Heidelberger Herbst

Saturday morning, my attempt at sleeping in was foiled by what appeared to be two fanfares. I am not completely sure there were two, since the one seemed to consist only of percussion, while the other featured only brass; this suggests that they were different sections of the same band. However, since they seemed to be playing in blissful ignorance of each other's existence for most of the time, I could not altogether get rid of the impression that they were two separate entities.
I was rather annoyed at this unexpected beginning of the day. I felt I had not been warned properly; my only reason to suspect something was that I had heard there would be a flea market. It turned out that it was not just a flea market, but a complete Straßenfest, something similar to Dutch Queen's Day, called Heidelberger Herbst. It involved the usual crowded streets (cycling the Hauptstraße was now not only legal but also practically impossible), stands with people selling all kinds of things, but mostly jewellery and food, various stages of varying sizes with bands playing music of various genres, and increased presence of police and ambulances. One ambulance was actually trying to make its way through the crowded Haupstraße with its blue flashing lights on, but luckily without the sirene, since it was progressing only slightly faster than walking speed.
The Heidelberg municipal website could have warned me, it turned out. According to the section on the Heidelberger Herbst, it is a yearly happening, which turns the pedestrian zone in the Altstadt into a large market and festival terrain on the last Saturday of September. This was the case indeed, and the epicentre of the activities seemed to be around the Universitätsplatz, which is indeed in the centre of the Altstadt. What struck me there was the effort to make it look like a medieval market: a number of stands had been built, such as a Taverne, and there were many (medieval) market entertainment acts, such as jugglers and bands playing medieval music (I won't vouch for authenticity, but it sounded nice), and many stands selling the kind of 'medieval' clothing and jewellery worn by goths, LARPers, and the like.
Throughout the day, the weather was quite summer-like: sunny, warm and only a few clouds to be seen. 'Nice autumn festival,' I thought, but in the evening, the weather joined in as well. When I was in my room, reading, I noticed lightning, and shortly after came thunder, and then rain. I went out, expecting empty streets and people packing up their stands and going home, but to my surprise, it was still about as crowded as in the afternoon. Apparently the Heidelbergers didn't want to let the rain interfere with their festival... healthy attitude :).

P.S.: Pictures will follow.