Schlossgarten

I walked down to the river through the Schlossgarten this afternoon, under a cool grey sky that tried to rain several times but couldn't really manage it. The first trees are changing colour, there was one in the Schlossgarten which appeared to be turning from the inside outwards: the inner branches were brilliant yellow, while the outlying leaves were still green. Very beautiful; unfortunately, it was almost raining as I walked past so the image (above) is a bit muddy.

I came across a flock of unrelated half-grown ducklings (two species) near one of the ponds, and pulled out my camera to photograph them. They were delighted at the movement: people who reach into their pockets are going to feed us. They got quite pushy, the bravest actually started pecking at my shoes, trying to explain to me that I should make with the food, already! Sorry, guys. They followed me for quite a distance, quacking excitedly, before retreating to a pond with mutterings of duckish disappointment.

In other news, the Cannstatter Volksfest (english and deutsch) is being set up. The Riesenrad is already in place, I could see it from the Rosenstein park; the rest of the tents will be put up this week. This is apparently the second-largest Volksfest in Germany, after the Oktoberfest in Munich, and the differences between the two are revealing. The Oktoberfest is a beer bash and may the devil take the hindmost: it's about getting falling-down-drunk before 10am, then continuing to drink until dawn anyway. There are no children there after sunset, and you are never far from shouting and the sound of breaking glass. I lived in Munich one autumn, and can state from experience that the Oktoberfest is a curse, it leaves a film of filth over the whole inner city that takes a fortnight to clean away. (Honesty compels me to admit that the tourists are the worst of the drunks, half of the alcohol poisoning cases each year are Australians.)

Having said that all, if you happen to be in Germany at the end of September, then you should definitely go for the experience; but in my humble opinion there is no need to go twice.

Our local Volksfest is by contrast a very tame event: it's a family party that happens to serve beer. The Volksfest is full of children being happy, at all hours of the day and night (meaning: until it closes at 11pm - you have to go to work tomorrow). There is little public drunkenness, and very little filth, and people line up politely to use the Portaloos (rather than crapping on your doorstep, which happened to me in Munich). It was originally an agricultural fair, and there are to this day displays of prizewinning turnips etc - which people look at and discuss earnestly. I'll probably write about this again when we get back from Venice.