Landesturnfest

Bruce saw a bicycle built for three! First two seats had pedals and the last seat posts for the feet. He said it was a very long bike.

Corpus Christi or Christi Himmelfahrt, the Ascension of Christ was on Thursday the 29^th. It’s a public holiday, stores closed. I remember from last year seeing processions of people coming out of churches but we got downtown too late to see that.  It was a perfect day weather wise, so we stayed and went to two different cafés to people watch. Noticed large groups of people hanging together with matching, mostly fleece, jackets with writing on them but didn’t think too much about it.

It is also Father’s Day, not a family thing, it’s a get together with guys day, mentioned last year. They tote wagons along filled with beer and are generally happy fellows.

Like these guys, the fellow could actually play the bagpipes well!

There were two fellows already playing to the restaurant audience with a guitar and a violin, thankfully NO accordion. The bagpiper said do you know Amazing Grace? So they played it together and quite well I might add. Not something we see every day.

Cameras were going off all over.

 Corpus Christi was the start of people arriving for something happening in Freiburg for five days, I haven’t got my head around completely yet. Do now, read further. It’s called Landesturnfest. Many, many roving groups of similarly dressed people are here and clogging the trams and downtown, worse than football days! Some are staying or doing whatever in Rieselfeld also.  It seems to be a sport event for the entire area around Freiburg, but today we saw some young ladies dancing, which made me think of it as a musical event. Reading, or attempting to, the Stadkurier, a local newspaper, shows it to be a gymnastic event for all the Communities around Freiburg. 

Took this over people's heads but turned out okay, several performers on stage

18,000 people are expected on Sunday, oh my! We saw groups with multiple coloured died hair, some in dyrndels, many with fake roses, guessing they were due to be on stage or had just come off. Certainly a good people watching day with so much unusual happening.

Anyway I put on my business hat, seeing all the tourists and thought of the money this event is bringing to Freiburg and area. Hotels booked solid, restaurants and eateries, and souvenier shops, all making out like a bandit. Good for the City! Bruce said if everyone at the Munsterplatz dropped as little as a Euro it would make a very large difference and I’m sure many dropped more than one.

Then I put on my volunteer hat and recognized the amount of organization the event required. There were many corporate sponsors, but someone, or many had to organize all those people! A place to sleep, eat, schedule the program, start up and finish ceremonies…. List goes on, and I’ve been involved in some of that in my previous life. Planning takes about a year, with time lines and real attention to detail to ensure everyone is accommodated and happy with the result. If it was done like when I was involved there would be committees struck to lighten the workload and make use of specific knowledge and skill sets, funded by the sponsors. Organizing the volunteers is another area… you get the picture, BIG, with lots of preparation required and many organized people to do it.

They moved all the regular stalls from their usual spots in the market at the Munsterplatz, since that’s where the event is being held, or most of it. Large stage, beer tents, more food tents, like there weren’t enough already!

Further reading shows this is a really BIG event. Okay said that already but really! www.landesturnfest-freiburg.de and do a translate on it. As usual Google doesn’t translate well but you will get the gist. Forty communities around Freiburg participating. Schools are where they are sleeping and breakfast is provided by service groups like Rotary.

Mainly took this to capture the Schwarzwald hat, red one with pompoms, costume worn only in a certain area of the Black Forest and if the pompoms are black the woman is married.

We went down to the Munsterplatz Sunday to see the finalie. Got a good seat at an Ice Cream café and watched the entire parade. What a sight! Those forty communities all have large flags that are beautifully made, mostly in velvet I think. 

Like this one

There were marching bands and each community had their competing team behind in matching colours. It was a very colourful event with lots of energy! On the way to town on the tram, lots of excitement, coming back, sleepy kids. After all it has been a big five days for them competing, then marching in the parade for 45 minutes, I was getting tired just watching! 

Participants

Wonderful to see and hear in the comfort of a chair under a tent with a glass of wine/beer and lunch. 

Aaah, done and can unwind now...

Except our lunch came just as the parade started so I was jumping up and snapping pics throughout. So Bruce certainly had a different birthday experience! One that won't be forgotten soon. A very colourful few days in Freiburg.

Cheers, Bx2 & Lexi Cat