Nobody has ever been able to explain to me why Oktoberfest celebrations are always in September. It's just one of those mysteries, like why Muskoda is pronounced MUSS-ka-day instead of Muss-KOH-dah. (We even have a book about all the place names in Wisconsin, and it doesn't explain it!) Does Septemberfest not sound as cool? Is October a month earlier in Bavaria? I do know why it's named "eighth" when it's the tenth month, because Julius Caesar and Caesar Augustus decided to stick two months named after themselves into the calendar, and of course they chose summer months. And why wouldn't you, if you could name a month after yourself? Would you really name February after yourself?
Today the Fluno Center, which is a convention center on campus, was having Oktoberfest. They had a German food buffet, and this was the beer situation:
True confession: that made me laugh way too hard. Travalon has a bit of a cold, so he wasn't super enthusiastic about Oktoberfest, but it turns out he thought it would be a raucous time with people singing at the top of their lungs to an oompah band, while in fact it was a bunch of professionals eating quietly on their lunch break. The food was very good, and he particularly liked the chicken. There was also pork schnitzel, Brussels sprouts, roasted potatoes, bratwurst (but I didn't see sauerkraut), and pretzel sticks, as well as an extensive salad bar - I had the cucumber salad. For dessert there was black forest cake, which we didn't try, bread pudding which Travalon tried, and I had a miniature Dutch baby with cherries and whipped cream. That was absolutely delicious, with a slightly undercooked inside that I just loved.
All I had to drink was water (Travalon had hot tea), no caffeine other than my usual cup of coffee first thing this morning, yet on my walk to my office I was in the aerobic zone for almost the whole walk and burned nine calories per minute. Considering that on a brisk walk I generally am in the fat-burning zone for most of it and burn seven calories per minute. Why was I so motivated today? I didn't notice that I'd been walking any faster, but I did hear a train and was rushing to where I might be able to see it. No luck - there was a building in the way; at the next intersection I could see the train tracks, but by then it was long gone. The rest of the day, I definitely felt that workout! I either need to go to Oktoberfest more often or hear trains in the distance more often. And surprisingly, all that eating wasn't terrible for calories, according to my diet app. This past weekend did a lot more damage. Now it's time to get back on track...
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