Most Brusselent Adventures: Better than Wonderland (Cologne Carnival)

It took about 5 minutes in Cologne for me to wonder, "Maybe the guy who wrote Alice in Wonderland wasn't on drugs. Maybe he hung out at Carnival in Cologne." Never before have I seen a city so joyous, lively, and dressed in such vibrant colors. The best parades were the ones where you just walked down the street to people (some more than slightly intoxicated) were dancing, kissing, drinking (German national pastime), and living. Of course there is a parade every day as well from Thursday until the beginning of Lent on Tuesday. Parades with massive amounts of candy, where the louder you yelled the better chances are of getting some; where people in the parade gave you flowers if you yelled certain things at them. We never quite figured out what we were saying in German, but we got lots of flowers so I think we did something right. Carnival brought embarrassment to the word Halloween; it's now more of an insulting word. The costumes were unmatched by any I've ever seen. There was a beer and bratwurst stand every 5 meters which only added to the joyous behavior of everyone. We also did take a tour of the History of Cologne museum and were able to enter the most awe-inspiring church there is (most likely true). The Cologne Cathedral has its own grand history which include being one of the few buildings in the entire city still standing after the bombings in WWII. Seeing as it was Carnival many of the cities museums (30+) were closed and is definitely a city worth traveling to at any time of the year. But we traveled to it at the best time of the year. When people celebrate living and are happy to be your friend whether or not they can speak your language.

First day costume:

Cologne is full of surprises. This is the padlock bridge (yes, I'm sure it has a real name too). The tradition goes that couples write their names on a padlock, lock the padlock to the bridge, and throw the key in the river. This brings them everlasting love. There is a lot of padlocks too. The bridge is a good 100 yards with padlocks locked to the chain-link fence.

Looks like a cool front entrance to the Cathedral. It's not. This is the side entrance.

Many stores boarded up their shops, but only during the parades. Now I never saw anything that would have broken the glass storefronts had the plywood not been there, but I imagine they learned from experience.

Windows inside the Cathedral.

Cologne is located on the Rhine.

More parades. These outfits were worn at all times by everyone though. Also I have no idea what an actual German police officer looks like. I saw probably 100 different versions.