2008 Trip to Bavaria

Four of us from Enzian Schuhplattler took a trip to Bavaria in October to attend the Bayerische Löwe. The Bayerische Löwe (literally, the "Bavarian Lion") is a Schuhplattler contest that started in the year 2002. That first contest was hosted in Oberschleissheim, near Munich. Each year since then, the event has been hosted by a different Gau (organization of Schuhplattler clubs). This year's contest was held in the town of Planegg, south of Munich, and was hosted by the Lechgau (the Gau that we have the closest ties with).

The four of us arrived at different times. Before and after the contest, we had other adventures; I will include some of the ones my husband Roger and I had in this article. Chris went a couple of weeks before the rest of us, and he had his own adventures, including attending the Munich Oktoberfest, but you will have to ask him for his impressions of that.

We arrived in Düsseldorf on October 13. We stayed with Sigrid Wollenweber, my penpal for the last 36 years. She and I started writing to each other in 1972, when I was in junior high school. I had several other penpals during that time, but those relationships were short-lived. Sigrid and I never stopped writing each other, and we have become good friends. I visited her first when I was in college, then again twelve years later, in 1990. Since Roger and I first visited her in 1999, we have been there together six times. Between in-person visits, we write letters (now mostly emails). Sigrid has been to the United States a couple of times in the last six years, but has never come to Washington although she hopes to make a trip here someday. She has accompanied her sons to Wisconsin for a Boy Scout exchange program a couple of times. Her twin boys, Thomas and Fabian, are a couple of years younger than my son Jason, and the boys met each other in 2000, when we took Jason with us to Germany.

With Sigrid, we did a lot of visiting, but we also took the train into the "old town" area of Düsseldorf one night. (Sigrid lives in a district called Lörick; the train trip into the old town takes about 15 minutes.) We met up with a friend of hers, Karl Heinz, for dinner and drinks. He has made several extended trips to the U.S., so speaks some English. As my German has improved over the years, Sigrid and I tend to speak more German together, although she also speaks fairly good English. Roger speaks some German, but a lot of his communication still ends up in English, so it was great for him to be around people who spoke at least some English. The old town has a lot of bars and restaurants, as well as historic buildings, and it was alive well into the night with folks standing at tables outside, drinking beer, and talking and laughing. We went out on a Monday night, and were out until at least 11 p.m., and despite some rain, there were a lot of people still outside when we returned home.

 Karl Heinz and Sigrid Wollenweber    Rathaus Düsseldorf

On Tuesday, we drove to the small town of Stolberg, about an hour west of Düsseldorf, to visit the castle there. There are many fortresses, castles, and palaces in Bavaria, and there is something fascinating about prowling the castle grounds and imagining life in the Middle Ages. This particular fortress was small, as was the village that surrounded it, and most of the buildings were closed. We did get a peek into the adjoining cathedral, which was beautiful even in the dim light. We had a good time walking around the fortress, and through the cobblestoned streets of the little town.

 Stolberg Cathedral

On Wednesday, October 15, Roger and I left Düsseldorf and drove to Hofstetten, the village where we spend most of our time in Bavaria. We were introduced to Mr. and Mrs. Salger, who will be hosting us during our stay. Their house is very large; they live on the ground floor, one son and his family lives on the top floor, and the rooms on the middle floor often house visiting family members and friends. We were given a large room with a private bath. The Salgers are a retired couple; if I remember right, they have six adult children, all of whom live in the general vicinity. We ate a typical German breakfast in the Salgers' kitchen each morning: a variety of fresh breads, with butter, jam, cheese, and sliced meats available to add to the bread. Along with coffee (tea for me), that was the standard breakfast everywhere we stayed this trip, although one morning, cake was also served.

