The Regensburg Classic Car Meet

On May 30, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany3 Comments

On the first Friday of each month between May and October, there’s a Classic Car Meet here in Regensburg. People with vintage cars bring their wheels out to see and be seen, and a different Rockabilly band plays each month.

It was still a little chilly for the May outing, but that didn’t stop people from coming out with their cars. There were a handful of right-hand drive vehicles, and a few European makes and models. For example, this marvelous golden Lotus Esprit.

There were also some really neat old utility vehicles like this Jeep, which was for sale.

For the most part, though, a fairly large majority of the cars I saw were vintage American cars. Here’s some pictures to give you an idea.

A pink Cadillac convertible. I so want to drive this down Route 66, stopping at all the roadside attractions along the way.

This taxi-hearse cracked me the hell up. It’s got a brilliant paint job.

Naturally there were a few tv and movie themed cars. For example, there was a KITT modification on this one:

…and there was the obligatory DeLorean DMC-12.

Naturally, this one has a Flux Capacitor between the seats.

One of the few right-hand drive cars I saw.

Have you ever been to a classic car meet?

Race Time!

On May 27, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany6 Comments

This weekend, I finally cashed in on my Christmas gift from Jenny- two races at Pro-Kart Raceland, in nearby Wackersdorf. (I don’t think that Wackersdorf will ever stop being a funny name to me.) Pro-Kart Raceland has two big tracks, one is indoors, in a giant warehouse type of space, and the other one is outdoors. We were racing on the indoor track.

I’ve been on go-karts before, but never quite like this. For one thing, these were a bit faster than any go-karts I’ve ever driven in the US. For another thing, helmets are required. There are shared helmets available, not unlike the bowling shoes you rent in the US. You can also buy a cheap balaclava (a head covering that just leaves the eyes exposed) to protect your head from other people’s head-cooties if you want. Some people bring their own helmets, racing gloves, and the like. Some people are really into this.

So here’s how the day went. We checked in, paid, and I got the aforementioned balaclava. The next several minutes were spent taking funny pictures of me in a balaclava. Then we went to the indoor track. There’s a short list of rules and then you get assigned to a numbered car. Everyone in that race is lined up, and the engines are started by a staff member. As soon as your engine is started, you floor it out of the holding pen.

Our races were ten minute heats, although there was a twenty minute race after we were done, so this varies. When you see the guy waving the checkered flag like so, it means it’s time to come in at the end of your current lap.

Once you get back in, all the engines are shut off and you get a print-out showing how well you did. There’s a lap time for each lap, and your best time is marked. Additionally, you’re ranked against everyone who was in that race. I was not in first place. Or second or third place. I wasn’t very fast at all, in fact.

I take pride in the fact that my overall lap times were decreasing as I went. The only exception was one lap where Jenny spun out in front of me and I braked hard to avoid hitting her. I braked a little *too* hard and my engine stalled. My time on that lap was 1:37. My best time was 51.575 seconds. And yes, these races were decided on hundredths of seconds.

For the part, there’s good sportsmanship here. The cars aren’t bumper cars, and you can be penalized or ejected for ramming people intentionally. That didn’t stop one kid from hitting me after I passed him, though. Of course he might have just been annoyed by my helmet- I didn’t realize it when I grabbed a helmet off the shelf, but I was giving everyone I passed a Trollface.

After we were done with our races, we spent a little while watching the outdoor races. These cars seemed to be faster even than the cars inside. They also had a more traditional race structure. They started out the same, with the staff members starting the engines, but the first few laps were a qualifying heat to put everyone in their starting positions.

Once everyone had a starting position, they all started at the same time, instead of going one at a time as before.

There’s an interesting side effect of doing this for two ten minute races on Saturday- the muscles in between my shoulder-blades were sore the next day. These cars have slick tires and no power steering, which means that if you turn hard, you’re doing it through strength and artful braking. The track is very curvy, and I was trying to turn without a lot of slowing.

This was a crapload of fun, but it was expensive- two ten minute races came out to around €25 per person. Still, I would do it again. Zoom!

Have you ever been go-kart racing?

MaiDult is here! (Have some beer…)

On May 23, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany15 Comments

One of the great things about living in Germany is that there are always beer festivals. You don’t have to wait for Oktoberfest in Munich to get your beerfest on. For example, Regensburg has its own festival twice a year called Dult. In May, it’s Maidult. In the fall, it’s Herbstdult. It has all the same things you’d find at Oktoberfest – beer, lederhosen and dirndls, live music, giant pretzels, and rides- minus the enormous flood of tourists.

Right now, it’s Maidult. This weekend is the last weekend of Dult, running until the evening of Sunday the 26th. There will be fireworks at the closing, probably around 10pm since it’s not fully dark by 9.

At Dult, we have beer:

…and rides:

…and beer:

…and rides:

…and Poffertjes! (little tiny pancakes! In this case, with butter and powdered sugar on them. SO tasty.)

…and rides!

Have you ever been to Regensburg’s Dult?

I got an award thingie!

On May 16, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany21 Comments

A little while back, I got a note from The Diary of Sugar And Spice that she was nominating me for the Versatile Blogger Award. I’m not clear as to whether she’s Sugar or Spice.

