h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

OK - so I've skipped a couple. Sorry.

Today's place is St. Martin. It's just one of the many lovely little villages around these parts, typical of the wine villages.

Unlike Hauenstein, which I described yesterday, which is in the woods, this is in open landscape, perched on the top of the hill. It is surrounded by airy vineyards, and all the streets have a steep slope!

The centre of the village is built around a huge red sandstone church, obviously this is the Church of St. Martin. The village has many active clubs and societies and is well equipped with hotels and wine establishments. You can't call them wine bars - they are usually rustic inside, like an old pub, and have a large selection of wines. Here you may be served wine in a 250 ml glass, and, if you are prepared to taste several varieties, you may even be allowed to order a glass as small as an eighth of a litre.

If a whole "Stammtisch" has gathered (a group of about 6 - 10 people, not in an organised club or organisation, just friends who meet for a drink and an argument) you might even order a "Pokal" - a one-litre wine glass - which does the round of the table.

Anyway, St. Martin. Again, it is a place you can hike to or from, and it is popular with tourists.

On St Martin's day, (11 November) they have the biggest parade of all. Now, on 11 November, or on the Saturday or Sunday following it, every village and town, in some cases every kindergarten, will have their little parade of children with hand-made lanterns, following St Martin on his horse round the streets, singing the traditional "lantern" songs. They finish up at a square, or on the school playground, where a bonfire awaits them, and the horseman acts out the story of St Martin sharing his thick Roman military uniform cloak with a poor man sitting freezing outside the city gates.

The children are then given a warm drink and a sweet bun, shaped like a gingerbread man, and the adults stand around and chat for a while and as the fire dies down, the crowd disperses.

Near to St Martin, there is the spa town of Bad Dürkheim. This is famous for a huge barrel which houses a restaurant in one of the squares. The Wurstmarkt, which is more a Wine Fest than a Sausage Fest, is celebrated around this barrel in September every year. It is supposed to be the biggest fair of its kind in Germany.

[Amy P]

A barrel that houses a restaurant?

Wow, a restaurant in a barrel? Well, I just had to google it. It looks fab!

Deb

Is there anything more German than having a sausage festival around a giant beer barrel?

having a sausage festival around a giant beer barrel wearing lederhosen?

having a sausage festival around a giant beer barrel wearing lederhosen while listening to an oompah band playing Volkstümliche Musik?

(I like this game)

Right, that's it. I'm coming to visit. The while area sounds right up my street. I'd forgotten how much I liked Germany.

Count me in too!

I answered paul's post with a couple of links of pictures of the barrel - inside and out. Can't think what happened to it.

Anyway, my last few descriptions have been a bit lacklustre. I'll try and do a really scintillating one tonight.

Sausage festivals are part of what makes life worth living.

I'll see your "having a sausage festival around a giant beer barrel wearing lederhosen while listening to an oompah band playing Volkstümliche Musik?"

and raise you

With David Hasselhoff.

Reddit

Stop apologising! We're all riveted!

I looked up 'pokal' for an image of the one-litre wine glass but all that came up was a selection of football trophies.

We used to sing a renaissance song in something like Catalan that went

La tricotea, Sammartin la vea
Aber san poc al agua señalea
La bota sen-bra tu leta
La señal dun chapiré
Ge quetegus per mundo spesa
La botilla plena

We never bothered finding out what (if anything) it all meant, just learned it phonetically. Several hints are in there all the same:

Sammartin is the feast of San Martin
La botilla plena is the full bottle.
San poc al agua looks intriguing in the light of what you wrote above, but maybe it's a coincidence.

One of the members of our Renaissance Band (St Sepulchre's) has a wine glass that holds 750 cl - a bottle of wine. Some ancestor had it made when his doctor warned him to limit his intake to one glass of wine a day. He had his special glassful every day and lived into his nineties.