Maximiliansbrücke - Preparation for the annual Oktoberfest opening parade

In the middle of September Munich celebrates the start of the world's largest gathering of people drinking beer with a big parade. More than 8.000 people from all regions of Bavaria and also from surrounding regions show their vintage weapons and loud instruments in traditional costumes and some of them prepare on this bridge for their march through the city centre to the area where the Oktoberfest takes place.

The men in the carriage may look like a nice picture of the so called "Gemütlichkeit": the bavarian attidude towards a relaxed life. Only a reality check in the streets of this town will show you that this is just a dream: people love to drive like crazy... I suddenly had to hurry finishing my shots for this panorama when a police car approached quickly.

The huge building up on the eastern bank is called "Maximilianeum" and serves mostly as Parliament of Bavaria nowadays.

Behind the boy with sign you can see a dome and a tower up the river at the horizon. Both are part of the Deutsches Museum, the biggest technical museum in the world and neighbor of the European Patent Office.

But what about the silly "heart" floating around the pano? Gingerbread hearts are one of the most important souvenirs from the Oktoberfest: a short message written on it with sugar icing shows everyone else that the person wearing it tied around the neck is already someone else's sweetheart. Some say you can eat it.

As a side note the foundation of Munich in 1158 is marked by the erection of a bridge over the Isar on a spot just a few hundred meters up the river, at that time it was the only way for transports to pass the river and one can guess an early toll station. The bridge in this Panorama spans over the river Isar crossing the little island ("Prater-Insel").

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Europe / Germany

Lat: 48° 8' 13.4" N
Long: 11° 35' 25.3" E

→ maps.google.com [EXT]

Precision is: Unknown / Undeclared.

Voigtländer Bessa-L with 15 mm rectilinear lens, mounted on a monopod with custom made L bracket, about 8 frames on Fuji Reala film, stitched with PTMac.