Wasen

I couldn't wait to get back to Germany a place I feel at home in. Knowing a language really enables you to do a lot more of everything.

I was headed to Karlsruhe to stay with a really good friend of my family that I see often and head to Wasen together. Wasen is the second biggest festival in Germany after the Wies'n. People wearing Lederhosen and drinking beer. It's in Stuttgart which is just an hour by train from Karlsruhe.

That was not until tomorrow. So I met my friend at the train station where he was all ready to head off to get a beer at his favorite place Vogelbräu. This is a micro brewery in Karlsruhe, which for Germany is a relatively new concept. It has yet to take off like it has in the States. Maybe because the market is already saturated with good beers. They had three on tap including a pils, festbier, and weizendoppelbock. Had a schnitzel with them while watching soccer. I knew why I was ready to come back.

After being at a friends apartment where I dropped my luggage off we headed to the Marktplatz to a club. The problem living here in Karlsruhe is the percentage of guys to girls is 70/30. So not a great time there.

The next day four of us headed to Wasen. Straight into the first tent where a few mass went down. Why we left I don't know but we did around 6 and went to the bumper cars. This is a must after drinking a few. So we had to wait an hour before getting back into another tent. Met some nice people drinks were had it was great.

Yeah I'm brief with this but I don't need my life story here. Just the interesting parts.

The next day I got the Karlsruhe tour. We headed first to a botanical garden which was actually awesome. They have sorted their plants by geographical region. The first thing we ran into was this plant that rejects water so to say. You submerge the thing and bring it back up and its totally dry. There was all types of plants like grapes, herbs, palms, and even a marijuana plant.

We headed toward the main site, the castle, next. There was a Turkish festival going on and the museum in the castle was free along with the tower. So we did both. And a great view of the city from above and you see everything radiates out from the castle. 

I also went to Freiburg since it was a short way away because my brother did his school exchange there and hearing about the city I've always wanted to go there.  It's known for having the small waterways through the city which adds a nice charm to it. 

Go up the hill and climb the tower

If you fall in the Bächle you will marry a Freiburger. I didn't :(

Met a friend of mine in another brewpub called Feierling. They however only brew one beer.

The train took me past Kippenheim, the small village most of my family originally came from. Unfortunately I didn't stop but it was nice to see how the city was situated on the outskirts of the Black Forest.