Meine Geburtstag!

Hey everyone! So yesterday was my birthday, and we celebrated in classic German fashion: plenty of beer, plenty of food, song and dance! (Well, I didn't dance, but that's just in the interest of public safety, amirite?) So first off, here are the pictures!

Meine Geburtstag!

I really wanted to return to the Hofbraeuhaus, and Jana remembered going to an awesome show of German music and traditional dance, something I hadn't seen on our last visit. So after a bit of wandering around trying to find the correct place, we found ourselves at the Festsaal, a giant dining hall with a stage at one end (and a buffet of authentic German food to one side :D). We took our seats, ordered our first Biers, and then proceeded to attack the buffet. There was soooo much food there, and I tried to taste a little bit of everything! Three kinds of Wurst, Schnitzel, chicken, Sauerkraut, Krautsalat, Kartoffelnsalat (potato salad), regular salad, Spaetzle, some kind of Fisch (fish) in a cream sauce, Sauerbraten, potato dumplings, Apfelstrudel, some strange cold cuts that tasted like baloney, pretzels, and rolls. There were a couple other things, but I was fairly full after all that.

By the time I'd gotten to my second plate, I think, the show had started, and poor Scott promptly fell in love with the singer. (If at this point you're wondering who people are, there's a picture of everyone in the album up there). I was just floored when she started yodeling!

That poor drummer. Every day, every song, the exact same beat. My heart goes out to him.

Anyway, next, two couples came out and did some traditional dancing, twas pretty neat, but after that, one couple played a few songs with (unless I am very much mistaken) cowbells! Now, not only is this awesome for the unavoidable "More cowbell!" comments sure to follow this post, but also because it must be really hard to remember all the bells and actually play a song. Sound of Music fans (I'm looking at you, Mom) might recognize this number:

Was noch? Ach so! Following the bells, there was a brief break, whereupon I ordered my second Bier and went for my second helping of Nachspeise (dessert). Returning to my table they began what I dub the percussion section of the show: where the band played a song and two guys in Lederhosen played percussion elements in various ways, like whilst chopping wood or cracking whips. Very interesting. They even had different whips in order to, I infer, get different pitches in their performance.

After that the show was pretty much done. We hung around for a bit, cracking jokes about the interesting, erm, articles available for sale in the men's bathroom, then we finished our Biers and alighted into the street, making our way back to the Marienplatz to catch a train home!

All in all, not a bad birthday evening!