Karneval!

Karneval officially ended here on Tuesday, and while there were festivities for about five days, I only witnessed one day. Monday was "Rosen Montag," and there is a huge parade through the city every year on that day. I had the good fortune of being able to watch it from the apartment of one of Martin's friends, and thus didn't have to deal with the crowds on the street.

The floats in the parade tend to be political in nature, and many this year had to do with the financial crisis. Other themes included various bicycling-related causes, local youth clubs, and did you ever hear about Petra the black swan? She made an appearance, too. There were also many Dutch floats which were probably the coolest in the parade. They were not generally political, but must have required hundreds of hours to complete.

Here are more pictures than I'm sure you'd like to see:

This one says "Muenster, the Land of Smiles!" You have no idea how ironic that is...


Take this little girl, for example. Doesn't she look happy?


Or this guy?

I guess I wouldn't be happy, either, if I was wearing that.

Here's one of the Dutch ones:


And another...


And these guys below look festive, don't they? Their float is to let people know about an alternative to the current German federal system....they want Kaiser Wilhelm back (the German Emperor from 1871 - 1888). If that's not a good cause, I don't know what is!

As you can see, it looks like they're having a great time...


Here is another Dutch one:


These guys are German, and I guess were responsible for reducing traffic accidents between cars and bicycles in Muenster's main roundabout:

This is pretty sweet...


An anti-doping float:


This one is also cycling-related, although I'm not quite sure what the point is. It appears to be about racing, but then there's that biker on the top pulling a cow? Maybe one of you knows....


Here's one from the financial crisis. Those heads in the basket are of German financial leaders:

Cheery, no? And great for kids, too...

Here's another bike one (I've mentioned it's a big cycling city, right?):

Hm, tough call. I was going to say my favorite thing about this float is that happy lady on the right, but I just now noticed the lovely gal in the center with, possibly, a bratwurst?


Are you getting bored yet? Just a few more, I promise...

Here's another Dutch one:


And another:


God drinking beer and dancing with devils....


And finally, the Karneval Prince:

He's the one in the white. And, look - a smile!

Really, those of you who are still reading are pretty lucky! The parade lasted for about three and a half hours, and even though this is a long post, you've probably only had to spend about three and a half minutes here!

It was a fun day. Hope you're all having a little bit of fun in your day, too!

Until next time....