Fed up with being stuck in Wixhausen, I decided to take up a friend's offer to come up to Cologne for a day to go to the carnival. It was carnival season over parts of Germany and I had never been to a carnival before and I have always wanted to go to one! So I got my ticket and went bravely all down my lonesome.
The journey itself was a real treat! My train followed the Rhine all the way up giving me some beautiful, breath taking views of the Rhine Valley and the picturesque little historical towns and its numerous ruined and old haunting castles that were passed on the way. I was travelling in the morning and t
he mist had not cleared yet, so it had a mythical, romantic look to it. The sun was shining and I was almost expecting to see Rhinemaidens it had such a mystery about it. The train was not a super-fast ICE train that are famous in Germany; being a broke student I took the IC which was not the speed of a snail, but still took a few hours to get there. I preferred it though as it took me above ground along the river instead of the dug out trenches of the ICE lines. I passed the lovely town on Koblenz, which I kept telling myself I would visit properly (never did).
The more north we went, the colder it became. From the sunny, misty banks of the southern Rhine it changed considerably by the time we got to Bonn as it was snowing there. Cologne was only about 10-15 minutes by train from Bonn so we had the same cold weather.
But none of that mattered! I alighted the train and arrived in a world of fancy dress, sweets, drunkards, and partying - all by a respectable 11am. I was very happy. The entire of Cologne station was filled with people completely pissed, looking stupid and fooling around. It was mental and I thought - "Now thats more like it!" Walking out of the station you are met by the amazing Gothic towers of the Cathedral. Nice!
The journey itself was a real treat! My train followed the Rhine all the way up giving me some beautiful, breath taking views of the Rhine Valley and the picturesque little historical towns and its numerous ruined and old haunting castles that were passed on the way. I was travelling in the morning and t
he mist had not cleared yet, so it had a mythical, romantic look to it. The sun was shining and I was almost expecting to see Rhinemaidens it had such a mystery about it. The train was not a super-fast ICE train that are famous in Germany; being a broke student I took the IC which was not the speed of a snail, but still took a few hours to get there. I preferred it though as it took me above ground along the river instead of the dug out trenches of the ICE lines. I passed the lovely town on Koblenz, which I kept telling myself I would visit properly (never did).The more north we went, the colder it became. From the sunny, misty banks of the southern Rhine it changed considerably by the time we got to Bonn as it was snowing there. Cologne was only about 10-15 minutes by train from Bonn so we had the same cold weather.
But none of that mattered! I alighted the train and arrived in a world of fancy dress, sweets, drunkards, and partying - all by a respectable 11am. I was very happy. The entire of Cologne station was filled with people completely pissed, looking stupid and fooling around. It was mental and I thought - "Now thats more like it!" Walking out of the station you are met by the amazing Gothic towers of the Cathedral. Nice!
I eventually found my friends, who were har d to find being dressed up, I was boring and had no costume sadly. We walked into the city centre to watch the parade where there were even more drunk silly looking people and cheesy German carnival music (which I have to admit I rather hate - every time I heard "Viva Colognia" since I turn into The Hulk and want to kill something.) The parade was big, lots of sweets were being thrown and it was an interesting show to see. I did have to keep ducki
ng some points to avoid getting concussion as there were some pretty big things being thrown from the carts. I don’t know why, but getting crushed at an event like this adds to the atmosphere too. Being shoved against the store of some anonymous German store added to the flavour of the carnival. The smell of the sweaty drunk people and getting bruises from elbows next to me (and not being able to see a damn thing because Germans are too tall!)
We watched the parade for about and hour and then decided that booze was a good plan as it all got a bit samey in the end. Everywhere you went you could buy beer, so we started chugging the beer down (since coming to Germany I started to drink beer even though I used to hate it, how odd!). We danced loads as there were a group of people just drumming tribal beats and much fun was had. When we got a bit drunk we thought it would be a good idea to try to find the rest of our friends and in order to do this we joined the precession and followed it down the street to avoid the crowds until the police ushered us off. Now thats hardcore!
In the evening we went to district near the university and hell it was amazing. The whole street is lined with cocktail bars and pubs all the way up to the university and catered especially for students (why couldn't Guildford be like this?!) , and we drank more beer and ended up in a bar (really small) but full of pissed students dancing to bad German pop, but being drunk we joined in the fun. Get lots of people in a small room and add alcohol = fun fun fun!
Around 8pm I had to get my train which was sad as I was just getting in the spirit. My friend came to the station to make sure I got on the right train and not to end up in Hamburg or Berlin. Travelling in a strange country on your own pissed out of your skull (worse than that actually – I was in the time when you start to sober up and your head really really hurts but reality still doesn’t make sense), I managed it back to Wixhausen on my own fine, how is beyond me.
ng some points to avoid getting concussion as there were some pretty big things being thrown from the carts. I don’t know why, but getting crushed at an event like this adds to the atmosphere too. Being shoved against the store of some anonymous German store added to the flavour of the carnival. The smell of the sweaty drunk people and getting bruises from elbows next to me (and not being able to see a damn thing because Germans are too tall!)We watched the parade for about and hour and then decided that booze was a good plan as it all got a bit samey in the end. Everywhere you went you could buy beer, so we started chugging the beer down (since coming to Germany I started to drink beer even though I used to hate it, how odd!). We danced loads as there were a group of people just drumming tribal beats and much fun was had. When we got a bit drunk we thought it would be a good idea to try to find the rest of our friends and in order to do this we joined the precession and followed it down the street to avoid the crowds until the police ushered us off. Now thats hardcore!
In the evening we went to district near the university and hell it was amazing. The whole street is lined with cocktail bars and pubs all the way up to the university and catered especially for students (why couldn't Guildford be like this?!) , and we drank more beer and ended up in a bar (really small) but full of pissed students dancing to bad German pop, but being drunk we joined in the fun. Get lots of people in a small room and add alcohol = fun fun fun!
Around 8pm I had to get my train which was sad as I was just getting in the spirit. My friend came to the station to make sure I got on the right train and not to end up in Hamburg or Berlin. Travelling in a strange country on your own pissed out of your skull (worse than that actually – I was in the time when you start to sober up and your head really really hurts but reality still doesn’t make sense), I managed it back to Wixhausen on my own fine, how is beyond me.
No comments:
Post a Comment