I had been out until 3 the night before and woke up slightly hungover so I was pretty close to turning off my phone when the alarm went off and just going back to bed, but that would've been the worst decision ever, because as my status said, it was the best day of abroad ever!
Train ride took about 90 minutes cause since we got the cheap ticket we had to take the slow ticket. Our train was full of Germans in their lederhosen and dirndls and we felt very left out...too bad traditional German clothing is like 150 euro :( So got off at Stuttgart and made our way to the city center only to realize that Springfest is actually NEXT to Stuttgart...so we had to ask like ten different people and finally just followed the lederhosen and dirndls and caught the right train to about 10 minutes out of Stuttgart to a GIANT FAIR!
With the exception of all the Germans in their crazy clothing, we honestly felt like we were back in America at Six Flags or King's Dominion or something. Fair food, fair rides, fair games...ahhhh! We didn't even know where to begin. Drinks? Food? Rides? Games? So much to do! We decided to go on a crazy turning scary ride (this was more like a fair than amusement park, so you just pay for each individual ride) and this being Europe, who knows what kind of safety regulations they have...especially after seeing the harm the Krampus can do--and that's just a kid's ride! Turned out the ride was completely safe and completely AWESOME and we were all screaming at the top of our lungs and just having a BLAST.
Here's Katherine and Jinah correctly identifying everyone's emotions before the ride started, and in the next picture, please note the beautiful artwork on the ride lol.
After that ride, we continued our spazieren acting like kids in a candy store..."I want to eat that!" "I want to ride that!" "OMG look at that!" Walked the whole premises and then found another ride we wanted to try...it was kind of like the swings, but in a rocket ship--so we thought, why not? Well, it ended up being one of the scariest rides I've ever been on!
Now I know it doesn't look that scary. But you're just sitting there thinking you're going for a nice ride, and then all of a sudden you are just hanging upside down. For a long time! And it was moving so slowly, and it goes higher and higher and then gets faster and then you're over a river!
We were a little frazzled after the ride and SO HUNGRY so we made our way into the beerhall right next to the ride. Security check to get in--we had to throw away any other bottles we had. The guy tried to make me throw away my lotion, and I couldn't figure out how to say lotion in German (according to my bottle in my room, it's "Lotion"...who knew!?) But he eventually realized it wasn't a drink. So we walked in to this GIANT and colorful tent, about ten degrees warmer and stuffier than outside, more lederhosen than we could count, beer and beer and more beer, and a band that was so loud we couldn't hear each other speak!
We found a table, each ordered a liter of beer and were soon re-greeted by our waiter holding all seven liters at one time in the (in)famous German beer glasses. A big "PROST" and we drank!
We were in the hall for about an hour, having the absolute BEST TIME! I can't even explain it--it was really just the moment, it was Deutschland! The band came back from its break and started playing Beatles and Beach Boys and other Oldies hits and we got up on the tables with the other younger Germans with our beers and were just belting out the words and dancing and drinking (and finishing) our beers and nothing in the world was going to go wrong! Here are some more smiling photos!
After a liter of beer we were even hungrier than earlier so we sadly left the beerhall in search of food. Of course it's all nasty (but delicious) fair food--and we were very buzzed after those beers! I found myself some currywurst...I'm on a diet where I'm not eating bread...but of course they gave me a free roll with my currywurst so I ate it. But that's the only time I've broken the bread rule in one week! With our stomachs full, we wanted to go to another beerhall (there were maybe 3 or 4 of the giant ones) but by the time we went back to all of them, the lines were out the door to get it and we realized that we really should've just stayed in the one where we were--if only we had known!!!
So we just walked around more enjoying the 80 degree sun and our stupors and the lederhosen and the fair and eventually hit up another beergarten and only did ,5 liters this time. Just sitting and enjoying company! Also, please see this GIANT FERRIS WHEEL!
After our beers, we said goodbye to Springfest and hopped on the train after buying some train snacks (my diet is also no sweets-- but I have absolutely no self control towards eating when I drink beer so I ate a chocolate bar...but again, only sweets I've had in a week!...I think Saturday will actually just be my "free" day...) We all took some naps on the train back because we were EXHAUSTED. Got back to Heidelberg just before 8 and parted ways to go home. We were thinking about going out afterwards, but I was just SO TIRED and had already spent way too many euros at the fair, so I was in bed at 11pm, something I had absolutely no problem with though, since as I said, I had been out until 3 the night before, and since this had been just the most amazing day!
I realize I may have not described our experience at the festival in a way that makes it seem as good as it was--but it's hard to explain. It was just the fact that everything came together so perfectly. We honestly had no idea what to expect from Springfest, or really what it was, but I always find that when you go into something without any expectations, that's when you have the best time (take mom's trip to Germany last week!) We had a great group of people, the weather was GORGEOUS, we got to be kids and ride roller coasters and be a fairgrounds, and then we got to be super German and stand on tables singing as loud as we can drinking liters of beer! It was just a fantastic day and I am SO THANKFUL I wasn't FOMO-ed out of that one!
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