Oktoberfest

Yesterday, I decided to drink beer in lieu of going to the gym. I think that this, generally speaking, is an acceptable subsitution.

Each year, Arlington, VA, has a pretty sizable Oktoberfest celebration. And despite not actually liking beer, I flet that the event was a nice way to get to know a new place -- and perhaps even to develop an appreciation for an ale or two. Also, Diana (BuRrrr '07) was going, and I figured that I could learn something from a person who actually enjoys drinking liquid bread.

So I hopped on a yellow line train, got off at the Pentagon (where there were some disturbing ads depicting tanks... in action!!!!11), and took a bus to the "Village of Shirlington." I'd never been to Northern Viriginia ("NOVA") before. But apparently, in this preppy suburbia, "village" is synonymous with "shopping strip." In other words, M. Night Shyamalan's movie of the same name was never a novel concept. But I digress.

The beer festival itself was a lot of fun. I sampled 5-6 beers and 8 wines. I actually went home with a $20 bottle of Riesling, so I may have missed the larger point of the event / forgotten my socioeconomic limitations... However, I am extremely happy that I went because, among other things, Oktoberfest in Shirlington was truly an immersion into German culture. I got to hear the Edelweiss Band (apparently "legendary" according to their own promotional placard) play classic German standards such as "The Chicken Dance" (*clap clap clap clap*). I also got to see a two-year-old, German-flag-wavin' tot smack his brother in the face with the ol' Bar and Bars of Germany. Said two-year-old was then knocked to the ground, where he was left unattended by his beer-sipping mother for at least one full minute. Es lieb Deutschland, baby!

But really, it was a lot of fun! I highly recommend it to any people in the D.C. area in October.