96. Deutschen Katholikentag

This weekend is the 96th German Catholic "day." 30.000 German catholics have descended upon Saarbrücken in a massive feeding frenzy of Catholicism and Consumerism. The streets are lined with tents selling catholic wares or offering various forms of religious instruction. The experience is.. unique. Riding the bus to the university, I found myself next to some Bavarians who were not only on the wrong bus, but also had a... lacking... mastery of Hochdeutsch (High German) (a Bavarian's mother tongue is normally Bayerisch). Not only the buses are crowded, but the entire downtown region of the city is overflowing. 30.000 tourists coming at the same time to a city that probably sees less than that in an entire ordinary year can put quite a strain on the local businesses and police. A good 30 or more buses have been set to the considerable task of ferrying only these catholic visitors from event to event. Luckily, these catholic visitors have made themselves easily identifiable by wearing green bandanas and cardholders about their necks, as such, it is easy to determine who will be confused and lost. And having come as part of such a large program, once they wander off of the beaten track of the others, they often become very lost, very quickly- which is difficult to understand, seeing as how Saarbrücken is such a comparably small city.

But there we are. Tourists in Saarbrücken. Madness. Now I know why I'm so glad I chose here and not some big touristy city- and these are GERMAN tourists.. God forbid having to deal with tourists from other parts of the world who are even more clueless than this...