So my first experience of the Cannstatter Volksfest had gone down a treat! Wearing a blue and white dirndl I had supped beer, sang drinking songs and partied well. Read here for my adventure

Dirndl Days

Now it was Saturday morning and we were off for another adventure.

We left Rhina’s beautiful home and she took me to the local farmers market. Stocked with every vegetable, cheese, and pastry you could name, I wanted to try so many of the delicacies, and thankfully as Rhina and Holger had already visited earlier that morning, I had been able to try many of them.

German Market Breakfast

The plan for the morning was to head for a local vintage flea market (where there was a hat stall) and see just what we could find. I wanted a Tirolean hat, which is a bit like a trilby with trimmings and feathers and Rhina knew just the stall to go to.

Beautiful Stuttgart

The market was massive and we weaved in and out of the stalls looking for things to take our fancy.

There was everything there from musical instruments, jewellery, chandeliers to handbags. We spent a couple of hours wandering around and I managed to pick up the most beautiful blue brooch for the bargain price of €10. I also managed to get 2 tie pins for €1 each! Bonus.

New Brooch

Rhina managed to secure a needlepoint handbag for a pittance. There were many things I could have bought if I only had the space in my suitcase. Sadly the hat seller was not in residence, so I initially gave up my search for a traditional hat.

Everything was so pretty

Leaving the flea market, we travelled along to the flower market which as beautiful. Every stall had reams of flowers and plants. It was a riot of colours and scents. I don’t think I had ever seen such a pretty market and was happy to wander around.

Gorgeous colours

Moving on to the general market, the scent of fruits and vegetables filled the air and it was like going back in time. The traditional markets that a pretty much extinct in this country flourish in Stuttgart. The colours and varieties were wide and every stall seemed busy with people purchasing the produce.

Traditional Markets

We popped into a local Dirndl shop to see if they had a hat and had a beer and a chat with one of the ladies there, Tina.

Group Photo

She was both so beautiful and stylish and when I found out she was 37 I felt rough and haggard in comparison! Sadly there were no hats to be had and we left, thanking her for her graciousness.

The beautiful Tina

Rhina steered me towards a lovely bar where we rested our feet for a little while, and she did the artistic camera thing and posed me like a little mannequin, yet got some beautiful photo’s which I absolutely treasure. We spent an hour or so there before Rhina came up with one last idea.

Posing for Rhina

Pose 2

Lobsters!

Great friends, Great times!

Yeah… a lobster with horns

Breuninger.

Rhina went on to tell me this was a very posh and exclusive store. Think along the lines of Harrods and then posh it up x4.

I was not optimistic that they would have a hat there, but if they did it would be extortionate and I would need to re-mortgage my house to buy it.

But in we went.

And yes, it was posh! We went up to the floor that had the dirndl and accessories. We watched ladies try on dirndl and come out to their families and partners for approval.

Department store lighting…..

One lady had tried on the most awful, hideous dress, multi-coloured camouflage with a lime skirt and an orange bow. Neither Rhina or I like it, however the price tag was HIGH! Some of these Dirndl were €699!!!

All of a sudden a traditional German band turned up. Three gentlemen on the accordian, guitar and clarinet/saxophone and a very young lady on a double bass. The music of the festivals started playing and I simply loved it. As I have said many time, live music is everything to me, and the fact that they were getting in the Wasen spirit was just brilliant.

Breuninger really know how to treat their visitors!

During a brief pause, Rhina asked if they would allow her to take a photograph of me with them. They happily consented and we all posed. However the clarinetist questioned how we could be celebrating the Wasen without Beer. Well of course we were in a department store, not a bar/restaurant and Rhina replied as such.

Strike a pose!

He walked over to a nearby counter, spoke to the gentleman manning it, before returning with two ceramic steins of beer! We asked how much we owed and the reply was that it was free.

Prost!

Bonus.

We had our beer, photographs and Rhina even taught me a Polka, all in the middle of the dress department.

The delightful Rhina

We eventually returned our empty steins, only for the gentleman manning the counter to fill them up again! I could get used to this kind of treatment, easily.

Dancing a bit more, we sang, toasted and clapped away. The band was amazing and we were having an amazing time.

Then I noticed a dog. In the dress department!?!?

I nudged Rhina and whispered ‘there is a dog over there!’

Dogs. In a department store.

She told me that it was very common and acceptable to have dogs in restaurants, shops and other building accessible to the public. Well I was just gobsmacked. I could not imaging taking my baba, Theodore into any shop in the UK and it be acceptable. Maybe I need to move to Germany with him!

In the end I spotted 4 dogs on the dress department and made friends with Mya, a golden retriever/labrador. I thought it was a brilliant idea to allow them in and wished it was like that in the UK.

The Beautiful Mya

Now we were onto beer number 3. It was going down really well, our singing was getting better (or worse depending on your hearing) and we were loving dancing.

The band let us know that they would be moving onto a different floor. Now, decisions, decisions. Do we follow them and look like serious stalkers or stay where we were?

Well, they were such an amazing band that we had to see more. We filled up our stein for the fourth time and went down to the cosmetic department. All the staff were wearing lederhosen and dirndl and were dancing to the music.We joined in and I taught Rhina a rock n roll stroll (as they were playing a bit of Bill Hayley) it was like they had never seen anything like it. Video, Photo’s and more were taken and we thoroughly enjoyed every single minute.

Taking a load of photo’s with the staff in their traditional dress, we were treated like royalty.

One of the staf members

Walking back upstairs to get rid of our beer steins, we were offered buckets of popcorn. Well, it would have been rude to refuse?!

We went to sit on a sofa in the ladies section and got into a conversation with a German Millionaire. Fascinating yet frightening as he left his wife with the credit card and sat there for a good few hours reading a paper. If I was his wife, I could have bought the whole shop in that amount of time.

Still singing and dancing

However, he was a lovely gentleman and went on to tell us about his grandchildren, and one that was due any day. It really was a lovely experience and I know I will never forget it.

Eventually it was time to leave. We had spent nearly 4 hours in the store, ate free popcorn, danced the polka and the stroll, drank free beer and chatted with a millionaire.

The only thing I could say to Rhina was ‘Well you don’t get this in Debenhams on a saturday afternoon, do you!?!’

Four hours and it hadn’t cost us a penny. I can honestly say I have never had such a bizarre yet wonderful experience in my life.

We left the shop and Rhina steered me into the main Markethalle.

Time to eat

Not only was it a daily market, it also had a lovely restaurant which was not that well known.

We managed to get a table and then looked over the menu to see what we wanted.

More Bier

I chose a pork escalope, pasta with cheese and rocket, a mustard sauce and a tomato and olive oil bruschetta. I wasn’t expecting that much, but didn’t know what else to go with.

Simply Beautiful

How wrong could I be?

The meal was probably one of the best things I have ever had in my life. Fresh, flavourful and different, it literally ticked all the boxes. I could have eaten it several times over. Rhina went with seafood pasta and hers looked epic too!

Washed down with yet more beer, I was surprised to find that the price was a pittance compared to what I expected. A real bargain for real, special, classy food.

Fabulous!

Leaving the restaurant I was surprised to see the owners of Mya sat enjoying a meal, and there under the table was Mya herself. I know Theodore would have been in his element and it made me wish he was with me all the more.

It was time to goback tp Rhinas home and as the next day was Sunday, it was the main day for the carnival procession, Wasen, festival and beer.

strike a pose

It didn’t take long for my head to hit the pillow, and I was away with the fairies.

Stay tuned for the following adventures at the Cannstatter Wasen, coming soon.

Till next time,

SPSG xx