Annual Beer Fest in Bonn

We started out Friday with visiting the Poppelsdorf Botanical Gardens near the Bonn city center. Andrew and I haven't been there yet and thought we would check it out while his mom and aunt were visiting. It was just a small area, but pretty and the best part was it was free! Once we left here, we went to the center of Bonn so Debbie and Michelle could buy some last minute souvenirs.

Later that evening was the first day of the Bonn Bierboerse. This is an annual event that brings many different countries to serve their beers and foods. We chose Friday night because we wanted to see the opening tapping of the keg and the fireworks (since we didn't get to see any on July 4th). Not only did we get to see the keg tapping, but also had a glass of beer from the keg, which we thought was pretty neat!

Since we aren't going to get to visit Munich (Germany) we decided we wanted to try one of their beers. They are famous for having the VERY large mugs of beer (1 liter to be exact). I would have to say this might have been my least favorite out of the bunch, but I did conclude that it helped my arms get a little more muscular in that short period of time. And no I did not drink all that beer!

We stopped by one of the food booths and all bought something by the name of nacken steak. It was a very well seasoned steak that was placed in between a bun. The coolest thing was how it was cooked. The grill was large and circular which rotated to cook all the meats evenly. It was absolutely delicious! While enjoying the world beers and great food, there was a band playing in the background which was actually pretty good (music from the Abba Survival Band).

We also were able to have a few Irish brewskies and I enjoyed a thing of cheese nachos. The weather didn't cooperate towards the end of the evening though. At one point it was pouring down rain, which left us stranded under a table umbrella, but surprisingly no one got too drenched! The rain was making me nervous because I didn't know if this would delay or cancel the fireworks. But luckily around 10:45 they started and it was worth the wait. It was kind of funny how almost every song they played while the fireworks were going off was from Michael Jackson.

This was the Germany event Andrew and I have been waiting for. We all had a great time and got a few souvenirs out of it (we kept a few of the different glasses the beer was served in). I am glad we chose to go Friday because there was not a ton of people there and the combination of the bands and fireworks made it great!