Karneval Saturday - Ghosts and lollies

The subtle Karneval costumes

Saturday was another slow start.  Birgit once again attempted to make us feel guilty by getting up and buying the mornings brotchen.  Saturday's itinerary was to attend the local parade in Oberkassel and then go into Köln to join the ghost parade.  Frühstück turned into Mittagessen and it was 3 before we headed into town.

The cake women

She is on to me.  Probably judging the range and wind direction.

This is what Karneval was all about.  Parades, costumes and projectile lollies.  I took the DSLR with me to practise missing good photo opportunities.  We stood and watched this parade pass.  This was just a small local parade and no where near the spectacle of the parades in Köln, Bonn or Düsselforf, nonetheless it was something to see.  As I may have mentioned, it is not just the members of the parade, that are in costume.  About 90% of those watching were in costume.

On the train, beside myself with anticipation.

Benny and Birgit

The next event was the Ghost Parade in Köln.  We raced back home to get dressed up.  We were late and literally ran to catch the train into Bonn.  From Bonn another train into Köln to meet with the other Ghost Train revellers.  Regardless of it's origin the Ghost train has become a sambanista affair with many bands joining the procession.  The trick was to find one that was doing well and keep up.  We chose the demonic chefs, as they had the coolest outfits and were playing well.  I noticed that some of my fellow members of the procession had improvised their own drums.  There were people with all sorts of kitchen implements keeping rhythm with the bands.  The parade finally finished under a bridge and the crowd slowly dispersed.  We went to a small pub called the Beehive.  The music was typical Karneval and it was packed.  We left around midnight and started the epic journey home.  Epic it was.  It took 3 hours to get home and we even had to resort to going to MacDonalds to get out of the cold.  I can't remember the last time I went to MacDonalds and this particular visit on reinforced why.  It is pleasing to know that a BigMac tastes just the same Germany as it does in Australia.  No big surprise there I suppose.  The unusual texture of the beef patty, reminiscent of meat but with the hint of cardboard.  The limp lettuce and special sauce that is indeed quite special.