Festival Mania

Posted on by Jackson Crawford

I ended up visiting 2 Austrian festivals today, and I had a really great time. First, I went down to the Schwarzach festival with Agnes and Jakob early, about 10:30. I met some of Agnes' friends, and we roamed the stands for a little while. I had multiple German breakthroughs today, because I made conversation with 3 or 4 strangers. Although my grammar isn't perfect and I can't speak a word of dialect, I would say that I am functional here. The problem is that even though I have pretty decent High German (the original dialect you could say), speaking High German from Vorarlbergish is about just as difficult as High German from English. So, I end up meeting most of the people in the middle, both with OK High German. Anyway, Agnes had to run home and grab some coffee so I went with her and hung out at the house for a while. Then, Beni and I rode down there on his moped (I was on the back). Even though it is not a fast machine, it is pretty exhilarating when you are on the back of a moped and only holding on to some tiny handles behind you. We arrived at the festival for lunch and each got a Zack-Zack, the much better equivalent of a hamburger in Vorarlberg. We sat and watched the music for a while until Agnes and Jakob arrived, back from Jakob's soccer training. The festival was about as stereotypical Austrian you can get. There was beer, bread, lederhosen, a brass band, long picnic tables, etc. I told Beni that "this is how American's think all Austrians live" and he laughed. They are not bad stereotypes, just kind of funny. Also, they are a little bit true. We walked over to Agnes and Jakob and watched a beer carton tower game. The goal is to see how many empty beer cartons you can stack underneath you without falling. People get harnessed in because they get way up there. Jakob ended up getting 30, which is really good! I was going to try it, but there was a large line and Beni invited me to go to a different festival with Micki and him. I accepted and we rode back to the house to gather our stuff. We headed to the Schwarzach Bahnhof (my first time), but there is little to see there. It is literally just a single stop, with no building. Micki was already there and we hopped on the train towards Rankweil. But, once we got there I realized that neither Beni nor Micki knew where the festival actually was. We walked in to the heart of the town, underneath the huge old church, and looked around for a bit. Beni called a friend to come get and and eventually we made it up the hill and to the festival. It was bigger than I expected, with multiple rides, boothes, as well as a stage and eating section. Upon arrival I bought a wallet at one of the vendors for 7 euros, then we wandered around the ride section for a bit. We ended up going on the "6D Simulator Ride". We put on 3D glasses and entered the space ship thing. There was a screen and you raced along a track, the "wind" would blow in your face, etc. It was actually really fun. Then afterwards we got a drink and watched people do the other challenges, like sledgehammer strength, how hard can you kick a soccer ball, etc. Then, we got in the bumper cars and went at it! We were finished, so we walked back to the Rankweil Bahnhof and rode back home. I bought a "Bifi Roll" which turned out to be a cold hot dog... yuck. We returned home and chilled out. It was a very full and fun day, one of the best I have had!