The rules for dealing with this award, as noted here, involve the following:

Thank the person who gave you this award. (Thanks, Sugar and Spice!)
Include a link to their blog. (http://thediaryofsugarandspice.wordpress.com/)
Next, select 15 blogs/bloggers that you’ve recently discovered or follow regularly.
Nominate those 15 bloggers for the Versatile Blogger Award
Finally, tell the person who nominated you 7 things about yourself.

For those who I am about to pass the award on to, please don’t feel obligated to do anything with it. The award isn’t created by any official group, like a WordPress Advisory Board or anything. It’s just one set of bloggers showing appreciation for the contributions of other bloggers.

However- I don’t like chain letters or posts that say “pass this on or else.” While I am following the rules of the award by listing fifteen bloggers below, my linking to you here doesn’t mean you’re required to do anything about it.

Moving on, then. I’m passing this on to:

And lastly, the requisite 7 Things About Myself:

I have never seen The Godfather. Not part 1, part 2, or part 3. I’ve never read the novel either. For as much as I love movies, everyone just assumes that I’ve seen this at some point, I never have.
I am immune to being earwormed by other people, but I earworm myself all the time.
I spent a chunk of the early 1990s in a Rocky Horror Picture Show shadow cast. I was usually Brad, but I played Frank a few times.
I only got my passport in 2006 because I wanted to see London. My goals at the time did not include any other destinations.
I carry ear plugs with me every day, and especially to all the concerts I go to because my hearing is already starting to show signs of wear and tear. When I’m in a crowded restaurant or bar, I often can’t tell what people are saying to me because I have a difficult time parsing their words out of the background noise.
Sometimes when I get going on a project or a blog post or something along those lines, I go into a sort of hyperfocus and lose all sense of time. It’s not uncommon for me to lose hours writing a series of blog posts. This is great for productivity, but bad for my health- when I am in this state, I forget to eat and I don’t notice the migraine forming until it’s far, far too late.
I’m a chronic overpacker pretending to be someone who travels very light. I can usually get myself down to a single bag, but that bag is stuffed to the gills. On any given trip, I might have too many extra shirts, a flashlight, enough electronic gadgets to initiate a hostile takeover of RJR Nabisco from the road, and quite possibly a boat anchor. (Hey, you never know when you’ll need to stop in a hurry!)

Do you pack light or are you also prone to overpacking?

Raising A Maypole

On May 6, 2013May 30, 2020 By StevenIn Life In Germany12 Comments

On the first of May last year, I wrote a little bit about May Day, and about Maibäume, or maypoles. This year, I got to see the raising of a May Pole up close. My partner-in-crime Jenny and her boyfriend were planning on going to a raising in nearby Peising and invited me along to hang out with the Village People. (I mean the people who live in the village of Peising, not the band with the cowboy and the construction worker. I would actually have enjoyed having a beer with them too.) Since the day is a public holiday in Bavaria (no work!) I had nothing else planned, so I took them up on their offer. I’m glad I did, because it was actually a lot of fun.

First of all, a May Pole raising is often held with all the elements of a traditional Bavarian beer-fest. There are beer garden styled tables and benches, lots of people in Tracht (lederhosen and dirndls), and even some live musical entertainment.

This was also kind of a family event, and I have to just say- kids in Tracht are incredibly damned cute. These three pictures are proof of that. Also, the little kid on the scooter is kind of an adorable badass with the sunglasses and the spiky hair. He was my favorite Bavarian kid all day long.

At two in the afternoon, it was time for the Maypole to be raised. It had been stored a short distance from the place where it was to be raised, and there is a tradition where a group of people from the village guard their Maypole against theft by another village. This involves drinking lots of beer and hanging out overnight around the pole. If the people from the other village succeed in stealing the Maypole, it must be “bought” back for the princely sum of 50 Liters of beer and enough Bratwurst for all the members of the raiding party. At least this is how it was explained to me. As you can see, however, it wouldn’t be terribly easy to steal another village’s Maypole:

The process of raising the pole took around 45 minutes, but Robert says it can be done much faster if people really want to. It starts with everyone lining the pole up with its metal base so that a primary spike can be put through it to anchor it in place.

Next, they use smaller wood poles connected by barbed wire (seen below) to prop the pole up and to lift it in increments. These tongs are in varying lengths, and the longest are nearly as long as the Maypole is tall. The group would lever the pole up slightly, then move one or two of the sets of tongs further down the pole, then another lift. This is repeated until the pole is completely vertical. These next few photos show what I’m talking about.

There’s a secondary type of pole, seen here, which is used to help guide the longer sets of tongs when they’re quite a large distance above the ground. A “spotter” with one of these stands under the far end of the tongs to help steady them while they are being moved further down the Maypole. This is probably a very good idea, because it’s very easy to lose control of the longest sets of tongs when you’re only gripping it from the furthest end. As you can see, the tongs get very long.

Once the Maypole is entirely vertical, metal plates are bolted across the open side to keep it from toppling over again. A few pieces of wood are wedged into place to hold the pole steady. Finally, a quick bit of spot-welding on the bolts keeps them from coming loose for the next few months.

After all of this, Voila! A lovely Maypole has been set up in the village of Peising. The blue and white stripes are traditional; they’re the colors of the Bavarian flag. Once the Maypole is fully raised, everyone settles back down for beer and bratwurst. And, in my case, chocolate cake.