Street Parade
In Frank Herbert's Dune, the Fremen are a very serious people. They hardly let anyone get close to them. Every moment of their lives is about the business of living on the harsh planet of Arrakis. That is every moment except for the one day a year when they drink the transformed water of life and then let it all hang out. All the barriers drop and they revel in communal love. Street Parade reminded me a lot of this.
One day a year, thousands of people fill the streets of Zurich for a huge rave fest. The parties start on the Friday before. Then at 1pm the next day dozens of stages start playing electronic music. All the streets around the north side of the lake are closed to cars and are swarming with all types of partiers: American tourists in baseball caps and hoody sweaters, ravers wearing nothing but tall boots and fuzzy cheetah shorts, Swiss families with their children in strollers all wearing ear plugs.
At 3pm the lovemobiles start down the parade route. Each one is a semi truck pulling a stage with ravers and booming speakers. Some of the trucks really went all out on their theme. One had everyone in all white, another in all red. The house truck had the coolest feature of all, a huge bubble spout that covered the street and some lucky ravers with buckets of foam.
For breakfast we grabbed some Doner Kebab. In the store next to the cafe we were eating at, there were two scantily clad women and one scantily clad guy on the roof throwing condoms into the crowd. When they ran out of condoms, they started throwing raver hats and I managed to grab one before they ran out. We picked up a bottle of Rioja and danced to the music from the lovemobiles for 4 hours. Then we rode the Ferris wheel and marvelled at the mass of people and music beneath us before we went home to take a break.
Once the sun went down, we went out for some fondue. On the way, we noticed that even the McDonalds had put up strobe lights and speakers and was blasting the square with techno.
After dinner we went to the laser light show at Bellevueplatz. They had three huge lazers that you could see all the way from Centralplatz. Although we stood on the opposite end of the square, the music was so loud that we still wished we had earplugs. We wandered up and down lake from one venue to the next until just past midnight and then caught the tram back home.
One day a year, thousands of people fill the streets of Zurich for a huge rave fest. The parties start on the Friday before. Then at 1pm the next day dozens of stages start playing electronic music. All the streets around the north side of the lake are closed to cars and are swarming with all types of partiers: American tourists in baseball caps and hoody sweaters, ravers wearing nothing but tall boots and fuzzy cheetah shorts, Swiss families with their children in strollers all wearing ear plugs.
At 3pm the lovemobiles start down the parade route. Each one is a semi truck pulling a stage with ravers and booming speakers. Some of the trucks really went all out on their theme. One had everyone in all white, another in all red. The house truck had the coolest feature of all, a huge bubble spout that covered the street and some lucky ravers with buckets of foam.
For breakfast we grabbed some Doner Kebab. In the store next to the cafe we were eating at, there were two scantily clad women and one scantily clad guy on the roof throwing condoms into the crowd. When they ran out of condoms, they started throwing raver hats and I managed to grab one before they ran out. We picked up a bottle of Rioja and danced to the music from the lovemobiles for 4 hours. Then we rode the Ferris wheel and marvelled at the mass of people and music beneath us before we went home to take a break.
Once the sun went down, we went out for some fondue. On the way, we noticed that even the McDonalds had put up strobe lights and speakers and was blasting the square with techno.
After dinner we went to the laser light show at Bellevueplatz. They had three huge lazers that you could see all the way from Centralplatz. Although we stood on the opposite end of the square, the music was so loud that we still wished we had earplugs. We wandered up and down lake from one venue to the next until just past midnight and then caught the tram back home.
posted by sfphotoblogger at 1:05 PM
1 Comments:
Andrew and Lexi...hi, I've been following your blog for a couple of weeks...I'm fascinated with your experiences...they're so fresh and I love your wit and commentary on everything from breakfast to fine art...enjoying your Summer in Europe! (BTW, I'm Lexi's Aunt Nancy)
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