I went to Oktoberfest in New Ulm today and one of my typical stops was at Turner Hall to have a drink. I ordered a Schell's Oktoberfest and was given a 'Boot' beer glass. I was informed that it was given to whoever 'Kills' the keg. This is why it is good to do this event annually- each year is a little different, and there is probably going to be plenty to write about. The man next to me at the bar was surprised to find out he was so close to getting it.
I made numerous stops today, one of them was before New Ulm. It was to this retail store on route 169 between Jordan and Belle Plaine that had big signs about their soda pop collection and puzzles as well. It was crowded in there, but I did find a puzzle I liked with a baseball theme. It is a spot and find puzzle game, a Euro-graphics kids puzzle, 100 pieces. Notable there was hearing a kid asking his dad 'why can't we get a pumpkin?' 'We've got $106 worth of candy'.
I went to New Ulm's Brown County Museum for the first time in a while, there was a display about the 1862 Sioux Uprising that included a small howitzer, 12 pounds. I wanted to get to Schell's Brewery and get a replacement Grain Belt shirt in their gift shop, and I found a suitable one. I liked some of the signs on the wall there, though I didn't buy any of them. One of them was a Dr. Seuss quote, including 'Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind'. I got some souvenirs at the county museum, two were about the 150th anniversary of the Sioux Uprising- a coin, and a magnet. Both were discounted. The others were postcards, six in all. One is of the museum, which served as the town's post office until 1976. Another was of the Harkin Store outside town, seen it once before. A third is a young girl who looks like an angel as she has wings, she seems to carrying some evergreen branches. The other three are related to the Sioux Uprising. Some were free ones I picked up at the Visitor Center, like a bigger one about the restoration of the Wanda Gag (pronounced gogg) house. She is famous for writing the children's book 'Millions of cats' and translated Grimm fairy tales from German. I have two buttons pinned to my Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt. One is about New Ulm's 'Narren', entertainers at the festivals. I got it free when I asked about where I can get them. I liked getting a photo of seven of these members of the 'Troupe' a the Visitor Center. They are fine with photos, but only in full costume which includes masks. The other I bought for a dollar at a store called 'Guten Tag Haus', it said 'I did the chicken dance' (Kuchleintanz, must be what it means in German). And I did in the evening at the Holiday Inn, where I typically cap the evening. I didn't eat much today for a while. When I needed more batteries for my camera I went to the Target store and got a little cup of Nabisco cheese-cracker sandwiches. I finally had an actual meal in the evening at the Holiday Inn, bratwurst on a bun with sauerkraut, along with a piece of German chocolate cake. I was getting some attention for trying to do a 'Selfie' at my table after I had started eating. I turned down three offers from people who were willing to take a picture for me. I said to each one how it isn't a selfie if somebody does it for me. I also took a photo of the food. I did something like ten selfies before deciding the one to keep was in the first two. It seemed to be a little harder to do one while sitting at a table, or maybe I was trying too hard to get my sweatshirt in the photo when the most important thing was my face and one of the buttons pinned to it. I briefly went over to Sleepy Eye, just west of New Ulm by about 10 miles, to see the Linus statue in front of the library. I had a vanilla shake at the Hardee's across the street. They have a Linus statue there as the inspiration for the character, Linus Maurer (a friend of Charles Schulz) is from Sleepy Eye. I decided to wait until after the last show at the Glockenspiel of the day- 5pm- to go over there. In the middle of town there was a stage for performers, when I was there in the afternoon it was a Johnny Cash tribute band, called 'Church of cash'. I heard them play 'Walk the line', 'Jackson', 'One piece at a time', and 'Big river'. After my return from Sleepy Eye, I made it to German Park where I like to pause in front of the fountain and reflect since I enjoy visiting New Ulm so much. After whispering to myself for a short time about how things are just fine and how I like being in this town and park, I threw a penny in the fountain. I of course liked seeing one of the nearby pillars from the Wanda Gag house, with the poem that starts with 'Have you had a kindness shown?' as it reminded me of my 'Ohio friend' that I have probably written about before. She is now a journalist in Florida. Then it was on to Turner Hall. The Rathskeller, where I go to, of course has a sign over the entrance saying 'Tourists welcome'. The man next to me at the bar said he was from Sleepy Eye and taking a break before going back to the wedding reception on the upper level. I was spotted by an employee who