Back to the Cannstatter Wasen (Stuttgart festival)

I've a few friends coming in from Switzerland to experience Volksfest... Would anybody be interested in a little field trip back to the Wasen?

I'd propose a late-morning (noon at the latest) arrival on Saturday, with the better part of an afternoon in the tent of our choice.

Hi , sounds good . Would like to join

Matt and I were hoping to go this weekend. We're in.

if you guys go back to schwabenbrau (sp?), i have 2 food tickets and a beer thing still... i'll be outta town tomorrow, but if someone goes to the dinner tonight and wants to pick em up, they're more then welcome

Count me in! Also, hopefully someone will go on a few rides with me? God, i'm such a child. Preferably BEFORE getting drunk. Also, Barry may want to come too. Who knows.

I shall be there! and I'll definitely go on the rides! BUT only before the beer drinking. and I refuse to go on the round-round-round-round-round rides, I went last time and my hair got caught in the hinges .. not very pleasant at all. But I'm up for the roller coasters and the tower!

Excellent! Also, Schwaben Braü tent is a great idea. Definatley better than the Dinkel Acker tent that i tried. My number, if you need it is: 01520 706 7818

i'll go to ride the rides...but have to opt out of the beer drinking

I heard a rumor tonight that a guy heard from his uncle's cat that there might still be tables available to reserve.

Based on the responses in this thread, we might have:
mayfly
PilotChris (+3)
MarcusEvans
shugars (+1)
gAnji

(serino78, I'm not ignoring you, but I assume you don't want a place at the table if you're not drinking?)

Perhaps somebody with better German skill than I (Marc??) can research table availability tomorrow? We might gather enough people for a half-table at this rate!

Hi all, I've been meaning to attend Wasen this weekend, but I can't seem to convince the TT folks from Mannheim/HD to come along.
since y'all are going as a group, mind if I join? - Who's in charge of putting together the table reservation?

According to the Schwaben Braü website, it looks like reservations are still possible in their tent on Saturday. For reservations, there's the obligatory minimum purchase of 3 L of beer and a half chicken for 30 euro, of course. We should figure out a rough time when we want to meet and book a spot. The fact that Friday appears to be full might be an indication that reservations are filling up fast.

By the way, to clear up any potential confusion, I'm already accounted for as the "+1" in "shugars +1".

Right...i'm going to try and reserve a place for the Schaben Braü tent but there's a slight problem of money. I can pay for my self but i can't exactly pay for 10+ people. Mmmm

Ok. I just rang. There is STILL space for the Schaben Braü tent. 10 or 20 people. However, we really should book today to avoid dissapointment...
It's 30 euros per person which includes 3 litres of beer and a half chicken (or equivalent). The problem is, it needs to be paid on one (i think) EC card. I don't have 300 euros on my card. Solution?

My number is: 01520 706 7818

The number for reservations is: 07 11 56 35 65. Speak to 'Melonie'. If anyone decides to book please let us know so we don't end up double booking

Marc, I'll front the money for my group of four -- and the others in the group who I know well.

Straderm, do you happen to know if the money is required in cash at the time of booking? Or is it done by bank transfer, credit card, or another mechanism?

1tennisplyr, great! Come along! We'll need to figure out the payment details as noted above. The buy-in for a seat is 30EUR, but this gets you 3L of beer and a 0.5 chickens, so it's really not a bad deal.

Well, I'm in.

Let me know the time to meet and where we plan to meet up. Since I'm coming from Rhineland Pfalz and have never met any of you before, some place other than the fest where it would be easier to meet up first might make the most sense...

@Pilotchris --> I just PMed you with my phone #
@MarcusEvans ---> I just called you but only got your voice mail.

I can simply pay whoever is making the table booking by online bank transfer today. Just let me know whom to pay.

I'm going to call and see if I can reserve for 10. The 10 being
mayfly
PilotChris (+3)
MarcusEvans
shugars (+1)
gAnji
1tenisplyr

Hi,
Sorry for the late reply. Can you add two more to the list?

Sorry dudes, I have a bank card, not a credit card so I can't make the reservation. They'll only take a credit card.

Explain that you're American and can't get any credit right now. Ask if they'd accept a million Lehman brothers shares in part exchange for a maß.

wait so what's the deal with the money-situation? could someone post a reply stating exactly how much money we need to bring?

Ok, well i'm not sure how this is going to work out since no one seems to be stepping up to the table (except the lovley shugars of course) to pay the reservation deposit or whatever. I would but i can't. I just don't have 300 euros lying around. Quite happy to give whoever pays the money tonight at Mata Hari if it is required. No idea what's up with my phone. Please SMS my your number if you want to contact me and i shall call back.

Quick update - my group has dropped by one to 3 (PilotChris +2).

I've got a card (assuming MasterCard is OK). I'm willing to use it as long as everybody local promises to get me the money tonight or makes other arrangements with me. I'm tied up with work stuff until about 3:30pm, though.

So i have a card but like Marc , not the money , sorry!!!!!!
Were great when you could do it Chris. Would give you the money then tonight

EDIT: In reply to gAnji's post: I think it's 30 euro per person for 3 mass + 1/2 chicken on Sat. times the number of people that're attending.

Hi Chris,
I'd probably have to give the money to you on Saturday. I'd love to come to Mata Hari tonight (actually I met you there for the first time a couple of weeks ago - it was a fun night) but I don't think I'll be able to make it due to work commitments (very boring). Would it be okay if I gave you the money on Saturday? I would owe you 60€.

