This weekend was one of those weekends! Except … it didn’t go as planned. During the week an email was sent around my office notifying everyone of a draw to win tickets to a live bull riding show on Friday night in the Deloitte corporate box. I was excited!! Apparently I was also very vocal about this excitement because when the draw winners were announced on Wednesday morning many people came to offer me their condolences that I was not a winner. Devastation ensued however it was short lived because a very nice colleague of mine made life that little bit brighter by inviting me to join him on a Saturday trip to Vankleek Hill! Yes. It sounds like a random town. And you are right; it is a random town between Ottawa and Montreal however this weekend it was home to one of the many Canadian versions of Oktoberfest!
Imagine my joy! (Mother ship is sighing in despair as she reads this … I can hear it from here!)
More than my joy … imagine Joep’s joy!!
Saturday morning we were up bright and early to catch our 10am bus to Vankleek Hill to join the German festivities. Our bus was slightly delayed and we arrived in Vankleek just after 11am. The party was just getting started.
For those of you who have been to Oktoberfest (every Australian reading this knows what I am talking about) … imagine the joy of Oktoberfest first impressions. Now flip it 180 degrees. You have Vankleek Hill. Basically the festival was a farm yard with a few beers tents around the place. Joep and I were dubious. But as we have learned … never judge a beer festival by its cover.
We joined the queue for steins and beer tickets immediately upon arrival … right in front of the fully clothed police officers who were queuing for the exact same thing. A sign of things to come? Believe me.
The tone of the day was set and we joined Fraser & Lindsey at a nearby haystack to watch the arrival of the town mayor. He arrived in a wagon sitting on a haystack. The locals were excited. They were also wearing very short Canadian versions of lederhosen despite the fact that it was freezing cold. That is not the Aussie in me speaking; the Canadians who were not from Vankleek Hill were also cold.
Either way, the arrival of the mayor was most definitely a highlight. But not as much of a highlight as the kinder fest. This was the area for children, which had been a big selling point for Joep and I. We were promised a ball pit, face painting, 50 pounds of playdoh and a petting zoo!! The ball pit was a cardboard box approximately 10cm deep with one layer of balls. Children stepped in, children fell over, balls rolled out of the pit. It was not effective. The face painting was well below par. But the petting zoo! Now that was a sight to behold! The llama with bangs was my favorite animal. Joep loved them all equally and was highly entertained for an extended period of time pretending he had food to trick them into coming close to him and then laughing at his own ingenuity at tricking the farm animals. Hmmmm …
I ridicule him now but I was highly entertained by him at the time!
Petting zoo finished with we resumed the remaining Oktoberfest activities. We found a table and sat down to enjoy steins of beer, duck schnitzel and delicious elk sandwiches. None of that is made up. Canadian food rocks my world. More on that later.
As the day progressed Joep, as would be expected, began to befriend many of the locals. This included 2 little old ladies who educated him on the mating call of the Elk. True story.
Sadly, in his drive to make friends he also alienated a few of the locals. Many of the people from Vankleek Hill are missing teeth. It was a very strange phenomenon and Joep & I were curious re the dental healthcare availability in this area. So Joep asked one of the local girls if there is a dentist in town. She said that there was in fact 1 dentist in town. She then left in a huff. I don’t blame her. She had nice teeth.
Towards the end of the night as we all sat in a beer tent enjoying the festivities things really got out of hand. Random women kept stealing the ‘Vankleek Hill’ flags which required them to stand on various tables and cheer loudly. Men, seeing the success of the women began to race each other across the tent whilst hanging upside down on the ropes … I’m talking fully grown men with no teeth shimmying across ropes. Joep was tempted to join them … thankfully he was easily distracted to do something else. Talk to the people next to him.
I am not sure what happened in the conversations after this because I was involved in my owned spirited conversations however before long I heard shouts announcing that Joep was ‘awesome’ and should, without a doubt ‘be voted the next Prime Minister of Canada’. Joep took the responsibility in hand and decided to show his leadership skills in full force by building the crowd up to even louder shouts of … I think they were saying ‘Cheers’ but I cannot be sure. Sitting next to the future Prime Minister meant I got pure noise. No sense.
The bus back to Ottawa was booked for 9pm so the festival organizers shepherded us all to the bus shortly after this time. We were told that we could not take any alcohol past the fence. Rather than getting rid of his beer, Joep made his first Prime Ministerial decision and moved the fence. It was the funniest thing any of us have seen for a while. He would pick up the fence, walk a couple of steps on his tip toes before replacing the fence, looking around sheepishly and taking another mouthful of beer. Classic. Until the intoxicated police, who had been laughing along with him for most of it, called him out. His beer was empty by this stage so he was happy to leave.
His arrival on the bus was met with cheers fit for a Prime Minister and we were off to Ottawa!
Arrival back in Ottawa city saw us head to Zak’s for more food and … beer. It was at this stage that I was treated to my favorite food experience since arrival in Ottawa. Except for the red meat of course … Poutine! It consists of chips, gravy and cheese curds. It sounds disgusting. It looks disgusting. It is delicious.
It was also a perfect way to end our evening! Sunday was spent on the couch with good food and the usual great company =) Our planned weekend of nothing was superseded by Oktoberfest but it was a worthy sacrifice to make!
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