Leading the Calf to the Slaughter

That’s the way it felt trying to squeeze out of Hackerbrucke S-bahn station on the way to the Oktoberfest. Hundreds of party goers arrived on each train, and the local police had crowd control down to a science – keeping everyone clear of the train, and funneling arrivals through one stairway, and drunk departures through another. The entire bridge is shut down, and only available for pedestrians. This was how most of the Oktoberfest felt during “Italian” weekend where thousands of Italians come up and take over the fest. On the sides of the photo, you can see the endless construction of new homes and shopping center, which are reinventing and reforming the neighborhoods around the tracks. I’m told that 16,000 new units will be created by the time construction is complete.