***Warning – Photo heavy post***

If you have been following my German Adventure you will have seen me shooting in my corset and pants in a fairground, drinking prosecco in the morning whilst choosing dirndl, eating traditional german food at the Volksfest and generally running around Stuttgart with my pal Rhina having an amazing time.

Fun in Stuttgart

If you missed any of these, you can find them all here,  here, here, here, oh and here too!

Now the big day had come; the Cannstatter Wasen. The big festival day with a 3 hour parade before the fairground opened up and it was time to party.

We got ready to head into the centre of town to watch the parade. Now even though Rhina had tried to explain it to me, I really had no idea what I was in for.

All dressed up

As this was the main day of the Wasen we dressed up in our best dirndl and added Wasen jewellery and floral hair garlands. Holger was dressed in a beautiful traditional German outfit too and we all looked the business.

Delightful Dirndl

We caught the train and headed to a place not too far from the Fairground. The parade started at 11am on the dot and we waited eagerly to see what was coming.

All ready for the day ahead

Rhina explained that the Wasen was celebrating the Harvest, especially the “pointed cabbage” Pointed Cabbage?!? I had never heard of such a thing.

When I saw it I immediately recognised it as sweetheart cabbage and it was being honoured on floats, monuments and more.

Sweetheart Cabbage

The parade started coming through and we found out there would be 120 different groups and breweries in it. I was amazed as our parades are lucky if they have 30 in them.

Flower bedecked beer barrels

The Wineries

Drey Horses

I have to say, I was blown away.

Traditional Marching bands

More grapes!

Traditional Costumes

All ages are included

Beautiful

Bands, flag throwers, flowers bedecking everywhere, brewery with huge barrels of beer being pulled along by dray horses. Ladies in their finest Dirndl, men in Lederhosen. The groups and bands all seemed to be in very ancient clothing, almost medieval. It was a sight to see.

Too cute

Such colour and variety

Stunning costumes

Amazing sights

Half way through the parade a group of children came holding a wide banner which mentioned something about pigs. What I didn’t expect was around 30 loose pigs trotting along behind them!

Then came cows, goats and more. It really was a wondrous sight.

Cows

Little Donkey

Three hours after we first arrived for the start of the parade, it finally ended. I had a huge smile on my face and had loved every minute of it.

Now it was time to head to the Cannstatter Wasen at Neckar Park. This is where thousands of people would migrate to enjoy the carnival, try the fairground rides and most of all, go into the beer tents to drink huge steins of the local brews, whilst eating huge portions of traditional food whilst listening to amazing live music.

Wasen!

The amazing thing about this year was that it was actually the 200th anniversary of the event. A very special time indeed.

All the colours

The Tents are massive. They hold several thousand people all served by staff carrying ten or more large filled steins in their hands! It really is a sight to see.

Still early in the afternoon!

The tables have to be reserved in advance and you can only do this with a party of 10 or more. There are usually some free seats around though and so that was our plan. The tent we first hit was the Gockelesmaier tent.

Bierhalle

Managing to find three seats in an outdoor area we made friends with the five people at the table.

Happy Friends

Then we ordered.

Of course there was only one thing to drink. Bier!

Prost!

Rhina and Holger had recommended having the chicken for lunch. Basically half a chicken with a bread roll. Whilst this sounded quite nice, I was intrigued to try the Pork Knuckle with a bread roll and mustard. Nothing ventured nothing gained.

How much bier?!?!

Around fifteen minutes later we had our food and beer and what an amazing choice I had made. The knuckle was like as mini roast pork joint with the best crispiest crackling I had ever had. It was massive though but I tried my best. Holger may have helped a tiny little bit though.

Port Knuckle, Bread and Mustard

It was EPIC!

One of the gentleman at the table was an older man with a fantastic sense of humour. He has the chicken and it came with a sachet of sweet chilli sauce. Having a bit of a senior moment, he thought it was a sanitiser for his hands and squeezed the whole packet on to them!

Having an amazing time!

We all looked on in stunned amazement as he rubbed it all over before realising just what it was. Well the table literally fell about in hysterics. Tears of laughter all round. He was a good sport about it and once he had washed it all off came back and endured some mild ribbing.

We sat singing German drinking songs, toasting each other and generally having a great old time.

Living Life

Eventually we headed inside to watch a bit of the band before heading to try some other tents.

So pretty

One of the smaller ones was outside and the band was fantastic. It was almost like a little rock gig and there were a lot of young people dancing around. The best thing I liked about this area was a wooden structure where you purchased the beer from, but it rotated slowly as you were standing on it. Of course I had to have a go!

Had to go on the revolving bar

Moving into another large tent we found it was all a little modern, with almost a techno feel to the music. We had a wander around including going upstairs to look at the fairground from the balcony. We left soon after though as it was not really our cup of tea.

From the balcony

Holger was a little under the weather so he had left us earlier to go home and so we wandered around taking hundreds of photographs and having a jolly good time.

Holger and I

A bit techno

I also was finally able to find the perfect Wasen hat; maroon with long feathers. Of course I had to have it!

Look at those feathers!

Eventually we ended up in the tent we had started at, found a table and ordered another drink. Rhina went to find the ladies room and on her return the band was playing a song she liked.

Rhina had a go too

She literally was like a little Duracell bunny. She started dancing and singing along and just didn’t stop. She was such a wonderful sight to see that I had to film her.

Great friends

Rhina did her arty photography thing and took so many wonderful shots.

Arty boobs

more arty stuff

One of the things that happens a lot at the parties is people standing on the benches dancing and singing. Well of course I had to do it.

In for a Penny

Eventually it started getting later and although the party continues long into the night, Rhina was not keep to stay beyond dark as by then there are a LOT of inebriated people and it can become a bit fraught and stressful.

All lit up

I had to admit I was pretty tired as it had been a full on event and so we took a slow walk back through the festival before hitting the trains home.

Stunning

The madhouse

This in itself was a wonderful sight. The carriages were full to the brim with people who were all in their festival finery. What an outstanding memory of a perfect day.

Strike a pose

I now had just one full day left in Stuttgart and I was going to make the most of it.

Till next time

SPSG xx