Christopher Street Day 2008
This Saturday is the 30th Christopher Street Day celebration in Berlin. The gay pride festival started last weekend with the Motzstrassenfest at Nollendorfplatz and ends this weekend with a parade through the city.
The parade starts at 12.30 on Unter den Linden and will snake it's way through the city, past Potsdamer Platz and Nollendorfplatz before ending at the Siegessäule. This indirect route is partly due to the football Fan Mile which starts at the Brandenburg Gate and blocks off a large chunk of the Strasse der 17. Juni. The full route can be found here, and with sixty-three groups and forty-nine trucks currently taking part it's going to be loud, bright, rather naked and full of fun.
Once they all reach the Siegessäule the partying will continue, with live bands such as Boss Hoss, The Honeybees and Übermutter and plenty of food and drink. in addition, the CSD will be awarding six civil courage prizes, one of which is going to the entire country of Switzerland for their equality in recognising and supporting gay rights.
If all that isn't enough festivities, an official afterparty will start at 10pm in the GMF-Tower near Alexanderplatz. Oh yes, this weekend Berlin is going to be shrill.