The Kocherlball

Out of the house before 6 am!

So this post will be mostly pictures, because I took way too many and can't narrow them down. :) This morning I woke up at 4:30am and got dressed up in my Bavarian dress (dirndl) and dressed Paul in his lederhosen. Donnie got up and did the same, we were on our way to the Kocherlball.

Waiting for the U-Bahn.

So I guess in the old days of Munich, during the 19th century, there was a tradition in the Englischer Garten for servants and domestic workers to come and have a dance in the park on Sunday mornings. The idea was that they had to work all of the other times, so this was really their only time to party before heading back to work.

So now to commemorate that tradition, once a year in the summertime, people spend a Sunday morning dancing at the Chinese Tower. Today was the Kocherlball, so we made a U-bahn train at 6 am and were there by 6:45 am. I've never seen so many people ready to have a good time on a Sunday morning!

Awesome.

It was neat!! They had a live band and pretty much everybody was in costume, or traditional dress. People were drinking, eating, dancing, talking, stumbling, but mostly laughing and smiling. I thought we would be among the first to arrive, but when we got there the seats were already filled. We watched the band play for a little while, then headed to the corner to the playground.

More rocks.

Paul was the only small child there, so he had the playground to himself. He has a good time throwing rocks around and trying to climb the ladder. We watched him play and took in the atmosphere. It was fantastic, I can't even really describe it well. There were young people there who were continuing their partying from the night before, there were elderly people in serious Bavarian gear with candelabras on their tables, there was a famous person I didn't recognize, but he got mobbed with picture takers. There was this light-hearted, good times spirit in the air that accompanies festivals, but this was different. The brisk morning air, the costumes and delicious food, the music; it was magical. I took a video that I will post, but its a little dizzying since I was walking through a crowd, but it sort of captures the mood.

Cool Merry-Go-Round, too bad Paul didn't enjoy.

Breakfast.

Those swans are agressive!

We stayed for a few hours, Donnie took Paul on the Merry-go-Round, but he was not a fan. He started wailing halfway through, so they had to stop it early. :) So we headed out and walked our familiar path back to the Odeonsplatz. We stopped to feed the ducks and swans, Paul's favorite part of the morning I think. He laughs so hard when the ducks go after the bread, it makes us laugh.

The Englischer Garten is stunning.

We headed back to the Marienplatz, and took a quick train home. We were back in bed by 10am and took a nice, warm nap. Now it's raining and we'll have to think of something to take up the rest of this Sunday, but I am so glad that Donnie found out about this cool tradition. We had a twinge of regret that there was no one else here to enjoy this event with us, but it was unforgettable.

Back to the Odeonsplatz

Only one week left.....