Part Two: Carnival in Kolin and Well

Carnival in Europe is something that everyone needs to experience once in their lives. There is no way to accurately describe the feeling and atmosphere that surrounds the holiday. It is pure joy mixed with silliness, craziness, and pride. The only American equivalent we have is to combine New Years Eve, Mardi Gras, Halloween, and the Fourth of July.

So Kolin, Germany is one of the most incredible places in the world. Especially during carnival! Cailin, Meena, Roisin, and I grabbed an early train into the city where we met up with Anna and Karen. Ryan and Erika decided to tag along with us too which was fun. As we got off the train we were greeted by masses of people all dressed in crazy, ridiculous costumes! We stepped outside of the station and stood in awe of the Dom, a gorgeous gothic cathedral that has a huge square outside of it. We wandered our way to the Latin Quarter to find the Cuba Bar, a place that was recommended to us by friends. On our way we saw a lot of people gathered in a square around a bandstand. Every single person, young and old, man and woman, was decked out in colorful costumes, wigs, and makeup. Everyone also was drinking beer out of these nifty yarn beer holders, making us all the more determined to get to this bar. Well, after walking for a while, we reached the bar and of course-it was closed. Dejected, we made our way back to the square but on the way we stopped for lunch. Oh dear lord, German food is DELICIOUS! I had amazing schnitzel and beer for lunch. I was so happy, I was in a food coma! Schnitzel is a chicken/pork/veal cutlet buttered and fried and covered in a Jager-sauce. SO WONDERFUL. AH!

[Schnitzel!] [Yes, that is a baby carriage full of beer]




[Beer holder that says Kolin] [The group with our German beers]

After lunch we bought ourselves beer holders and subsequently filled them with Becks to fit in with the rest of the Germans. We made our way back to the square and to our delight, a band began to play. Not just any band, mind you, but a really famous German band that was number one in the country for a while. The band’s name was Honer and they are originally from Kolin. We stood in a crowd of people and danced and sang along (well, tried to) all of the happy German music that was being played. Everyone around us was so nice! A woman linked arms with Cailin during one song, starting a whole line of people. She later told us that she had lived in Vermont for a while and was recommending places for us to go. I can’t even begin to describe the craziness that was around us. Everywhere you look there were bright colors, loud music, and just overall happiness. It was infectious! When we went to the mall to warm up (because it was FREEZING), a random band of clowns stormed in and played music for about 20 minutes. GERMANY IS AWESOME! The rest of our time was spent wandering around Kolin, just taking in everything that was going on around us. We ran into a mini-parade mismatched clowns that were marching down the street playing music, so of course we had to join in! We marched with them for a while, making friends with a very friendly blue clown, one guy even had Cailin hold his tuba. We broke off from the parade and wandered some more, running into another impromptu dance party in a small square. We joined in with these young Germans and linked arms with them, singing at the top of our lungs. For dinner I had a bratwurst with spicy mustard that was INCREDIBLE! To wash down our dinner we were semi-sketchy and bought a bottle of German vodka, “Wodka,” and some Fanta to drink out of dinky little plastic cups out of our beer holders. Classy, classy, classy. Because we were already close to the train station, we didn’t want to venture far off. We decided to stay in the square outside of the cathedral and take pictures with people who had funny costumes. Well that turned into “photobombing” pictures (jumping into the background of random people’s pictures while making funny faces) and that kept us occupied for quite a while. The train ride home was uneventful and after talking to Lane for a while, I crashed and went to sleep so I could be fully rested for Carnival in Well the next day!

[Chickens ride the tram too] [Cailin and I made friends with a hun]



[Random clown parade-blue was our friend!] [Bratwurst is wonderful!]

Carnival prep for the parade in Well started around 11:00 am with face painting courtesy of Rob, my art professor. He painted my face as some kind of peacock-clown? I don’t know what it was meant to be but it turned out great! Rob himself was dressed like an alcoholic medieval monk because our castle theme for carnival was “Medieval Madness.” I ended up wearing a flamenco skirt and feather boa in the parade. The group of students who were marching in the parade, led by Rob, went down to Old Well to get in our parade spot. As we were standing there taking pictures and complaining about the cold, Rob asks, “Ok, who’s ready for shots?” and pulls a bottle of monastic liqueur and five shot glasses out from his monk basket. Of course I was not going to turn this down! Taking a shot with my art professor while he’s dressed as a monk and I’m covered in face paint that he did and wearing a flamenco skirt in the Netherlands? Check! The rest of the groups in the parade varied between costumed groups and crazy homemade floats that put a lot of American ones to shame!

[Me, Rob, and Cailin before the parade] [Dulcia in a wig serving hot dogs]

The parade made its way through Well as people lined the streets to watch and cheer us on. Again everyone was in costume! As we passed the Linden, our bartender friend came running out with trays of warm wine shots for us which were good. The whole town was decorated with flags and balloons galore, it was so pretty! The parade paused for a little at the castle to reset. While we were waiting, Dulcia and the dining hall staff had set up a booth to pass out hotdogs to the parade participants. Dulcia, Nellie, Stephen, and Doyjna were all dressed in red, white, and blue costumes and had signs that advertised the American hotdogs! The parade continued throughout the other section of Well and ended at Café Vink. While in the last stretch, just as everyone was getting freezing cold, a group of clowns with a cart full of wine and liqueurs comes up to us and starts passing out bottles and glasses along with marshmallows and candy.! Rob was with us the whole time and it was fun getting to joke around and laugh with him. After the parade we were exhausted so we stripped out of our costumes and napped until dinner. The rest of the night consisted of talking and swapping stories from the weekend, a very relaxing night. The festivities of the day were also a very welcome distraction from the fact that it was Valentine's Day..
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[Emersonians during the Carnival parade]

Today’s carnival celebration included a light parade through Well and fireworks. Again, the floats were incredible! I’ve never seen stuff like this in a small town parade. It puts any Monroe parade to shame! People come from all over the area to watch the light show and it was beautiful!

This week is going to be filled with lots of work so I can relax on my upcoming trip this weekend to BARCELONA! AH so excited!!!

The video is of Honer while we were in Kolin: