Fasching / Karneval (or Mardi Gras, German Style)

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After I posted the photos of ice and lumber in my previous journal, I ventured to Bamberg to see the Bavarian version of Mardi Gras, or Fasching as they call it. It's a huge deal in the northern part of the country, with Cologne and Dusseldorf being the capital of the craziness. However, here in Bavaria they celebrate it, too. Fasching officially starts on 11 November (11-11) at 11:00 a.m. The parties start about a week before Mardi Gras and culminate in a parade and, in places, huge firework displays and street celebrations. Here in my neighborhood it's somewhat tamer, but there is a definite observation of the rites!

It's a weird thing to see normally diligent, serious, hard-working Germans busting out in silly costumes. The parade has comparatively lame floats, but the enthusiasm of the participants and onlookers makes up for that. Plus there's loud techno music and/or 80's disco blaring from the beer trucks with hand-scrawled signs tacked on the side. Lots of candy is thrown into the crowd, but as far as I know no beads are thrown and, therefore, no shirts are lifted to get them. And it's too cold to be scantily clad. But the Germans lend their own flavor to the event.

So, instead of being in church getting ashes on my forehead or locking away my stash of gummi bears, today I am posting these pictures I took of the festivities. I had the good fortune of a sunny day, happening upon the parade just before it started, and, later, a peach of a vantage point on the third story of the school where I work as the procession neared the market square.

Enjoy!

This is about as elaborate as the floats get:

Never adjust your pantyhose in public:

I totally dig the heartbeat EKG thing he has going on:

After I took this picture, I started to realize that these kids maybe weren't wearing costumes. Doesn't this guy look like Boy George?

Local championship basketball team's mascot:

This guy was the Fasching King or some such. Or Burgermeister. In any case he led the parade:

That's right, practice your high kicks in the direction of the photographer!

Among all the racially, culturally, politically and religiously insensitive costumery, this one took the cake. I still am not sure WTF???

Note the silly string all over the police car:

After the fact:

Given the content of the foregoing photos, I am not including a Photo for No Apparent Reason Today. Happy Lent!

Ice and Wood

Since I'm posting this on Mardi Gras, click here to enjoy a freelance article I wrote about Germany's version of the celebration, called Fasching.

Also, don't forget I have a book for sale: A Travel for Taste - Collected Czech Family Recipes. Get your copy today on Amazon.com! It's a collection of travel stories and recipes from the time I spent in the Czech Republic. Makes a wonderful gift for the cook, reader or travel enthusiast in your life.

On with the show:

I must confess that one of my New Year’s resolutions was to post a travel journal at least monthly. Now it’s nearing the end of February and I’m just now posting the first journal. In my defense, however, I spent most of January stateside, so there hasn’t been much  Europe/travel things going on.

In addition, the weather here in Germany has been unusually warm this winter. In fact, when I returned in late January daily highs were in the 40’s. Therefore, no storybook snow pictures for you!

But about two weeks ago all that changed. The temperature plunged to below-zero daily highs thanks to a high pressure system direct from Siberia. Unlike many places east of here, we didn’t get much snow along with it. It just froze. Hard. Quick. 

I awoke to this beautiful frost on my window one morning:

 And here's a photo of what little snow we did get last week:

Although there wasn’t much hoopla weatherwise (the temp just dropped - suddenly), one interesting thing I did photograph as a result of the weather was the iced-over river:

Here’s what the river normally looks like:

 

Note that these thick ice floes only form when it gets very cold very fast. I saw people walking on the ice along the side of the river but I wasn’t brave enough to try that myself. I do think the two- to three-inch-thick flats of ice that were forced up over each other were interesting and beautiful. Here are some closer views of one that was lying about 12 feet from shore:

Here are the local fishing boats iced inside their inlet. I saw a man standing on the bow of one of these boats jumping up and down. It didn't move!

Now I want you to think about how freaking COLD it was for me to get these photos. You’re welcome.

Interestingly, this year was the first time in about 15 years that the Alster lake in Hamburg froze over. The ice was a solid seven to eight inches thick across the entire lake. When that happens every dozen years or so, they have a festival on the ice. Check it out here. 

Now the temps have jumped back up to the high 30’s and low 40’s. What I thought was really cold a month ago now seems warm and comfy. Til the wind blows.

Anyway, to relieve a little cabin fever, I went out this weekend and shot some images at the sawmill near where I live. It’s near the river. Check these out:

 

 

 

 

 

That's about all the news that's fit to print this time. I hope you enjoyed these photos. I wish I could post the smell of cut wood to go along with them. That was part of the fun of photographing them. Anyway, I plan to have more exciting things to post a little later. I have trips planned to Munich and beyond in the next month or so. Stay tuned!

Photo for No Apparent Reason: