New Places



Parade in Bad Godesberg



Karneval Parade



Mmm...Kartoffeln Pancakes





King and Queen of Karneval; Bad Godesberg

Saturday March 5: Today feels gloomy outside, it is overcast and foggy, so I’ve been cleaning and repacking, and unfortunately the internet is down. I decided to make this a down day so I re-watched Taking Woodstock and then Elke arrived back at around 6pm. We had a lovely dinner with great Oldies playing in the background, and after watched James Bond’s Goldfinger in German.

Sunday March 6: Today was a Karneval Parade in Bad Godesberg, so Elke and I went there for 1pm. Boy was it incredible! It was so much more enjoyable then the previous one I had gone to in Beuel (which is supposed to be bigger and better). First of all, I was able to see it perfectly due to the fact that the surrounding area is smaller and it was more evened out with people. As well, this was more family based and so you were able to watch all the incredible time and effort put into these parades.  The floats, the costumes, and the marching bands were incredible (and the amount of Candy handed out). There was just so much spirit and happiness and everyone was so into the occasion. In particular, I got excited to see was, how they paraded the new Karneval King and Queen, and each sounding areas would have their own specific theme and colour (for example: Freisdorf was white and blue), and I was excited to see Worms as an area included (if you don’t understand, look into Martin Luther and the Edict of Worms). We stopped to eat a potato pancake with apple sauce on top (mmmmmm! My dad loves em’). On our walk back, it was amusing because we had caught up with the parade and so for the rest of our walk we were walking behind one float (because the streets were so narrow), so we were kind of part of the parade. After we got back, and had some tea and I talked to my parents and how the Eric Burdon and the Animals concert went (which had been incredible to watch him still perform so well), Elke and I headed to Koln to meet with Julia, since I would stay for Karneval Rosenmontag. Ohh, we went to this incredible Italian restaurant with Julia and her incredible apartment neighbours; it was so perfect and delicious (the dough for the bread was so sweet). I had this incredible Spinach and Gnocchi dish.  



Krazies in Koln

Monday March 7 (Rosenmontag): Since Julia had to work, Nadine (Julia’s flat mate) and her neighbours took me to the parade in Koln (Karneval is most celebrated and popular). Nadine was dressed like a lovely elf, which included the ears, and the neighbours as Super Mario and a Top Gun pilot. The amount of people watching was massive and seeing the parade itself was pretty much impossible, but it was a nice day and there were a lot of costumes to look at. There were so many wonderful ones, but one in particular I was fascinated by; one guy had dressed up as Alex in his Droog outfit from A Clockwork Orange. After the parade, we went and visited Julia at the pub she was working at, which was celebrating Karneval, so everyone in there was all dressed up and they played only traditional German (Koln) Karneval songs. This in itself was very culturally knowledgeable for me as my friends would translate what the songs were about and why all the people around me were singing so proudly. What I learned, is that in particular, Koln is a very happy and inclusive city and they are proud of it. They have a lot of pride in who they are and look for the best in life.  For me it was very interesting as a foreigner (and as I like to watch and analyze) to see how the people behave and what cultures and traditions they enclose. 

What a Droog





Rosenmontag with great friends



Tuesday March 8: Today, since I was in Koln, I had to get up early to return home to Bonn with the Train. I was perfectly on time for class. There was a new teacher today, and he more or less, shocked us all. He is very expressive and boisterous and made everyone laugh even though we would not always understand what he was saying. After school, I headed to my new apartment in the Rungsdorf area (Elke is in the Freisdorf area), since I had moved my bags over Sunday morning.  After buying groceries, unpacking and actually being able to hang my cloth up out of luggage bags, I pre-biked to school to time how long it will take me. It is a further distance away from school but my time is wonderfully cut short because I am able to bike all along the Rhein on beautiful trails, and only taking me 20 minutes to bike. Here, people are jogging, biking, roller skating, rowing in teams on the river, and even having picnics at the shore. There are also so many old, beautiful buildings and structures, huge old trees and perfect green; all looking across the River.