Chris,
Turns out i'm not headed to Austria til sunday so i'll be here Saturday.
If there's still space I'd be up for throwing down €30.
I'll be at Mata Hari this evening to discuss...

okie dokie thanks 1tennisplyr. 30 buckaroos it is. (gosh that's expensive tho) oh and someone else will have to eat my chicken) i'll be at the mata hari tonight hopefully with my neighbor.

The 30 euro covers three drink tokens and one food token. The drink token is worth whatever one mass of beer costs and the food token whatever the half chicken & chips cost. So you can order any drink or food item from the menu and use the tokens to cover, or part cover, the cost of what you get. In other words, if you wanted three radlers and a salad, you can.

I would like to join but I won't be free till about 5pm, is it possible to join you guys then?

I expect we might still be there? Mighty pissed... but still there... ;-)

Ok, here's the deal:

We didn't book tonight (work got in the way of social life - AGAIN!), but aim to do so (if tables are still available) first thing tomorrow. I collected money from most of the attendees tonight at Mata Hari. If you didn't give me money and haven't talked to me about an alternative plan, please note that your space may not be reserved. Contact me early tomorrow to confirm!

We've got between 16 - 22 people (the extra 6 might be some Spanish friends from my office). We can book for only 10 or 20 places. 16's annoyingly in-the-middle, but I think we'll book a 20-person table either way. If we end up with unused spaces, hopefully those who drink more than 3L of beer can buy the extra tickets from me. If we end up over, some people will probably have to squeeze onto the table and will not have beer tickets. It should all work itself out in the end.

I've heard (anecdotal evidence only) that we might need to be at the tent by 11am to claim our table. If this is true, we should get at least a few people together to man the table from 11am on (3-4 on a 10-person reservation or 6-8 on a 20-person reservation), and everyone else can come a little bit later (please don't show up at 5pm and expect me to be sober enough to hand you your tickets ).

Who's Coming:
PilotChris (+2) (PAID)
mayfly (PAID)
gAnji (PAID)
shugars (+1) (PAID)
MarcusEvans
crazy_horce (PAID)
kiwi79 (+1)
Johannes (+1) (1/2 PAID)
Daniel1981 (+1)
1tennisplyr

To summarize:

1. If you still want to come, we may have space left. Contact me by PM by 10am Friday!
2. If you have already contacted me or otherwise indicated that you want to come but are not on the list above, contact me immediately!
3. If you are not marked as PAID on the list above, please ensure that you've made alternate arrangements with me by tomorrow morning or I may give your space away.
4. Please also let me know WHEN you can be at the tent. We will not have time to distribute the tickets that let you bypass the line to get in, so I would recommend coming early to avoid hassles!

EPIC FAIL! for further illustration, and because it's funny, see also this link.

Sorry, guys. By the time we got somebody on the phone this morning, there were no tables left. For what it's worth, at least one tent has a reservation left for Sunday. My boss is arriving on Monday morning, so that plan is pretty much out for me. So, I owe the people above marked as PAID their money back. I guess failure was the cost of getting organized first!

Not all is lost, however! The tents appear to open at 10am. Even at Oktoberfest, I've never failed to nab a table by arriving around opening time. I would propose this: We all meet at the Hbf at 9:30 and head to the Wasen together. We can pick a tent on arrival -- some fellow TTers have a reservation at Wasenwirt, so that might not be a bad choice. As a general rule, we'll need around 60-70% of the final number of people there to grab space. A few people can arrive late.

So, role call: Who's in for 9:30am tomorrow, and who might arrive a bit later? If you don't already have my mobile number, PM me today so that you've got a way to find the group.

I'll be there by 9:30. Where at the HbF would be a good place to meet?

I would suggest in front of the Europcar rental office as a decent meeting spot. It's on the way out of the station at the entrance/exit near Gleis 16.

Sounds good. Europcar rental in Stuttgart HbF it is. See ya tomorrow! I think you have my cell #?

Ok I'll help out with defending our table-territory. See you at the Europcar rental office at 930!

I'm up for 9:30... Shugars too probably. See you there.

Our opening-time numbers have dropped so significantly that 9:30am is starting to sound like extreme overkill. To cement my status as king-of-the-ever-changing-plan, we've had a motion afoot to move our meeting time to be a "bit" later -- say, 12:00pm? We may wait in line a bit, and we may have to weasel our way into a table. However, our group is small enough that it should work. Bonus points for not having to drink in the am!

oh thank god it's now at noon!

Hello from the Wasen! We scored TWO tables at the Wasenwirt tent and there is NO line to get in at the moment! We have plenty of room, so if you were on the fence about coming, DO IT! Give mr a call if you have my number so that we can hold you some space!

well, well done to chris who managed to stay the whole night (and even danced... yes danced. its on video and everything!)

boo to all you lightweights (not mentioning any names) who staggered home early, despite only turning up at 8 ourselves ;-)

having now experienced schwaben-braeu and wasenwirt i'd definately say schwab was more traditional, better fun and certainly less of a cattle market

bring on the was'n 2009!!!

Quite the legendary day, I've got to admit. Say it with me: Le-Gend-ARY.

Did they play the ticka tacka song? Did you get a mass this time?

Yes, Yes. I believe i am one of those lightweights. Should of had some chicken beforehand! I'd also like to apologise to Wendy and Allison for mass beer spillage. A severe crime in germany which is shurely punishable by death.

Yah, what a night. Not sure how I managed to stay (and -- Beetle might tell you -- going strong) until the end! I don't know about the rest of you, but I've successfully rid myself of any urge to go festing for the next few weeks, at least.

Thanks, all, for coming out -- and putting up with my organizational chaos!

Hi everyone, it was nice to meet many of you yesterday! i'd to leave early... sorry .. had a 2 hour journey home.