Brühl. Brooool!

The great thing about visiting my friend Laura was that she is from a smaller town outside of Cologne, called Brühl , so I got to see how Carnival is celebrated in a more traditional ways, outside of the big show in Koln.

We started the day at one of her friends houses, with a big group of her friends from back in high school. Naturally, I sat there like a dumbo listening to all the german and understanding nothing. My 30 word German vocabulary doesn't lend too well to conversations. I'm pretty good at tuning people out now while they speak foreign languages in which I have no clue what is being said, and just seem interject when a thought pops into my head. Better than being a mute the entire time in some instances, which lends itself to not getting to know anyone. Since it is a smaller town most of her friends speak some English, but were not so confident in their abilities. That meant they more or less didn't pay too much attention to my humble presence unless coerced into talking via questions. Then they finally realize, after  reassurance that their English is ok, that a conversation is perfectly possible.

Big breakfasts seem to be a pretty German thing in my experience, and Carnival breakfasts don't disappoint. The table spread was massive. prosciutto, salamis, cheeses, fresh breads, jams, butter, nutella, and deserts such as Berliners (which is like a jelly roll donut). During carnival they also have a somewhat special food which is essentially raw ground beef. Spread it over a nice roll, and it is quite scrumptious indeed. I topped that off on a roll in addition to prosciutto and salami and they looked at me like I was from Mars. We stopped at the bakery beforehand and picked up some sweets to bring, but generously the host supplied nearly everything for a bloat inducing breakfast. She showed me her box of costumes from her and her dad's stuff from the last 30 years, they really get into it. I borrowed a black robe with some Japanese writing on it, stuck with the fish on my head, and settled for sushi chef (lame?). At least the fish on my head made me look like a buffoon.

Brühl is a tiny town of 50,000 or less. And for that size, they throw a heck of a parade. It seemed to last for at least 3 hours or so, and it felt like pretty much the whole town was out for it.With Lautaro also coming in from Luxembourg, we partook vigorously, like little kids, and tried to get a bit of everything they threw out (Lautaro enjoyed beating the kids to the candy). Apples, oranges, kids tshirts, coffee creamer, candy, kleenex, and plenty of other random things. Our group had a massive bag at the end. The resemblance to Halloween, sans parade, is certainly there.

Only in a small town can you take a photo with people in the parade!

You can drink beer on the street (well...like most countries on Earth).

I caught an orange!

These guys came right after the Texas redneck float. I'm not sure if the irony was planned.