Sunday was the Stuttgart Volksfest parade, which organized in the park before marching. Here are the Chico Bavarians milling about in preparation for the parade:
I didn't actually blow on the trumpet below...I don't think Bill would have appreciated that (he was in the bathroom & I was holding his horn, so to speak)...
Bob getting psyched for his last parade, and (he thought) his last performance of the trip.
Here are the Chico Bavarian Band marching down the street in Stuttgart, in a parade that was not quite as big a deal as the Munich parade but still pretty impressive...
...if, that is, you consider pigs to be impressive. I do, so I'm fine with it.
The march concluded at the Hofbrau tent (I think...there were so many tents and so many beers). It's another lofty and spacious affair, not quite as big as the Munich 'Spaten' tent but still big. In a surprise move, the Chico Bavarian Band were invited to play on the main stage in the tent & kicked ass! The crowd were one their feet for the band from San Francisco -
Including some of the crowd who came from San Francisco with the band...
We had reservations in two separate tents in Stuttgart; the Hofbrau tent for the performance, and the Göckelsmaier tent for dinner & beer (already arranged before we came to Germany). Jim and I snuck a couple more liters before going over to the Göckelsmaier tent; it wouldn't do to show up too sober... 
Here I am with Bob & Steve in the Göckelsmaier tent, after we all demolished our 1/2-chickens & another liter or two of brau...
The Stuttgart parade & festival were a blast, and (as near as I could tell) just about everybody had a good time. The non-drinkers (yes, there were a few) just watched the rest of us in amusement, and some degree of tolerance. I certainly slept well Sunday night!
Steve had been visiting friends to the north of Germany for the past few days, and returned late Thursday night. He was pretty busy and had some catching up to do on his sleep:
This is the Oktoberfest tent in Konstanz, when we arrived (before the festival began).
Here's a picture of Jan with Bob & Steve:
These are our tour guides for the trip, provided by our travel company (Kingsway), Ondrej and Jen. They have been very professional, friendly & patient, and it's been great traveling with them...
Konstanz is literally on the border with Switzerland...so much so that the border passes behind the Konstanz Oktoberfest tent. In this picture, Bob is in Germany, Steve is in Switzerland, and Erica can't make up her mind...
The Chico Bavarians played for about two hours at the fest. Here they are on stage...
Jack playing trumpet...
The cute little girl on the right in the picture below was dancing by herself but almost got trampled; Brandee rescued her and kept her safe from harm:
Here are The Internationals, a sub-set of the Chico Bavarian Band: Jan, Bob, Portor, and Steve.
Here's Carol & myself standing on the border, trying to choose between Germany & Switzerland. Actually Carol is trying to choose and I'm trying to take a picture...
The lakeside view of the Konstanz Oktoberfest tent:
The younger travelers are pretty much all worn out now...using the bus trips as a chance to catch up on sleep. Given that school is in session, most of them have brought homework to do while traveling and also are doing some writing about our trip. I'm not saying that's what keeps them awake, but it might be one of the things...
So, we started a sight-seeing tour of Konstanz in the morning and one of the sights is this fountain in the main thoroughfare. It has several emperors & kings carved on its sides, and some whimsy on the base...
Here's the whimsy...
Here's a picture of Bob standing in that street
Konstanz completely escaped aerial bombardment during WWII, so most of its old structures are intact. Our tour guide said that this was because the city kept its lights on during the blackout, and was thus mistaken for its neighboring Swiss city and avoided. It means that buildings like this city hall are still intact. Here's the view from inside the courtyard,
and here's the view from the street. The painting on the face of the building is extremely elaborate and depicts key points in the town's history. By the way, from what I've been told by my family this is the general region where my mom's ancestors came from, and this is an important trading town -- it's likely some of my ancestors were at least visitors here at one time.
After lunch we traveled to the 'island' of Mainau, a garden destination with lots of plants. Well, I guess it's better than that lame description but I'm not much of a garden afficionado...one of the nicer attractions was a butterfly habitat, with thousands of exotic butterflies in a hothouse enclosure:
There are so many they land on people...
This moth is about a foot in diameter, and very pretty...
Then it's back on the bus to the hotel. Here's the kids having fun in the back; this is what I saw almost every time I turned around --
At the hotel we managed to sneak into the restaurant ahead of a large party of local diners, but because it was a very small restaurant and a very large group we had a bit of a wait for our meals (which were delicious). Here's Jan, me, Jim, Tessa, Kristey, Carol, Don and Bob. Bob is getting tired...
and below is Carol & Don's son Jack, who helped out when the crowd got heavy by busing tables while Jim & Kristey's son Adam helped wash up in the kitchen. The chef/owner, Alex, was appreciative of the help. In fact, one of our party (Mike) spent the bulk of the evening waiting tables in exchange for beer (and also for the experience -- who else could say that they waited tables in a German restaurant during Oktoberfest for the fun of it?).
Tomorrow is supposed to be clear & warm, we'll see.
We stopped in Innsbruck for a midday lunch and sight-seeing; the weather had improved (mostly cloudy with some scattered blue skies) and in the high 40's, maybe low 50's.
This is the view of the major shopping street downtown:
And its corresponding street to the right:
Innsbruck seemed to have more genuine tourist shops (i.e. schlock) than Salzburg, which had very fine clothing & accessory stores. Still, there were some upscale places. In particular, the Swarovski Crystal company, which has a factory in Austria, has a very large store here. Some of the crystal items are very pretty but it's hard to be excited enough to stay in a store like that for too long (at least for me). But speaking of excessive displays of consumption, Innsbruck is home to the 'goldenes dachl' (golden roof) seen below. The emperor Maximilian apparently enjoyed sitting under this roof and throwing scraps to the entertainers below around 1500 or so. It's still there, hard to believe but true:
There was a nice lingerie store on the avenue, as Adam found out (notice the handcuff on the mannequin's wrist; a very nice touch) -
After shopping we had lunch at (it had to happen eventually) McDonalds. The kids (Bob & Jan's as well as Jim & Kristey's; that is, Erica, Tessa, & Adam) wanted some good ol'-fashioned American comfort food. And yes, Quentin Tarantino is correct, the quarter pounder with cheese is the 'Royale'. I stuck with the classic Big Mac myself, which tasted just like (here it comes) a Big Mac. meh. I tried to get a beer with the Big Mac but they don't do that in Austria (only in Germany). sigh.
Erica wasn't thrilled to be crowned Queen of Rosenberger.
Brandee wasn't thrilled either but did a better job of pretending.
As we left Innsbruck our tour guides Ondra and Jen put 'The Sound of Music' on the bus's DVD player. I don't think I had watched the whole thing through since 1965, honestly, and it was pretty fascinating to be driving through the Alps as we watched the movie. Naturally, since I tear up at any movie scene with kids in it, I was pretty much sniffling for a couple of hours ... getting old sucks sometimes!
