But after I got to the hotel and got settled I had plenty of time to head out to the fair that night, I had alot of options getting to the fair, but I went with the one that seemed the most solid which was walk about 2 miles to the Train Station also known as the S bahn I n germany and that train would take me all the way to the fair, or at least a train station within a few blocks of the fair it seemed, so I decided I'd have so little time I left my camera and and pretty much everything exept my wallet and umbrella back at the room (it was raining this whole day), but anyways walked down to the train station and found a ticketing machine and tried to decipher the german on it, but it's actually relatively simple, and there is english menus on the touchscreen (unfortunately the station listing is a bit of a challenge) but I put in the number of the station I wanted to get to, told me to put €2.20 into the machine and it printed me out a ticket which didnt really look right, but I stuck with it anyways as they dont check tickets in germany, the train system is on the honor system with random checks on the train occasionally and I hear if you at least have a ticket and they are convinced that you are from out of town they will let you slide as long as you put for the effort and do have a valid ticket of some sort (if they dont believe you or you have no ticket, it's a €20 on the spot fine), but anyways in the process of getting my ticket I missed the train I needed and had to wait 20 mins for the next one (that is the theme for the rest of my trip) but anyways was a nice train ride which took me though downtown though tracks downtown are underground, so it wasnt all that senic but eventually I spotted a massive well lit ferris wheel a few blocks away from the tracks and decided tmy stop was the next one, and it deposited me like 4-5 blocks from the fair.
So, I'm now at my first German Fair, the 161'st annual Canstatter Wasen/Volksfest, the name comes from the state which Stuttgart is in, that being Ban Canstatt, Germany is divided into states much like the US is, but there states arent all that important and you dont pass a big sign sating welcome to (insert german state here), at least not that I could tell. But I wander into the fair which is I'd guestimate a mile long end to end and has 3 main isles (3 city streets that run end to end), now I really didnt intend on riding much today as it was raining and I only had a few hours before close (midnight), so I took in the sights and started walking down the fair lengthwise and I noticed alot of the major rides there, though it was a rather small fair and rides werent what they once were as quite a few large rides were sold since last year, but I knew what would be there and it didnt vary to much from the list I had so cant complain there
But as I walked down I started at one end of the fair with the ferris wheel, known as a Risenrad in Germany, I dont remember the name, but it is owned by Family Steiger I believe and was the first portable 60 meter ferris wheel, and I love that ferris wheel, it doesnt look like your standard ferris wheel, will try to describe it, but it's all white with gold accents, there is a main hub like a regular ferris wheel, but instead of alot of scaffolding looking support structure there are instead 14 solid beams radiating from the center, maybe 1/4 the distance from the center there is one ring in a circle connecting them all together, then at the very outside of the wheel there is a circle of iron holding everything together and on that circle there are brackets on the outside that look like V's and at the point of the V is where the gondola hangs. Very minimalistic, and another thing I really like, there are lights at the center, then on that ring towards the center and V's between them of lights, then the gondola brackets and the outside rim have lights on them, all lights are bright white and they stay on solid, not some gawdy million different colored blubls covering every single inch of steel flahing in some nonsensical pattern, that make it look like a Muppet puked all over it. It's very elegant and it stands out, if anyone DL's my pics there are pictures both day and night, though I forgot my tripod at home in teh US so night time pics of it are a tad blurry, not to mention it rotates nearly non stop
so, no walking down the street, I pass Maxximum a Mondial Capriolo, similar to a giant propeller ride, but one sided, a Mack Sea Strum Bahn with a large fountain in the center, various music rides, Airwolf a Mondial Inferno which was not operating due to lack of people (it was dead), Commander a Mondial Shake which I decided to ride immediately, always loved seeing pics of that shake, it travels with a whole building and inside the building there is an amazing sound and light system with lasers and whatnot, but that set me back €3.50 I believe. Then I passed alot of food booths til I got nearly to the other end of the fair where I came across Wild Wasser Bahn which I thought was Wild Wasser Bahn 2 so I didnt ride and now I'm pissed cause I passed on riding the worlds largest flume ride (portable, though that includes fixed models also)(looking at pics from the ferris wheel for specifics)
