Le Germans in New York

I went to the German-American Steuben Parade on Saturday in New York City. I have to be honest, I was expecting something along the lines of this:


Scene from Ferris Bueller's Day Off

What I ended up getting was something more along the lines of this:


Scene from German-American Steuben Parade 2007


I was a bit disappointed, not only because Matthew Broderick was nowhere to be seen, but also because the parade itself was just very...random. It filled with anyone who had anything remotely to do with Germany, as well as other groups who chose to identify themselves with the meaning of German-American friendship. These include:


Flag bearing police


German car owners


Sailors


The English


The French


The New York fire department

and


Donald Trump of course.


There were tons of German police there that flew in just for the parade, although I suspect they just wanted to party in New York. There were a lot of older people marching and I can just see them all getting jiggy with each other in the tent afterwards. Other highlights included:


A guy with a big head


A big head marching band


This float


And German nationalism


After the parade we went to the tent to have some German beer and food. I personally was expecting something along the lines of the Oktoberfest in Munich (see below).


Munich Oktoberfest

But instead I got Weisswurst with American hot dog buns, plastic pitchers of beer the size of one German mass and what felt more like the Fourth of July in Munich than O'fest in New York (see below).


German-American Steuben Tent

All in all it was a fun day and that's what matters in the end.