Ted was feeling a bit under the weather. I think it was a combination of the food, beer and late night last night that did him in but he was a trooper and came with me to the Dorf Fest because he knew how much I wanted to listen to Michele's band sing.
He didn't want to eat which I didn't blame him and we brought a bottle of water for him and a bottle of iced tea for me. We snagged some seats under an umbrella right in front of the band stand. But before we sat down we ventured near the church area and I took a few photos of the church. Part of it was built in the 1400's. I'll let you guess which part!
This is the small grassy area with a stone bench in front of the church.
These are various views of the church.
I can see this steeple out of the third bedroom window. Since I don't have a clock yet, I depend on my computer's clock and this one to tell the time.
It's interesting, actually. It appears that the clock chimes are done almost the same here as they are in the tiny villages in Italy. Here's how it works: with a certain tone, the tower will ring one ring at the quarter hour, two rings at the half hour, three rings at the three-quarter hour and four rings at the hour. At the hour, the tower will ring as many times as is the hour (i.e. six rings for six o'clock, 11 rings for 11 o'clock etc.) At the hour, it will ring first with one tone (six times, if it's six o'clock) and then six times with another tone. I'm not sure why the tower rings the hour twice (I don't remember that when I went to Italy) but the only reason I can come up with is that one misses that it's the hour and has to count. I'm going to have to ask around to find out. It's one of those things that makes you go "hmmmmmmm?"
And this was probably the ONLY mechanism the ancient people had to know what time it was!
We went at 1pm and sat and listened to them play. They played a LOT of American music and there was a black guy singing. we snagged a great seat under an umbrella right in front of the band stand. we brought our own drinks (tea for me, and water for Ted) He was feeling quite under the weather today.
As they played, we sang along. The black guy asked me to come and sing because I knew all of the words. Of course, I did not. I was too embarrassed. He would talk to the different people as they walked by in front of him.
What's unusual about this fest is that they give you REAL glasses for the beer and wine (you give a deposit for it-in Ted's case 2 Euro) and when you return the glass for a refill you simply pay for the refill. He assumed they would refill the one he had, not so.
They also gave you a plate and regular silverware for the roasted chicken they had and for the flammkuchen. Again, a deposit for the dish and flatware. Then you took the dish, silverware to an outdoor washing area set up with a commercial dishwasher. You hand in your plates and your deposit ticket and get your deposit back. Pretty slick and very green! I can't imagine anything like that in the states! It just would not happen. I think about my childhood County Fair in Canfield, Ohio and can not imagine any of the vendors giving you glass and/or dishes and silverware for any food you might buy. It just isn't done in the U.S. Perhaps we COULD learn something from our European counterparts.
Today I had a "Rot" (red) braut. Ted had a few bites of a Nutella crepe I bought and we both had Michele's gelato.
There was a clown on stilts carrying a bucket and making humongous bubbles. The small children ran after him popping the bubbles. It was like watching the "Pied Piper"! The clown also had entertainment for the children near the church. I'm sorry I didn't bring my camera.
And the portable bathroom was terrific but I didn't know you had to pay. I was thoroughly embarrassed but I went back to our table and got 2 Euro since I went three times while I was there!
We stayed until about 4:30 but Ted was fading fast and didn't feel well so we left and went home where he promptly fell asleep. He woke up and felt much better and was ready to eat again!
At 8pm after the fest was over, so we mosied over to michele's to share a pizza before going to the base to do laundry.
We talked to an AF tech Sergeant (she was about my daughter Ailene's age) She told us about her time in Afghanistan and Iraq. I couldn't imagine either of my daughters 1) in the military and 2) going to those two areas. I thanked her for her service. She told us about how difficult it was to give orders to the Iraqis to do the work she needed to have done (ditch digging). Since it was 140 degrees there, she was in shorts. She said the men just stopped what they were doing and watched her walk. She said it was laughable but she didn't dare look at them. She even asked someone if she should put pants on and he said "no". I also cannot imagine this either!
We got home at about 11pm and sat for a bit before going to bed.
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