Photos .story: audio and video by Russell Johnson Audio Story
I went to Oktoberfest and did not have a beer. Nope, not one biermadchen's tear of frothy brew, a sacrilege for which I will surely rot in some Faustian teetotler's hell.
No, it is not Oktoberfest, even though this beerhall is as big and as festive as the suds and sausage emporiums of Munich. I am at CEBIT, the yearly monster expo of technology in Hanover, Germany. It is so big, it is like a city, with grocery store, pharmacy and quite a lively beerhall catering to people from all over. The rowdyness awards are shared by the Taiwanese, the Russians and the Lithuanians who stood on a table and sang Happy Birthday to themselves.
I guess at least 1000 people packed into this frothy barn.
For pie-eyed thrills, however, expos of any kind are not what they used to be. Imagine parking your horse and buggy under a buzzing arc light powered by a mystery force called electricity at the 1897 Chicago World's Fair. You could sniff the potential and the danger in the ozone.
In comparison, the new pink mini-IPOD doesn't quite cut it.
Old world Europe. Where do you find it outside of faded movies these days? Where do you find the heart wrenching chanteuses, the gypsy violins, the grand, baroque cafes where you can pine about the meaning of life and nibble on cakes.
