Carnival Parade

At the beginning of February we had a long weekend, for the popular Fasching holiday. Fasching (or Fastnacht) is the end of carnival (Lent starts the next day), and is widely celebrated in some areas. Cologne is well known for the biggest Fasching parties, as is Mainz. One of my colleagues comes from the Black Forest and she told me about the Fasching parades there. It is a big deal, but very different from the area around Frankfurt, with set costumes and many traditions.

Most years I have been away for the long weekend, but this year I was in Frankfurt. So on the Sunday I decided to brave the rain and go watch the parade. Here are some of the things I saw in the Fastnactsumzug:

Good start to the parade with police on horseback!

And then a bit of carnival fun! The other big parade in Bavaria is the Oktoberfest parade. This group looked just like them ... except with cross dressing. 

And then it got boring. Many people are in carnival clubs, and dance clubs ... they all seemed to have similar outfits, and in the rain were doing nothing. Many had ponchos on over their costumes. They would yell "Hallau" and wave to the crowd, but even the enthusiasm for that dwindled quickly. 

And of course we are in Germany, so while most groups were throwing out candy for the kids, this float was handing out beer for the adults. 

Given the rain, and the lack of enthusiasm from everyone, I watched a bit from the front, then retreated under cover and then finally found a way across the parade and went home.

Winter to Spring

Less than two week ago I was waiting in the cold outside my school for the bus. It was very much winter, and I was appreciating my new warm Wellensteyn jacket. I was enjoying the sunset and wishing I had a camera, and not just my cell phone.

The sky was an amazing colour of red. The view from the bus stop is also pretty, looking across fields with trees on the horizon. 

Now,  suddenly yesterday I went for a walk around Frankfurt wearing just my spring rain jacket and enjoying the sunshine. It felt very much like spring in April, not February. While I did enjoy this, I hope that the winter comes back so I can go skiing at the end of the month!