I arrived on Saturday morning, passport in hand. I consider myself a fairly experienced traveler, but sometimes it’s the simplest things that escape me…such as the most important of travel documents that remained hidden in my room as I took off for the airport at 4am. Thank goodness for the local cab driver who knew how to avoid the after-closing-time traffic as he drove me back home and into the city again, allowing me to catch the airport bus with plenty of time to spare and make my flight without a problem (well, once I convinced the airport security that my glasses case was not filled with liquid as their x-rays seemed to indicate).
So it was a relief when I arrived on Saturday morning, and my lovely sisters picked me up with coffee in hand. We went back to the house to drop off my bags and then headed into Essen to do a bit of shopping and catch up over lunch at Vapiano’s (one of Katharina’s favorite restaurants here, which also happens to be one of mine in DC). It was there that not one, but two dogs joined in the dining experience at the next tables over. To Helen and I, this was a bit mind-boggling as I’m pretty sure it’s against the health code in most restaurants in the US to have dogs sitting below the tables, and just unpleasant to have them yapping back and forth, but it’s apparently not that uncommon here. We also discovered later in the weekend that not all bars are smoke-free. It’s been a while since I’ve come home so smoky, but it was Katharina’s favorite place and I can see why, but I do like my smoke-free restaurants and bars in Iowa and DC.
On Sunday after a delicious breakfast of Nutella (I forgot how tasty that stuff is!), we visited a really cool photography exhibit inside the Gasometer Oberhausen called “Magische Orte” that featured photos of magic of the natural world in its own right as well as some man-made wonders of the world. We also rode the elevator (lift) to the top and had a lovely view of the city and the river with it’s frozen pieces of ice – it was a cold one, but the sun felt nice on my shoulders.
Then we warmed up back at the house with a delicious German meal of meat (there isn’t really a good English translation), potatoes and sauerkraut that Katharina’s mom made for us, and some chocolate cupcakes that we had made the night before – with lovely “schokoladedekorhartzen” (sprinkles) on top. Ask Helen for the pronunciation of the word, she had some fun with it.
But Monday was really the main event (a surprise to me since we celebrate Mardi Gras on Tuesday in the US, but Germans also open presents on Christmas Eve rather than Christmas Day, so I suppose I shouldn’t have been too surprised about the jump start). We got up early and dressed in costume, and all five of us (parents included) piled into the car to drive to Cologne. We parked a bit outside the city center, put the final touches on our costumes: two hippies, Little Red Riding Hood, a peacock, and an Eskimo, and boarded the tram along with Superman, a couple of polar bears, and any number of other unidentifiable but sufficiently wacky costumes.
We strolled through town a bit taking in the sights, then found a nice spot with plenty of room to view the parade, and the Jennis all refreshed our memories of how to interact with those parading through the streets: when they say “Kolle,” we say “Alaaf,” and you can ask them for “kamelle” (candy) or “strussia” (flowers) – but fair warning, if the men give you flowers, they expect a “butzien” (kiss) in return [Note: spellings are approximate]. 
We were surrounded by people of all ages from the 3 year old in the helmet to my right to the college kids that started off behind us but somehow ended up in the front row during “butzien” time to the middle aged couple to my left, and the paraders ranged from very young to very old as well. It wasn’t long before I found out why the kid was wearing the helmet – the candy bars they throw are legit! I’m used to fun-sized parade candy or the occasional full-sized candy bar, but at Carnival, the full-sized candy bar seems to be the norm and you’ll even get a mega-candy bar or a full pack of cookies here and there – helmets were definitely a good idea. 
All in all, people were cheery and out for a good time. At the point when I was expecting the parade to wind down (maybe 90 minutes in), Katharina told me we had just seen float 20 of 40! My toes were in need of some warmth at that point, so we stepped in to an adjacent restaurant for some coffee before calling it a day and heading home. But the whole experience was just fantastic and even the photos I’m posting don’t do it justice – if you have a chance, it’s definitely worth a visit, and I for one, hope to do so very soon.
We wrapped up today (Tuesday) with Katharina and I teaching Helen how to drive a stick-shift car on Idiot’s Hill. While I’d love to credit the back-seat instruction, she’s a quick learner and had it down within the hour. Granted, she already knew how to drive automatic transmission, but still, I walked away without even a hint of whiplash, and then Katharina took the wheel again to head over to Dusseldorf for lunch and stroll through town before Helen and I headed back to our respective homes in the British Isles, ready to take on the next adventure: Grandma and Grandpa Tobin planned a surprise visit to Dublin and arrive in the morning!!
No comments:
Post a Comment