weiberfastnacht

yesterday was weiberfastnacht, the first day of karneval, a massive pre-lenten bacchanal on a scale (at least as practiced in cologne) to rival mardi gras in new orleans. my buddy tasho tells me that by about 10 am on weiberfastnacht, everyone in cologne is typically out on the streets dressed in fabulous costumes and partying away! and the scene here in bonn is nothing to turn your nose up at, either. sadly, p's back has taken a big turn for the worse this past week, so we were unable to partake in any of the revelry yesterday (though there's still the whole weekend ahead -- let's hope she's fast on the mend). here's a little rundown of what i saw on the streets yesterday.

11:00 -- i headed into mpi and the streets had kind of an eerie feel to them -- not a lot of people about and many businesses were closed, like on a sunday. but of the people who were out, a good portion were costumed and obviously excited for action.

1:00 -- first notable public drunkenness sighting: a young-ish guy stumbling along the sidewalk, jabbering on a cell phone and careening into various cars parked on the curb.

3:00 -- a line of revelers waiting to get into a party at one of bonn's restaurants.it's not really clear in the picture, but most of the people in line were middle-aged! i love that about this place -- it seems like in the u.s., things like this are only for the young, but everyone gets in on the act here.

6:00 -- while walking from the university back to mpi, two 8-ish-year-old girls boldly stopped me in the street and asked me something (i have no idea what -- it was in german, right), so i told them that regrettably i don't speak any german and continued on my way. only after a few paces i heard them muttering "aynglish" amongst themselves, and then a third girl yelled out to ask if i speak english, so i turned around and said i did. we had the following conversation.
girl: where are you from?
me: i'm american.
girl (who was wearing these fabulous movie star glasses, no less): i live in hollywood.
me: oh wow, i've never been there.
girl: do you bekannte justin timberlake? (at least i think that's what she said -- this is supposed to be amusing because "bekannte" is the german word for acquaintance.)
me: no, i've never met him.
girl: my dad is 50 cent.
me: you must be very proud.
girl flashes a look at her friends indicating she doesn't know what this means, then gives me a big grin to make like she's in on the joke.

7:30 -- i headed home from mpi. still not a ton of people out, but more than earlier in the day. still, the city had this weird anarchic, post-apocalyptic feel to it. and the place was trashed! garbage, broken bottles, you name it, littered all over the streets. (but amazingly, everything seemed to be cleaned up this morning.) the costumes were out in full force now -- soldiers, dinosaurs, angels, random pink glittery things. i passed by a big drum circle on the way -- everyone was wearing these crazy coordinated shiny green costumes and, you guessed it, there wasn't a soul over 35. we sure hope to get some pictures later this weekend!