Last weekend we visited Landshut, near Munich, for their Landshuter Hochzeit celebration. It only happens once every four years, and it was sold out in January, but a friend got us some tickets.

It’s apparently meant to be a reenactment of a royal wedding, and the accompanying festivities, that happened 500 years ago. Thousands of the local residents dress up in fancy medieval clothes and play assigned parts, so the whole town gets taken back in time a bit.

There’s a free parade down the main street of the old town, a huge area with fenced-in groups of medieval folks, like a human zoo, and a display of medieval entertainment. It’s less kitsch and a lot more fun than Oktoberfest, so I highly recommend it to visitors to Munich in 2009.