So last night we attended the customary "After Party" after the Winterberg race, at a high quality establishment called The Alpenrausch. As we have quickly learned, ze Germanz, zey don't ... uhhh ... mess around ... and the adage held true here. When we walked into the club, we were given tab cards, and every time you bought a drink your card was punched. At the end of the evening, when you left the bar, you presented your card, and payed your tab and cover charge before you were allowed to leave. If you lost your card, you had to pay 48 euros on exiting. It was all very ... efficient.

The party got very festive when Santa showed up to serenade us with German Christmas carols ...

And got even more interesting when Santa and his ... ummm ... elves (?) stripped off their outerwear to reveal some spiffy lederhosen and dirndels, and spent the rest of the evening leading a crowd of drunk Germans in choruses of what appeared to be traditional German folk music, complete with choreographed dances, some of which I am pretty sure were Polkas, and others which involved rows of people sitting straddled behind each other on the floor waving their arms back and forth.

And I thought North Americans got weird when they drank ...