The Country Mice

Beer is the order of the day. Every day. Big beer, little beer (as the locals mime to the tourists), wheat beer, fruit beer, beer with lemonade (called Biker’s Beer — because a cyclist can then drink and drive), black beer and others.

Frankie took us to a beer garden on the banks of the Elbe where we simply *had* to sample a few brews, along with a substantial home-style dinner that included fried potatoes, sauerkraut, and great whopping chunks of meat.

This particular weekend in Dresden celebrates life in the city with a festival to encourage people to re-explore their community.

In the shadow of the old stone walls, vendors set up stalls selling fresh fruit, roasted almonds, spun sugar, gingerbread, bratwurst and beer.

And the beer is consumed in the open (!) and out of glass mugs (!). No health and safety commissioner hovering here!

This woman was crooning a bit of Frank Sinatra.

And all these folks looked on.

Frankie told us the stalls were supposed to be in the style of the medieval times. Looking at this particular stall, where various carboys of  sweetened fruit wine bubbled and and brewed away under flickering wax candles, it was fairly easy to imagine a similar street scene transpiring 700 years ago.

This particular glass of black currant wine tasted just like the wine my aunt Inge used to brew in her basement.

Inge had left East Germany some time after the war but before the building of the Berlin Wall. She always had jellies, jams and wines working in a tiny space under the stairs that led to the basement. Magic for a little kid!

Not sure this particular structure was around 700 years ago.

All very pretty in the later hours of the evening.

Liliana noted on our walk back to the car, “I love Germany!”