Wednesday night, we met up with Carolyn and Chris at the Hipp (the local hotel, restaurant, and meeting place) for dinner. With them were Mark LaCourse, our Gau Vorplattler, and his 17-year-old son Matt. They live in Minneapolis. After dinner, we all drove to the nearby village of Stoffen to attend their dance practice. Our carload almost didn't make it, though, as on the way there, we narrowly missed having a head-on collision. The curving two-lane country roads on which we were driving are not graced with street lights, and it was raining. A car coming the opposite direction was passing-in the dark, on a curve, in the rain-and as we came around a bend in the road, we saw them on our side of the road, coming head-on at a great rate of speed. Roger stopped dead in the road, and the oncoming car missed us by a foot or two, but the closeness of the disaster made our hearts race.

 Toni Auer and Mark LaCourse    Dance practice in Stoffen

The Schuhplattler group that dances in Stoffen is named D'Fuchsbergler. They have a very relaxed practice, with plenty of sitting around and talking, interspersed periodically with a few dances. Our friend Toni Auer was also preparing for the Bayrische Löwe; he doesn't have a regular dance partner, so he practiced with me. His wife, Iris, plays the buttonbox accordion, and doesn't dance Schuhplattler. We stayed after practice, enjoying Toni's hospitality and speaking (mostly German) while Chris, Iris, and another musician, Florian, filled the room with Bavarian melodies.

Thursday, we drove south to the town of Peiting so Chris could pick up some shirts he'd ordered (with his initials monogrammed on them) from Trachten Stoeger, then we drove north to Trachten Pöllmann in Obermenzing for more shopping, and from there, we took the train into downtown Munich. We spent a few hours checking out our usual haunts-jewelry and souvenir stores near the Hofbräuhaus, Trachten shops near Marienplatz, and the used clothing shops close to McDonald's. Then we headed home. Unfortunately for Roger and Chris and me, we lost the other carload of folks, missed a turn to get back on the correct freeway, couldn't find any place to turn around, and spent an extra hour circling Munich before getting back to the dance practice at Hofstetten. Once we got there, however, we were heartily welcomed, then we got pointers for the next hour and a half about how to improve our dancing for the competition. After close scrutiny from our friend, Sepp Probst-whose son and daughter generally take first place in their age categories-I found out that my skirt was not made correctly, so doesn't "bell" properly. Sepp spent at least half an hour scrutinizing my skirt. He had me spin, then he got down and peered under my skirt while I spun (checking out my petticoat), then he had me take my petticoat off and spin, then he had me change skirts with one of his women and spin, then he had a couple of the women analyze my skirt. Unfortunately-or fortunately, I guess-it was my skirt (more than my spinning) that was the problem. Nothing I could do about it before the competition on Saturday, but at least, I know what the problem was. As usual, we stayed up way too late after the practice, drinking and talking with our friends from Hofstetten.

 Americans and Germans in Hofstetten

On Friday, the four of us drove to Andechs, a monastery that brews beer and sells it, along with hearty food, in its huge beer garden and restaurant. The weather was clear, but cool, and we had a great time eating, drinking, and enjoying being in the countryside. When beer is the drink of choice, I am always the designated driver, since I don't care for the taste of beer and won't drink it. In Bavaria, beer is prevalent (and red wine, not as available), so I happily let the others imbibe and I stick to water (when I can get it; Germans don't seem to drink regular water, only mineral water, which doesn't appeal to me.) It's good to have a designated driver in Bavaria, since "ein Maß," the standard size, is a liter of beer. We had a great afternoon, then met at the Hipp. After dinner, the locals joined us at the Hipp for an evening of talking, music, and singing. We stayed for a short time, but returned to our room early, to get lots of rest for the next day.

