Santa Barbara Summer Solstice Parade

Today (Saturday) was the annual summer solstice parade here in Santa Barbara.  This was the first time I’ve gone in years and years so I thought I might go and take some photos.  Definitely a lot more colorful and sunny compared to how they celebrate midsummer in Germany, but I don’t think we could get away with huge bonfires here in Southern California.

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Santa Barbara, California, USA - Annual summer solstice parade. June 20, 2009

Lots and lots of colorful costumes: some cool looking, some funny, some strange and some just a little bizarre.  But hey, it’s summer now…

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Carnival Parade – Auerbach

OK, this has got to be one of the coolest parade floats I’ve ever seen: a V-8 engine straight piped into a fire breathing dragon and continually revved up by some drunk dudes dressed as medieval knights. Cool!

2009 German Carnival parade photo, Auerbach, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Cody Duncan Photography

2009 German Carnival parade photo, Auerbach, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Cody Duncan Photography

2009 German Carnival parade photo, Auerbach, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Cody Duncan Photography

2009 German Carnival parade photo, Auerbach, Oberpfalz, Bavaria, Germany. Cody Duncan Photography

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Carnival

Over the weekend we made long journey over snow covered autobahns and horrible traffic up to a little corner of Nordrhein-Westfalen near the Dutch border. The reason: Carnival. Saturday night was spend among the costumed crowds in Cologne (home to the tallest cathedral in Germany). I’ve never been to Mardi Gras, but imagine it would be something similar, except the for the German Carnival songs that everyone is singing and dancing to the entire night.

On Sunday we went to a cool little parade in the town of Ratheim, near where we were staying.
2009 German Carnival parade photo, Ratheim, Germany.  Cody Duncan Photography

2009 German Carnival parade photo, Ratheim, Germany.  Cody Duncan Photography
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Lots of photos below – Für mehr Bilder klicken Read more

Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung – Lichterfest

Every year on the 6th of January the hills above Pottenstein are illuminated by fires for the Ewige Anbetung.

Seeing it in person is way more impressive than any of my photos. 17˚f (-8˚c) temperatures meant the hands were quite frozen after an hour or so up on the hillside

Bavaria, Germany Festival panoramic photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Bavaria, Germany Festival photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Bavaria, Germany Festival photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Bavaria, Germany Festival photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Bavaria, Germany Festival panoramic photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Bavaria, Germany Festival photo: Pottenstein Ewige Anbetung lichterfest 6th January, 2009. Cody Duncan Photography

Nuremberg Christmas Market

Nuremberg Christmas market last night (Friday).

Christmas markets here are quite popular and a large and historic one like Nuremberg’s draws tourists from all over. Hot Glühwein is a popular drink which helps keep off the cold and every stall selling it always has a huge crowd standing around and talking with friends in the crisp winter air.  Lots of cool little crafts to see along with all the cookies as sweets to be bought.

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

German travel stock image: Photo of Nuremberg Christmas market - bilder Nuernberg Weihnachtsmarkt, Germany 2008. Cody Duncan Photography

Regensburg Weihnachtsmarkt

This past weekend marked the beginning of a month of Christmas markets (Weihnachtsmarkt in German) all across Germany. Although Regensburg in not especially known for having a good market, we decided to head there for the afternoon anyhow. Hopefully I can get to the Nuremberg market on this coming Friday, as its supposed to be much bigger and better.

regensburg weihnachtsmarkt christmas market photo 2008 - Cody Duncan photography

regensburg weihnachtsmarkt christmas market photo 2008 - Cody Duncan photography

regensburg weihnachtsmarkt christmas market photo 2008 - Cody Duncan photography

Saint Coloman Festival

On our way out of Schwangau on Sunday we ran into a detour.  We didn’t think much of it until we were in sight of St. Coloman church and had a fireman basically put us into a farm field turned parking lot.  Well, it turns out that we ran into the festival day of St. Coloman church, with a Catholic Bishop and all.  There was a cool parade of Lederhosen and Dirndl wearing Bavarian’s on horseback set among the scenic background of the Allgäu mountains.  I left the spectators and spent some time walking and photographing among the horses.  Pretty cool sight to ‘accidentally’ come across.

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Catholic Bishop speaks at Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Germany Travel photography: October 12, 2008 Saint Coloman Festival, Schwangau, Bavaria, Germany

Oktoberfest

On Thursday night we made the rather spontaneous decision to head down to Munich on Saturday to checkout Oktoberfest.

“Have you been to Oktoberfest?” is a pretty common question asked, which I can now finally answer ‘yes’ to.

“Are you going to go again?” Probably not. I’m not really a “crowd” person, so I don’t find too much entertainment in streets packed full of drunk people. The beer is overpriced. The lines are long and you’re lucky if you can get into one of the brewery tents (though granted, we were there on a weekend which makes things worse); we never did. Germany really has so much more to offer and way cooler festivals that I think it’s unfortunate that Oktoberfest is the thing to do in Germany for visitors coming here. Though I guess its a good thing to at least have seen once.

And remember: Oktober fest is in September. if you show up in October looking to party, you’re a bit too late…

German travel stock photo: Hands holding Munich subway map. Cody Duncan photography

German Festivals: 2008 Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. Photography By travel photographer Cody Duncan

German Festivals: Augustinter-Brau beer tent, 2008 Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. Photography By travel photographer Cody Duncan

German Festivals: 2008 Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. Photography By travel photographer Cody Duncan

German Festivals: 2008 Oktoberfest, Munich, Germany. Photography By travel photographer Cody Duncan

Burg Rabenstein

Burg Rabenstein is one of the cooler castles in the area, so it was no hard choice to head over to the medieval market on Sunday. Such medieval festivals seem pretty popular here in Germany and this is the 4th that I’ve been to in the last couple months. Weather was dark and stormy most of the morning, but the day was spared any rain, luckily.

Germany Travel Photo: Mead horns for sale at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Tents at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Lots of good food to buy. I’m especially fond of the roasted almonds. There are also people selling various ‘specialty’ wines, usually some sort of berry-wine with a cool name, but I prefer Mead and have picked up a bottle or two.

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Roasted Almonds at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Bottles of berrywine at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

We sat down for lunch just as the band was starting to play some cool medieval music. I always like bagpipes anyhow.

Germany Travel Photo: Band at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Band at Medieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Germany Travel Photo: Band atMedieval market and festival at Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

Old photo of Burg Rabenstein castle from back in the spring
Germany Travel Photo: Burg Rabenstein castle, Franconia, Germany. © Cody Duncan photography

More Fireworks

Was over in Bayreuth (home of Wagner during the later part of his life) on Saturday evening for the annual Sommernachtsfest at the Schloss Eremitage. Seemed to be quite the place to be…

German Travel stock Photo: Bayreuth Schloss Eremitage Sommernachtsfest 2008 fireworks.  © Cody Duncan Photography