Köln aka Kölle aka Cologne

I went this past weekend to Köln (that's Cologne to those of you who don't know German spelling of German cities) to celebrate Fasching und Karnivale. From this weekend I concluded two things:
1. Köln is the only city in Germany where I can see myself living.
2. It was the best weekend of my life.

Now first of all, I want to clarify that I had no school on Monday or Tuesday, so I wasn't skipping and I'd like to give an explanation of Karnivale und Fasching. Fasching ties into Easter. It is always 6 weeks before easter, and it always falls on a weekend. It is typically the last weekend when one can eat meat and everything before giving it up for lent. Although, in today's day and age, it basically translates as an excuse to drink. Thus the Karnivale aspect comes in. Yes, Karnivale like the Karnivale in Brazil, just a little different. Everybody wears costumes that range from your basic witch and devil to the most elaborate costumes imaginable (and everything in between). The people then party from Thursday (Fastnacht) until Monday (Rosenmontag - and they party all monday and into tuesday). On monday there is a huge parade that goes through the city of Köln (think of the Macy's Thanksgiving day parade) and the people on the floats/cars throw candy out (like mardi gras but without the flashing of breasts). People go on monday and stand along the parade route with umbrellas and turn them inside out (think of a really windy, rainy day and how your umbrella always manages to get blown up forming that cone that does nothing to shelter you from the rain) and use them to catch the candy thrown. And on that note, it's not really candy but rather packages of candy, as in full boxes of chocolate. Needless to say, injury is a plausible possibility and I was almost taken out by a green, flying box of chocolates (and by the guy's umbrella in front of me who tried to catch it - and failed, might I add). So yes, that is Karnivale and Köln is the mother city of Karnivale (Seriously the city goes into Karnivale mode and the stores shut down).

Here are some highlights from the days I was there. I went up thursday night with some german friends for FastNacht or Schmutziger Donnerstag and then came back friday morning. This was my favorite costume from that night.
I then returned on saturday afternoon and met up with a friend of mine from my program whose one host brother lives in Köln. It was perfect because we got to stay with her brother and go out some with him and then go out during the day while he worked. SO here is the day by day breakdown:
Saturday:
-Seeing Miss Alex Cabral after too many months
-Walking around Köln, observing the insane costumes
-Realizing that Alex and I think too much alike, unhealthily alike
-Chilling w/ her brother and speaking german
-Going out to a place that played 'black' music a.k.a hip-hop
-Realizing, once again, that not all europeans have discovered the wonders of deodorant. This is particularly offensive when they are dancing excessively.

Sunday:
-Eating some amazing pizza
-Going out with Alex
-Seeing how much the people of Köln dislike the people of Düsseldorf (while standing in line at the place the 4 people behind us said something about being from Düsseldorf at which point the bouncer called out "UH OH WE'VE GOT DÜSSELDORFERS!" and while driving on the autobahn around Köln you won't see any sign that Düsseldorf is only 40 km away. Apparently the tension is due to the fact that Düsseldorf is the capitol of the Bundesland - like a state - but Köln is a bigger city.)
-Lots of dancing
-Seeing the Amy Winehouse drag queen AGAIN

Monday:
-Saying "Let's get up at 9am" and getting up at 12
-Going to watch the parade
-Getting absolutely soaked while watching the parade
-Eating more delicious italian food
-Doing the macarena in the streets of Köln
-Going to a place that looked just like it belonged in South Beach, Miami (very disorienting when you're in germany and keep thinking "Wait, this looks like Miami...")

Tuesday:
-Getting up at 9am (for real this time)
-Walking around the streets of Köln (very reminiscent of Philly to me, in terms of size and feel of the city)
-Getting a BAGEL, yes, our first american bagel in 6 months
-Starbucks, twice
-Deciding to take a later train home so I could enjoy another couple hours of the best city in Germany: Köln.

The Dom - So amazing when you think about the fact that the entire thing was made by hand hundreds of years ago.

Some guy dressed as Captain Jack Sparrow. I saw a lot of people dressed as him but this guy's costume was flawless - so elaborate.

A lot of the floats have political or social meanings like this one, which is criticizing the recent German smoking ban in public places showing the people forced to stand outside in the pouring rain to enjoy their cigarette with their bier.

And finally, a picture of the bridge coming into Köln - best city in DE.