One word... CRAZY!!

So we woke up Saturday morning sad that it was the 4th of July and we weren't in the United States to celebrate with fireworks, but it just so happens that Germany has a yearly concert bash and it was also on July 4th. It was called the Rheinkultur. The link takes you to a page of pictures from last years event if the pictures I post don't do the LARGE crowds justice. Rheinkultur is the largest free-of-charge concert within Germany and each year brings in close to 200,000 spectators.

Andrew and I definitely are not ones for a crazy scene, but we knew it was a must to check out the festival. Walking to get there was an event in itself. We are still baffled how everyone just walks down the street drinking a beer and to top it off they are mostly 16 years old. We did learn, however, that it's legal for 16 year olds to order beer, which is crazy to us. Buses were working overtime as every bus we saw was crammed full of people. Sidewalks on each side of the street were lined of people walking to the "big" event!

Once entering the gates we decided to walk around the park to check out what was going on. There were five different stages throughout the park, each with a different genre of music. There were many different types of food stands and a Beck's beer tent every 50 feet or should I say 15.24 meters. If anyone needed to use the restroom, which I made it clear I wouldn't, had to either pay 50 cents to use a "clean" restroom or use the porta potties that just looked nasty from the outside! Andrew and I were amused by the male urinal porta potties that were just out in the open. We snapped a quick picture of it, even though its gross, it's just very different! We also came across a fountain, which apparently is the place to be when it's hot. People of all ages where either in the water or grabbing water and throwing it on each other. All i could think of was how dirty the water was, but I guess everyone just wanted a way to cool off and have some fun.

As each minute passed I think 200 new people entered the park. We tried hanging out in the more empty areas, but that lasted about 2 seconds because we would immediately be surrounded by 10 people. There was quite the crowd... everyone seemed to have their own style and I'm not quite sure if I would call it style. For girls the "in" thing is to have some sort of black leggings on and ballet slippers and guys should be wearing capris with a European mullet (FYI I think the American mullet is cooler, haha).

We met up with Kim, who also works at the International Paralympic Committee, and hung out with her and some of her friends for about an hour then decided to call it a day after 4 hours of fighting the crowds and the heat. So even though we didn't get to see our traditional fireworks, we did spot a hot dog stand with an American flag on it and took a picture. Hope everyone enjoyed their Independence Day!!! The Rheinkultur was interesting, but was also fun at the same time. Glad we had to opportunity to experience it!