Rosenmontag

As I write this on Tuesday morning, all is quiet. Schools are still closed, but the partying has ended. The big parade on Monday was amazing - four hours of bands, floats, marching groups, candy. tissues, toys. Unlike in New Orleans, no beads and no nudity. We watched about an hour of it from the street and the rest from our apartment. From our kitchen and from Gail's room we had a good view though we're a block of the route since building behind us is very low. After the parades there were concerts at Höfchen and at Schillerplatz. We went briefly the the closer one and the crowd was pretty mellow. 

So here are a ton of pictures from the parade! 

This is a reference to a major bridge over the Rhein that dropped several centimeters and has been closed. It's a traffic nightmare in this area.

At the bus stop: no buses in the inner city - closest operating bus stop is at the train station.

 Love the viking in the window.

These guys rowed the entire parade. 

This is fun for the use of the local dialect.

 Cleanup started less than 15 minutes after the parade: first the sweepers, then the front-end loader acting as a giant dustpan for the garbage truck, then the mechanical sweepers.

Fasching in Mainz - Sunday!

Sunday we went out again to enjoy Fasching. Lots of stuff for kids again today.

On Sunday the floats for Monday's parade are on display. It's great to see them up close, especially for the non-native German speaker as they often have quite a bit of text and/or you need to understand political context to get the joke.

This one is called "Problem Bear" and features a likeness of Putin. This style is pretty typical - the front has a rhyme that kind of explains the float and the artistry on them is pretty amazing.

Americans should appreciate this one, featuring Obama as a lame duck. 

With the Republicans as a shark after him.

This one features the first female secretary of defense for Germany.

 Here's one about drug problems.

And a food safety themed one on the "invasion" of doctored food. Notice that the headless, bleached chicken is carrying an American flag.

It's not all political. We also went to a fun concert and enjoyed the crowds (along with a German beer!).

Fasching in Mainz Saturday

Saturday was the Jugendmaskenzug (Young people's mask parade). The theme this year was "The animal world celebrates Fassenacht" so all the school groups had animal themes. Gail participated with a friend, helping with some younger kids.

Some of the groups in the parade were the Carnival clubs, which just wear their usual outfits.

Some groups were pretty elaborate, like these spiders. I loved the web. 

 This is one of the clubs in their "normal" outfit.

This one made us laugh because it looked so much like an American marching band. 

A few floats in this parade, though it was mainly just marchers.

These are marchers from one of the old Carnival Clubs

Gail waving the flag for her marching group.

Gail with her friend Leah. And some guy behind them.