One-way system: Bremen's Freimarkt

The Bremen Freimarkt is an annual fair which runs for 17 consecutive days during October/November.

The statistics are mind-boggling: the Freimarkt occupies about 100,000 square meters of the town, and welcomes four million visitors each year. That works out as a quarter of a million people per day.

Initially a market, probably of international renown, it is today devoted to sausages, beer, breathtaking rides, fish and chips (on one stall), doughnuts and their many relatives, more sausages, real (i e Bavarian) beer... and much, much more.

I offer this delightful explanation on Wikipedia of the fair's history since 1800:
"With the Enlightenment, which freed life and customs of traditional formality, and the introduction of carousels and swings, the selling market transforms into an entertainment market."

It is a fair in which you can get completely lost. (Well, we managed to do so!) And there is a de facto one-way system operative in much of it, you quickly learn that if you try to walk against the crowd you must resign yourself to progressing at a snail's pace.

But there is more to the photo than fun. Look at the sky, the dramatic clouds presaging an oncoming storm. And what a storm it was to be that night! Hurricane-force gusts, a death toll in several countries, and a lot of damage to houses and property. Even the mighty Freimarkt, on the fringes of the storm, suffered damage and had to be closed the following morning. By evening it was back in full swing once more.