Never mind the recession! It's the start of the carnival season...

Or it was anyway, 2 Sundays ago. I'm aware that this posting is a tad late, but I've been in a time warp since we've been in Germany. Yep, that's my story and I'm sticking to it.

We went to Freiburg Im Breisgau on the first of February to watch the 75th year anniversary of the carnival parade. This event was held by the Breisgauer Narrenzunft, which is Freiburg's carnival club. We first learned about the parade the last time we were in Freiburg. We were visiting the club's museum and the curator (whom we dragged out of the pub next door) had told us about the event. We weren't really sure what we would see at the parade. But we figured that if it was anything as grotesquely cool as what we saw at the museum, then we'd be in for a real treat. Luckily we weren't wrong.

We stood strategically next to the Münster, which was near the start of the parade route (and next to the TV cameras). From there, 190 guilds stepped out with their members all dressed up in costume.

There were also 60 bands, which walked alongside the guilds.

Now I have to say, this was a festive bunch. You can tell that all of the guild members had a great time marching in the parade, especially the ones that wore masks. The masked carnies were truly uninhibited. I got my hat stolen numerous times, had my hat pulled over my eyes on a few occasions and was kissed twice. Gabriel also proved to be quite a likable target. He also had his hat stolen on many occasions and was also carried off in several instances (he was returned to us every time).

Jocelyn was smart and hid behind me every time she saw some of the rowdier groups coming down the street. Despite our interactions with the carnies, the antics that we endured was nothing compared to those of a young woman who was standing in a group next to us. She was a constant target for the carnies - she even got her face stamped. The paraders handed out candy to the children and even shots of booze to some of the adults. Gabriel and Jocelyn were quite proud of their loot - they both had Ziplock bags that were bursting with treats.

Here is a photo of the kids (in their carnie hats) and me (holding a piping hot glass of glühwein).

The parade started at 1:30 in the afternoon and ended about 3 hours later. Though we had a blast, it started to get cold as the parade went on especially as the sun started to go down. So before we left, we decided to eat some Würste mit brotchen ("Lange Rote auf dem Freiburger Münstermarkt", literally "the long red on the Freiburg Münster Market", which is a 2€, 35-cm long wurst in a bun) to warm us up. We walked back to the Hauptbahnhof after our hearty snack and took the next train back to Karlsruhe.