he ran off. Then we had one who just went way way past his limit and had to be dragged/carried back to the car. Part of our group had turned into those "stupid drunk Americans"...sigh. Shel and I were not that part of the group (this time) and despite having to babysit for a while at the end of the evening it was a fun time. Next year we make sure to take people who can hold their drink and get good seats for the fireworks!