Saturday, October 18, was the Schuhplattler competition in Planegg at Heide Volm (a restaurant/convention center). Those of us departing from Hofstetten formed a convoy to drive to Planegg. We left from the Hipp at 7 a.m. in very cold (-2 Centigrade), but clear weather. It was a lovely morning-almost enough to convince me, a dyed-in-the-wool night person, that perhaps I should see the sunrise a little more often. Arriving at Heide Volm, we participants drew numbers from a basket (one basket per age group, separated by gender) to determine the order in which we would compete. The competitions took place over the course of the day. The children were on one stage, the female adults on another, and the male adults on the main stage. The youngest people competed first, and with 283 participants in Einzelplattling, at least 240 participants (30 groups) in Gruppe Preisplattling, and over 600 people in attendance, the day was a long one. However, it was great fun. There were a lot of Americans there-17 participated in Einzelplattling, and two groups (at least 16 people) in Gruppe Preislplattling-plus many supporting family members and friends. We spent the day visiting, eating, drinking, and watching our friends dance. By the time I competed, it was around 3 p.m., and Roger's judging was later, at least 3:30 or 4 p.m. (Each person is judged separately, even though you dance as a couple.) After the individual competitions, the groups competed, and then there were speeches, announcements, and awards, so the event wasn't over until about 7 p.m. Roger and I each took 5th place in our age groups. (Roger was 5th out of 8; I was 5th out of 7.) Roger had hurt his knee a couple of weeks before the competition, so simplified his routine and probably favored his knee during the competition. Otherwise, he probably would have done better. I did get a number of points taken off for my skirt not belling properly, so I am sure that affected my final score. However, it was still an honor just to be able to compete (you have to be in the top three couples in your age group within your Gau to be allowed to compete in the Bayrische Löwe, in the first place), and being 5th in the world is not such a bad place to be. Each participant received a pin with their placing on it, and the groups that placed in the top two each received a trophy (a statuette of a lion). The Americans overall did well. We returned to Hofstetten and the Hipp for more frivolity, but went to bed relatively early after the excitement of the day.

 Kathy and Roger at the Bayrische Löwe    Roger, Kathy, Carolyn, and Chris at the Bayrische Löwe

On Sunday, Roger, Carolyn, Chris, and I went to München (Munich) to shop at the Auer Dult. The Auer Dult is a combination flea market, antique market, craft fair, and carnival that is held in Munich three times a year. It is the oldest market in Munich, having been held on the same spot, the Mariahilfplatz, since 1310 A.D. The Auer Dult is the catch phrase for three distinct markets. The Jakobidult is the oldest; it started in 1310 and is held each year in July. The other two markets are the Maidult, held at the end of April, and the Kirchweidult, held in October. Each festival lasts for nine days. We had a great time shopping at the many booths. I ended up buying a beautiful antique necklace, plus a few Trachten buttons. Unfortunately, we all got separated in the huge crowds, and since we had neglected to set a meeting time and place, we spent a lot of time searching for each other. Eventually, we did reconnect, though, and made our way home to Hofstetten in time to change into Trachtenmode (traditional German-style clothing) and head over to the town of Diessen for their Kirchweih. A Kirchweih is defined as a parish fair, but as we have found with most celebrations in Bavaria, it mostly consists of a lot of eating, drinking, and talking, plus music and dancing. We met up with Toni and Iris from Stoffen, as well as our friends from Diessen and other Americans, and had many hours of great fun in a tent outside the clubhouse of our Trachtenkameraden from Diessen. It was a wonderful evening, albeit cold, and a great ending to our time with our Schuhplattler friends.

  Kathy and Roger at the Diessen Kirchweih    Roger, Chris, & Toni Auer at the Diessen Kirchweih

The next day, Carolyn and Chris flew back to Seattle, but Roger and I drove north to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This is a lovely walled city that has survived since the Middle Ages. I highly recommend it, not only because it is picturesque, but also because it has the best prices for shopping in all of Bavaria. In past visits, we purchased our cuckoo clock there (at a price about $200 less than we would have paid in the Black Forest), as well as many smaller souvenirs that were more expensive elsewhere. On this trip, we stayed with German friends from Enzian Schuhplattler who had recently moved back to Rothenburg to live. They have an apartment in the old town, so it was great to be able to stay with them, then walk out the door in the morning and go sightseeing. One day, we walked most of the way around the city in the enclosed wall that still protects the old town. It was great to visit with Tanja and her children, Joshua, Sidney, and Eric, and to visit a picturesque and historic town like Rothenburg.

 Rothenburg o.d. Tauber    Rothenburg wall

On Wednesday, we drove back to Düsseldorf and stayed overnight with Sigrid. We departed from Düsseldorf on October 23 at 10:10 a.m. on and arrived back in Seattle at 2:15 p.m. that day.