Gaubodenolksfest 2012

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We had a very busy, but fun, weekend. We went out for drinks with some friends on Friday night. On Saturday, we traveled by train to Straubing, which is a town in Bavaria. Our friend Markus is from the Straubing area, and so he coordinated the trip for the nine of us that went. By train, it was a little less than two hours outside of Munich. But we found ways to keep ourselves entertained!(In Germany, it is legal to drink beer on many of the trains haha!)

The festival is called Gaubodenvolksfest, and it is very similar to Oktoberfest, just on a smaller scale. Still, approximately 1.35 million people attended the festival in 2011 - very impressive. The festival includes various rides and attractions (even a ferris wheel and small roller coasters), as well as plenty of food and drink. There are 6 large beer "tents" where everyone can sit to eat traditional Bavarian food and drink liters of beer from the breweries.

There is one tent for each brewery in the Straubing area. It was nice to try some different German beer, as Munich really only serves from the large Munich breweries. To get into a tent in the evening, you usually need to book reservations well in advance. But lucky for us, as a local, Markus was able to get us in at his uncle's table. The tents are enormous inside and very elaborate. It's hard to believe that they take them all down and rebuild them again the next year.

Later in the evening, each tent has some form of entertainment, usually being a live band. When the band came on in our tent, everyone started dancing on the tables and singing along. It was like being at a concert.

Though many of the songs were German, they also played some American favorites, too. I got very excited when I could sing along.

Although our outfits may look a bit silly, believe it or not, 90% of the people in attendance were wearing lederhosen (leather pants for the men) and dirndls (traditional dresses with aprons for the women). Bavarians take a lot of pride in the quality of their traditional attire. One of our friends has a pair of lederhosen that he paid 1,000 Euro for (that's not a typo!). It may seem silly and old-fashioned to us, but to them, it's an important part of their traditions. Our friends approved of our attire, even if we didn't go for the highest quality.

All in all, we had a fantastic time enjoying one the greatest festivals in Bavaria. One thing is for sure -- Germans sure know how to have a good time! We can't wait for Oktoberfest!

We're moving into our apartment tomorrow, so I'll post some pictures later this week.

Until then, cheers!
Kristin and Matt

P.S. And just because I can't get over how gorgeous this baby boy is, here's yet another pic (that I'm sure most of your have already seen). Can't wait to meet Avi in a few weeks!!