It was two weeks ago but no less a memorable weekend away! I took two days off work and had a long weekend with Stuart and Kristina to join the locals in their celebration of carnival in Cologne.
I'm still not entirely sure what it is in aid of - the last blow out before Lent I think. The best way to describe it is like a national festival (St Patrick's Day or Australia Day) with young and old taking to the streets and beer halls to celebrate. Everyone (and I do mean everyone) dresses up, sings national songs and watches the parade. The throngs of people lining the streets don't just watch the parade though - its a sport of catching sweets and roses thrown from the passing floats and procession.
In between the singing and the endless rounds of kolch (beer), we headed to our favourite cafe, Salon Schmidt for lunch (schnitzel), and had bratwurst at Pfaggen one of the best beer halls in town. Both places we'd been to in our previous visits to Cologne so we new we were in for a treat.
It was brilliant fun. We felt a bit lame in our Where's Wally outfits compared to everyone else but at least we were dressed up! I was shattered for the week following but it was all worth it!
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| Children's parade on Sunday starts the fun. Those bags are full of sweets to throw to the crowd! |
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| 3/4 metre of the most amazing bratwurst at Pfaggen |
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| Stuart & Flo |
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| Kris and Stu dancing with a local |
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| Hanging out with Bridgitte & Helmut. |
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| Young and old join the parade on Monday |
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| Stuart, me and Kris at the parade |
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| A moment of calm... schnitzel at Salon Schmidt |
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