but the I turned onto the next street and started going down that one and I started at a large fake bowl of fruit on a 90 or so foot tall column which is an icon at the fair, and I start walking faster though the fair (details to come), but down this isle I come across Countdown a Huss Shot N Drop, the back of Airwolf, a Schwarzkopf Polyp identical to East River Crawler but with a significantly better lighting package and backflash, Transformer a Soriorni & Moser Top Star Tour which I nearly rode but saw that during the day it gives rides at half the price so I put that off (plus there was once one traveling in the US which I've ridden), passed some sort of portable multi level go kart track, More Music Rides, a bunch of kids rides and I was at the other end, so I turned and went down the 3'rd street where the bulk of the huge rides were, so again I go down the street and come across Circus Circus an amazingly themed Huss Magic with all sorts of pimped out features, Hot Shot a Slingshot Ride with bungee cords, more kiddie rides, a metric shitload of games, Daemonium a 4 story portable dark ride, Revolution a Top Spin identical to SFGAm's, this one owned by Kinzler-Nickle, then I passed a few beer tents, more on those later and by this point I was pratically running, as at the end of this street is the famous Alpina Bahn a 1983 Schwarzkopf Masterpiece
http://schwarzkopf.coaster.net/EShimalayabahnGF.htm
Everything you need to know plus pics are there, but I rode as soon as I got to it, €4 a ride, I went for 2 rides, one front seat, one back seat, due to empty train it wasnt performing as it probably does normally, but it was good, not top 10, but it sure puts Galaxi and Zyklon traveling coasters in the US to shame
Also down at this very tip of the fair which I missed earlier as they wre both hiding behind the flume, there was a Wild Mouse owned by Kinzler which I rode for the credit, and a Zamperla Booster type ride of which the name I forget but it's like a skyscraper, lots in the US, also stuff I forgot there was another huge dark ride called Geister Schlange which looked pretty huge and old but I know it is portable as well. Well, after my coaster rides I did some more walking around. I probably missed a few rides but will double check all my pics and get to them on the next TR would was my riding day there and also time to enjoy the beer fest side of things as it is the worlds second largest beer festival.
Not to much else to say exept in my walking around I saw an alternative means of transportation that being the U-Bahn station actually inside the fairgrounds, and I figured I was about ready to go and most people were leaving and the place was shutting down, and I figured I was right there, I was going to try the other means of transportation and hope for the best as it involved a connection at the main train station and then taking a Tram rather than a train back to the hotel general vicinity, but again I messed with the ticket machine and this time it told me it'd be $1.80 but now the ticket seemed really wrong as it mentioned alot of bus transfers but anyways I went to get on the train but they were checking tickets at the enterance to the station, the guy started to say something to me but then stopped and just pointed me onto the train probably realizing we werent going to be able to communicate and I paid $$ anyways, but I took the Ubahn to the main train station where I was able to very easily find the tram stop which was in the subway part of the station just a different platform. And I knew right away I was in for something different, the tram stop was at the very end of the station and you actually take some stairs down from the platform down to track level to get on the tram, so I get down there and this terrible noise starts coming from the tube and this tram that had to be from the 40's popped out and stopped at the stop, I was thrilled, before I got into the coaster thing I was really into railroads and the history of that, and here was a real actual street car in service in a city and i was going to ride it
so after I checked my map and confirmed that that tram was going in the right direction I got on and took a seat and off we went, was just like riding a subway til it got outside of the inner city and it went to street level and the tracks are right on the street, so cars get to dodge the tram and whatnot, it was cool beyond words
But anyways eventually it got to my stop which was actually closer to the hotel than the train stop but still about a mile, but I hit the button to open up the door and got out and walked back to the hotel, where I went up to my room got some clean clothes and walked down the hall to the bathroom, which was pretty much set up like a normal bathroom with toilet and shower w/tub and importantly a locking door, and it was clean and it appeared I was the first to use it since cleaning
next up Day 13 More Canstatter Volksfest.
