Im Himmel, da gibt's kein Beer...

But, fortunately, last Wednesday we weren't in Heaven, but rather at the Beethoven Männerchor Halle und Garten, in San Antonio's Southtown, where there was plenty of the foamy stuff at their Fiesta Gartenfest. And the Fiesta weather was much more cooperative than earlier in the week at Oyster Bake.


There was also lots of singing of good ol' German beer-drinking songs like the one referenced in my title, which continues: "D'rum trinken wir es hier!" [There is no beer in Heaven, so we'll drink it here!] I hadn't heard that one before, but there were plenty of others I was familiar with and it was fun to sing along. [I have the words because they helpfully passed out song sheets that only required a little spelling and pronunciation correction; approximate translations are below]

Du, du liegst mir im Herzen,
Du, du, liegst mir im Sinn

In München steht ein Hofbräuhaus,
Eins, zwei, G'suffa!

Mein Vater war ein Wandersmann,
Und mir liegt's auch im Blut,
D'rum wandre ich, solang ich kann,
Und schwenke meinen Hut!
Valderi, Valdera, Valderi, Valderaha, aha, aha... [usw]

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"You, you, lie in my heart, and my mind"

"In Munich there's a beer hall [duh!]
One, Two, ?????"

My father was a wanderer.
And it's also in my blood.
So I'll wander as long as I'm able,
And wave my hat!
Valderi......[etc.]

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And of course, this high point of German philosophical musing:

Mein Hut, der hat drei Ecken,

Drei Ecken hat mein Hut.

Und hat er nicht drei Ecken,

Dann ist er nicht mein Hut!

My hat, it has 3 corners,
Three corners has my hat.
And if it has not 3 corners,
Then is it not my hat!

Yes, the language of Kant and Nietzsche has also given the world this gem. And they do seem to be rather obsessed with headgear.

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We saw some folks at the garden with their own personal beer steins, and if we go next year we might have to take one of ours. There are many to choose from, and I might feature some others in a future post, but here are three of my favorites:

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I've been pretty busy this week and have accumulated some other interesting photos, particularly from my visit yesterday to globe-trotting-turned-homeowner son and daughter-in-law's new house in Austin. I want to share these with you, but it might be a while before I can. I'm off on a trip to a librarians' meeting in Buffalo, NY, very early tomorrow morning, and don't know how much spare time I'll have, or how much internet connectivity. Hopefully in a week or so things will have slowed down and I can catch up with blogging.