Schwerin: The Parade.

Christopher Street Day, celebrated across Germany as in many other countries, and a time when countless people of all persuasions come together to show their colours, to celebrate, to campaign for improvement, to be seen and to be counted. There is music and dance, good moods, bright colours, and a wonderful feeling of community, no matter which city the parades take place in, and no matter the (exceptionally small) opposition.

Schwerin is no exception: a beautiful city which has grown over the years both in a structural sense, as well as artistic and cultural. That a CSD should be held here, in Mecklenburg-Vorpommern, is a clear sign that not all the bad news we hear of growing right-wing extremism can be taken without a pinch of salt. The centre of the city, with its well laid out shopping area, the lake, the castle, the museums and galleries, is a perfect backdrop for Pride, for signs of change, for advances, leaps forward. It invites, and does not disappoint. There is even, although my itinerary did not allow a visit, a Scottish Bar for those seeking a nostalgic return to the homeland.

Colour photography is not my bag, but Pride without colour would not be the same.