Polterabend!

Some Wiki-information: Polterabend is a German wedding custom in which on the night before the wedding the guests break porcelain to bring luck to the couple's marriage. The belief in the effectiveness of this custom is expressed by the old adage: "Shards bring luck".

We were invited to such an event due to the upcoming wedding of Roland's colleague. Her parents are local farmers, and therefore the whole thing took place on a typical Black Forest farm in the village of Oberentersbach. Guests came from places as far as Frankfurt staying at local hotels, so Roland provided Taxi service for the night, and therefore skipped alcohol for once...

A typical Polterabend starts with "Poltern" (rumble might be a fitting translation) where the guests bring old porcelain and throw it in front of the house. The wedding couple's job is to sweep it all up and discard it, while more arriving guest throw even more of it. This whole thing lasts an hour and is indeed strenuous work. At some point some of the guests usually start throwing wash tables and toilets, and indeed this happened here as well.

A nice addition to the usual setup was the brass band (the bride plays saxophone in the local band) that played some traditional tunes for cheering on the busy couple.

The picture above shows a typical Black Forest farm with the overhanging roof. These farm buildings are usually built against a hill, and therefore provide a rear access to a barn that is on top of the living area. 

A picture of the barn that was prepared for this event over almost six months! It was the perfect location for a feast, and of course smoking was strictly prohibited!

Part of the buffet, partially provided by the guests. Sonja had prepared even two salads (the first and the third from left on the right table), and they were so good that they were gone within minutes!

Sonja talking to Roland's boss

Alcohol-free Weizen-Beer!

The band returned one more time for an in-house session.

A sophisticated drum set...

Instruments all over the place!

It was a wonderful (albeit at 10C very cold) summer night! We left around 1 AM (again: taxi service duties), though some of the other guests stayed until 7 AM in the morning. Needless to say that we needed some couch time the following day!

Working up an Appetite

It was a hot and humid morning, but we went jogging anyway. There are several options for a loop around the village, however, they all begin with a steep uphill track. But once having reached the apex one will get rewarded with a gentle and fairly relaxing slope back home.

This time we finally managed to overtake a giant snail.

Picturesque sights make it difficult to just continue running.

Not joking: We are really trying to get fit(ter).

Of course there is always motive and reason behind the exercise: Food, and lots of it. In anticipation of a mouthwatering experience we visited the Sushi Lädle (Lädle = local dialect for little shop) in Fellbach, a small-town northeast of Stuttgart, while visiting a good friend (from Canada no less).

The sushi was surprisingly good. The verdict: a solid 7 on a scale of 10.

Yummy! Even Roland liked it.

Little Men on TV

This will likely be something, that Germans understand without saying:

A Mainzelmännchen on a Can-Am Spider

The Six little men from Mainz are a short cartoon issued between commercials on ZDF, one of the main German public broadcasting channels. Born in April 1963, they entertained several generations and continue to do so. Young (and old) viewers came to love the funny little guys, namely Anton, Berti, Conni, Det, Edi and Fritzchen. I was pretty impressed how far they have come since: Kudos to riding a Can-Am Spider.

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Kleine Männer im Fernsehen
Na, den deutschen Mitlesern brauche ich ja die Mainzelmännchen nicht erklären... ich staunte nicht schlecht, als ich kurz vor den Heute-Nachrichten einen der kleinen Kerle auf eine Can-Am Spider aufsteigen sah. Cool!