Eye candy

found here

"Karneval" is one of the best times in the year. People here even say that it's a season of its own. Actually it starts on November 11th, but the six days when it is actively celebrated are in February / March. This year, I almost exclusively spent it in Cologne where the biggest parties and parades take place. 

We were so lucky with the weather! The sun shone all day long on Monday which was crucial for the long parade that we watched - and it also helped cheer up the atmosphere (if it needed cheering up at all). They were the best days this year so far for three reasons:

• As I already mentioned, we were very lucky with the weather. Not only did the sun shine all day long, it wasn't even too cold either! (I remember last year's parade when it snowed and we drank mulled wine to keep warm.)
• I love fancy dress parties, and 'Karneval' is a 6 day fancy dress party! How awesome is that? I dressed up as a Bavarian girl (if only I could wear this dress more often!) and as an Irish leprechaun. I still had a little green hat from when I was in Ireland with the girls and we could experience St Patrick's day ourselves. Good opportunity to wear that again!
• The most important thing is that I could spend this wonderful time with the even more wonderful people close to my heart. My friends were there, and I stayed over at my brother's for the long weekend as he lives in Cologne - very handy. We had a great time together, and on Monday even our sister joined us. I don't see her very often because she goes to a university about 200km from where I live, and when she's got a weekend off she visits her boyfriend who lives even farther away. It was so nice to be with them again!

Those were the highlights of my 'Karneval', plus even though there was some alcohol involved there was no hangover for me the next mornings. Plus I saw two 'celebrities': One of them was Henning Krautmacher, the singer of a Cologne band, and the other one was professional football player Lukas Podolski who was on the parade and cast candy to the people watching the parade. One of the chocolate bars hit my eye but I won't complain, it didn't hurt too much and who else can say that they were blinded by a football star? ;)

Lukas Podolski at the parade - photo found here