recalled me from doing stand-up comedy in the Twin Cities. I found out he saw me perform, but is not the New Ulm native I recalled from one show. He said this was probably his roommate. I said I would be writing about my visit on my blog, and gave him one of my business cards. I liked seeing some things I hadn't before, like finding what appeared to be the county fairgrounds in the west part of town just off the main road. I figured it was the fairgrounds, after seeing a turning sign, as there was a grandstand. Another was a grocery store called 'Cash wise'. It is also in the west part of town. Hy-Vee, which I am familiar with as an Iowa native, is in the east part of town next to the Holiday Inn. There was a sit-down restaurant section, kind of like a Hy-Vee deli, which had nice art on the wall of town landmarks like the Defender's Monument- in reference to the Sioux Uprising. I did get a close-up look at this monument, in the median of a main road, and got plenty of photos of it. This is an obelisk, so it stands prominent when in the median. Around this time I got photos of historical markers or signs at the homes of Wanda Gag, and John Lind. The latter was a one-term governor, around 1901. I had toured both homes before, but it has been a while. At the Holiday Inn I got plenty of photos besides a selfie and of the food. I also got some of 'Festers' in their outfits, mainly of the women. Not sure what these dresses are called, dirndls I think. This included one woman who had a superhero outfit on and it said 'Beer girl'. I also got one of Miss New Ulm and the princess, while these two girls were on the dance floor. I was sitting next to an older couple, the man asked how far the Twin Cities was. I recognized an accent, didn't say this though and expected to hear some foreign country, but he said they were from Milwaukee. A band member saw my Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt when I came out to do the chicken dance and tried to crack some weak jokes. When I spoke of where I live now, he was still trying and said something about ex-Gov. Jesse Ventura. I said I'm not him, and I do stand-up comedy and he was giving me joke material. He then gave up. I like knowing I can figure out effective ways to deal with people who are 'Just trying to have some fun with me'. I did notice some things had changed at the Holiday Inn, like how the 'Food court' is now an open area instead of a separate room. And there seemed to be fewer retailers selling souvenirs.
And there was even more music of note. No pun intended. At German Park, I heard 'My life' by Billy Joel. At the Holiday Inn, it was 'Ring of Fire' and 'One Fine Day'. Another was 'End of the World' by Lesley Gore I think. I also wrote down other lyrics for it- 'ended when you said goodbye'.
I made numerous stops today, one of them was before New Ulm. It was to this retail store on route 169 between Jordan and Belle Plaine that had big signs about their soda pop collection and puzzles as well. It was crowded in there, but I did find a puzzle I liked with a baseball theme. It is a spot and find puzzle game, a Euro-graphics kids puzzle, 100 pieces. Notable there was hearing a kid asking his dad 'why can't we get a pumpkin?' 'We've got $106 worth of candy'.
I went to New Ulm's Brown County Museum for the first time in a while, there was a display about the 1862 Sioux Uprising that included a small howitzer, 12 pounds. I wanted to get to Schell's Brewery and get a replacement Grain Belt shirt in their gift shop, and I found a suitable one. I liked some of the signs on the wall there, though I didn't buy any of them. One of them was a Dr. Seuss quote, including 'Those who mind don't matter, and those who matter don't mind'. I got some souvenirs at the county museum, two were about the 150th anniversary of the Sioux Uprising- a coin, and a magnet. Both were discounted. The others were postcards, six in all. One is of the museum, which served as the town's post office until 1976. Another was of the Harkin Store outside town, seen it once before. A third is a young girl who looks like an angel as she has wings, she seems to carrying some evergreen branches. The other three are related to the Sioux Uprising. Some were free ones I picked up at the Visitor Center, like a bigger one about the restoration of the Wanda Gag (pronounced gogg) house. She is famous for writing the children's book 'Millions of cats' and translated Grimm fairy tales from German. I have two buttons pinned to my Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt. One is about New Ulm's 'Narren', entertainers at the festivals. I got it free when I asked about where I can get them. I liked getting a photo of seven of these members of the 'Troupe' a the Visitor Center. They are fine with photos, but only in full costume which includes masks. The other I bought for a dollar at a store called 'Guten Tag Haus', it said 'I did the chicken dance' (Kuchleintanz, must be what it means in German). And I did in the evening at the Holiday Inn, where I typically cap the evening. I didn't eat much today for a while. When I needed more