Karneval

*Sigh*

I am woefully behind on blog posts.  Sadly, it takes literally hours for photos to upload onto the blog from here.  I'm not sure if it's my connection or the internet here in general?  Anyhow, I am on a blogging mission.  I think I have enough photos for about ten posts after Karneval here in Köln, lots of a park time and a trip to Paris.

As I mentioned before, Karneval is a huge, months-long event in Köln where everyone dresses up in a variety of costumes and parties like crazy.  The culmination of this celebration was last weekend and it ended with a number of parades.  In one of these parades, each school chooses a theme, and the kids at that school make a float and dress up in costumes based around that theme.  They march in the parade like this and throw candy to all of the spectators.  We were fortunate enough to get free tickets to this spectacle and had a fun (albeit cold) afternoon of parade-watching.

First off, I had to snap some photos of those partying in the stands around us.  No joke, people had complete bars set up with liquor and mixers right in their seats.  It's important that you know that people have been dressing up like this for months.  More so in the month of February, but we've been seeing it the whole time we've been here.  I honestly don't know how they can keep it up for so long.  Something that I have always enjoyed in the U.S. at Halloween parties is when people dressed in costume are doing normal things, like doing texting on their cell phone or have a serious conversation.  I once remember a guy dressed as a chicken getting into an (drunken) argument at a Halloween party I once attended.  It was hilarious.

The clown's nose/being dressed as a clown is one of the more popular costumes.

 This was the only insect I saw.

 Just a smurf on his IPhone.  Whatev.  The smurf costume was a popular one...

As the kids came by, there were lots of cute and clever costumes.  I have no idea what kind of message each costume and float was trying to get across, but they were interesting to watch!
More of the clown get-up - red and white stripes are pretty popular too.

 Mona Lisas...(I saw the Mona Lisa in Paris this weekend!  Post to follow...)

 Throughout the parade, a voice on the loudspeaker would say, "Cologne!"  To which everyone (in German) would reply, "Better than the rest!"  Which was actually just one or two words that I don't remember now.

 Birds?

 Many of the people in the parade were playing musical instruments or were part of a full-on band.  These guys were awesome.

 These paper mache alien heads were one of my favorites.

Many of the kids were nice enough so come up and hand you candy, but a lot of them also launched it at you as hard as they could.

The floats were very interesting...some very weird and seeming not appropriate for school-age children.  Most were really creative and cool, though, and you could tell the kids (and their teachers), put a lot of work into them.

 Band float...

 One of these guys is vomiting...that's all I am really sure of.

 This appears to be Satan and someone lying in a hospital bed?  I don't know.

 Another moving band!

Kellan didn't get to see much of the parade, as it started at his nap time.  We pushed him around in his stroller, bundled up in a shearling stroller blanket and a wind/rain guard until he fell asleep.  Then we carried him up into the stands where he slept through almost the entire parade!  Bands with drums would stop directly in front of us and he didn't even flinch.  He can officially sleep through anything.

Watching the parade was really fun, but it was super cold out and when Kellan woke up from his nap we decided it was time to watch the rest of the parade from indoors.  We ended the day with a drink with our friend Allison, while watching the remainder of the parade from the 12th floor of the Pullman Hotel.

Next year, we will be much more active participants in Karneval.  I am planning my costume already....