Germans know how to party. The Bunte Republik Neustadt, which translates to the Colourful Republic of Neustadt, took place this past weekend (June 15-17, 2007) in the Neustadt area of Dresden. Neustadt literally means New City and is the main bar district (Altstadt, meaning the Old City, is where all the tourist attractions are). I live right in Neustadt, which is great, since it's just a 5 to 10 minute walk to all the bars and restaurants.
The Bunte Republik Neustadt is an event where all of Neustadt is shutdown and is turned into a huge block party. It starts on a Friday night, and ends on Sunday night. On Friday, all of the cars are removed from the streets and are replaced by beer and food stands.
This event is massive. It encompasses almost 1 square kilometer of city, where many residents live. In the map below, the area enclosed by the red line is where this event takes place.
I couldn't find much information about this event in English, but from what I was able to understand from the Google translated Wikipedia page, in 1990 after the fall of the Berlin wall, there was an attempt to create a new Republic within Neustadt Dresden. I would imagine an attempt at creating a new country like the Vatican. But this morphed into an yearly party.
I started out on Friday night, with a couple of coworkers. The first thing I saw was a bucket hanging from a second floor balcony offering drinks for 1 Euro. At this moment, I knew this was going to be a very interesting party.
Here is the main street of Neustadt, Alaunstrasse. You can see that all the cars are gone and replaced by beer and food stands. In Germany, people are free to enjoy a beer on the streets, which is not allowed in Canada and the US, so a setup like this poses no problems. This is a kind of party that would never be allowed to happen in Canada and the US, due to the strict alcohol regulations.
The normally quiet Martin-Luther Platz filled with stands. There were two stages on the opposite sides of the church.
There must have been 20 stages for live bands scattered around Neustadt.
Here you can see a DJ spinning from his 2nd floor balcony. He had really powerful speakers setup and people were dancing to the music. There were a fair number of DJ setups like this.
An entrepreneurial group offering beer through a beer bong for 1 Euro.
Several residents decided to open up shop and were selling booze through their kitchen window.
A shot of the group I was out with. A mix of Canadian, American, German, and Argentinian.
Some nice German ladies that I ran into. I was wearing a shirt that a friend bought for me in Whistler that said "I love big dumps". I had a hard time explaining the pun on the word "dumps".
It started to rain at around 2am, so we took shelter in a nearby hostel.
The next day, I decided to check out Alaunpark. This was also part of the Bunte Republik Neustadt. They had a few stands and a fairly large stage setup.
There was an incredibly variety of live music. A German punk band.
A stand offering 1 Euro tequila shots. The tequila available here is awful.
A stand offering fruity wine drinks.
A kid playing drums on the street.
A band of a different sort.
Another performer.
You can see some people have setup couches and chairs right in the middle of the tram tracks.
Why sell lemonade when you can sell beer...
An African musical group.
A mobile beer stand. A can of beer for a Euro.
A shot of the shops and stands on Martin-Lutherplatz.
A rock band playing on one of the stages in Martin-Lutherplatz.
A stage setup in an empty lot where another band plays.
A full pig being roasted over a barbecue.
A stand selling barbecue pork ribs.
Yet another band performing.
The church in the distance overlooking this street.
I'm not very sure what would posess anyone to go into one of these things. Particularly after a few beers.
A cool camera effect with a fire juggler.
Having some delicious vodka at the Russian stand.
In the recent years, a heavy police presence has been required due to the violence that the few idiots cause, typically on the Saturday night of this event. The police did a very good job containing those causing violence.
Me keeping the peace.
You can see a very hefty police line very late on Saturday night.
A large police presence on the street I live on.
And the party continues on, on Sunday. This is one of those occasions where it's OK to setup a table right in the middle of the street.
It was a beautiful weekend. Warm weather, blue skies...
I almost got run over by one of these things.
Every shop put in an effort to put up a stand. I think I even saw a clothing shop setting up a small booth to sell beer.
Live music everywhere!
There were some activities for kids too. Here, kids can shoot bottle rockets. Yes, not exactly the safest thing to do in a crowded area.
I thought this band was quite good as well. There were a lot of local bands that I thought sounded really good.
An interesting guitar/drummer duo.
Even more live music!
What a small world. I ran into a couple of Americans (the middle two) who I met in Český Krumlov a few weeks earlier. They actually live in Prague and run a pub crawl there. They showed up not knowing that Bunte Republik Neustadt was going on, so it was quite the surprise for them. I showed them around Neustadt for the evening. I eventually ran into Mike, the Texan (left).