batteries for my camera I went to the Target store and got a little cup of Nabisco cheese-cracker sandwiches. I finally had an actual meal in the evening at the Holiday Inn, bratwurst on a bun with sauerkraut, along with a piece of German chocolate cake. I was getting some attention for trying to do a 'Selfie' at my table after I had started eating. I turned down three offers from people who were willing to take a picture for me. I said to each one how it isn't a selfie if somebody does it for me. I also took a photo of the food. I did something like ten selfies before deciding the one to keep was in the first two. It seemed to be a little harder to do one while sitting at a table, or maybe I was trying too hard to get my sweatshirt in the photo when the most important thing was my face and one of the buttons pinned to it. I briefly went over to Sleepy Eye, just west of New Ulm by about 10 miles, to see the Linus statue in front of the library. I had a vanilla shake at the Hardee's across the street. They have a Linus statue there as the inspiration for the character, Linus Maurer (a friend of Charles Schulz) is from Sleepy Eye. I decided to wait until after the last show at the Glockenspiel of the day- 5pm- to go over there. In the middle of town there was a stage for performers, when I was there in the afternoon it was a Johnny Cash tribute band, called 'Church of cash'. I heard them play 'Walk the line', 'Jackson', 'One piece at a time', and 'Big river'. After my return from Sleepy Eye, I made it to German Park where I like to pause in front of the fountain and reflect since I enjoy visiting New Ulm so much. After whispering to myself for a short time about how things are just fine and how I like being in this town and park, I threw a penny in the fountain. I of course liked seeing one of the nearby pillars from the Wanda Gag house, with the poem that starts with 'Have you had a kindness shown?' as it reminded me of my 'Ohio friend' that I have probably written about before. She is now a journalist in Florida. Then it was on to Turner Hall. The Rathskeller, where I go to, of course has a sign over the entrance saying 'Tourists welcome'. The man next to me at the bar said he was from Sleepy Eye and taking a break before going back to the wedding reception on the upper level. I was spotted by an employee who recalled me from doing stand-up comedy in the Twin Cities. I found out he saw me perform, but is not the New Ulm native I recalled from one show. He said this was probably his roommate. I said I would be writing about my visit on my blog, and gave him one of my business cards. I liked seeing some things I hadn't before, like finding what appeared to be the county fairgrounds in the west part of town just off the main road. I figured it was the fairgrounds, after seeing a turning sign, as there was a grandstand. Another was a grocery store called 'Cash wise'. It is also in the west part of town. Hy-Vee, which I am familiar with as an Iowa native, is in the east part of town next to the Holiday Inn. There was a sit-down restaurant section, kind of like a Hy-Vee deli, which had nice art on the wall of town landmarks like the Defender's Monument- in reference to the Sioux Uprising. I did get a close-up look at this monument, in the median of a main road, and got plenty of photos of it. This is an obelisk, so it stands prominent when in the median. Around this time I got photos of historical markers or signs at the homes of Wanda Gag, and John Lind. The latter was a one-term governor, around 1901. I had toured both homes before, but it has been a while. At the Holiday Inn I got plenty of photos besides a selfie and of the food. I also got some of 'Festers' in their outfits, mainly of the women. Not sure what these dresses are called, dirndls I think. This included one woman who had a superhero outfit on and it said 'Beer girl'. I also got one of Miss New Ulm and the princess, while these two girls were on the dance floor. I was sitting next to an older couple, the man asked how far the Twin Cities was. I recognized an accent, didn't say this though and expected to hear some foreign country, but he said they were from Milwaukee. A band member saw my Iowa Hawkeye sweatshirt when I came out to do the chicken dance and tried to crack some weak jokes. When I spoke of where I live now, he was still trying and said something about ex-Gov. Jesse Ventura. I said I'm not him, and I do stand-up comedy and he was giving me joke material. He then gave up. I like knowing I can figure out effective ways to deal with people who are 'Just trying to have some fun with me'. I did notice some things had changed at the Holiday Inn, like how the 'Food court' is now an open area instead of a separate room. And there seemed to be fewer retailers selling souvenirs.
And there was even more music of note. No pun intended. At German Park, I heard 'My life' by Billy Joel. At the Holiday Inn, it was 'Ring of Fire' and 'One Fine Day'. Another was 'End of the World' by Lesley Gore I think. I also wrote down other lyrics for it- 'ended when you said goodbye'.
No comments:
Post a Comment