Leah arrived in Freiburg at two p.m. Friday. I saw her in the station and could hardly believe it. She finally arrived. After over a month of discovering this city by myself, I finally got to see what it was like with Leah. And she couldn’t have picked a better weekend. The week was karnival (carnival) week. The whole region of Baden-Württemberg went crazy.
Karnival is an annual week long pagan festival. It reminds me of Halloween because everyone dresses in crazy outfits which are meant to scare off the spirits of winter. There are two reasons for the holiday: first, to bring about an early spring (like groundhog’s day); second, it’s an opportunity to rebel against political leaders. The city of Koln was criticized last year for having a float that carried a naked sculpture of Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. Many thought that such an insult to Germany’s first female chancellor was too much, but stuff like that is common place in karnival celebrations.
The week of karnival began Thursday, but the first day of celebrations was only for women. It starts this way to give the people, women, who have been most traditionally oppressed the first chance to rebel. Any man that dared to wear a tie on Thursday probably had it cut off. In some cities, the ties that are cut off get strung across wires that hang from window to window for the remainder of Karnival. Everyone was allowed to celebrate and party on Thursday, but if a man wished to party, he had to dress in drag. For the record, I didn’t party on Thursday.
But I did party very early in the morning on Friday. Promptly, at midnight Friday morning, I went to a party across the hall on the same floor as my flat. The theme of this party was to go as you, thirty years from now. So everyone was supposed to wear business casual or, as the ladies often did, old lady dresses. I simply wore a work shirt and my brown corduroy pants. I thought about wearing a tie, but thought better of it. There might have been some crazy women runnin’ ‘round that still thought it was Thursday.
The party was a fun start to the karnival week. I was surprised to find another kid, Adam, from my IES-EU program. Adam was pulling an all nighter because his group, group C had to leave for Eastern Europe at seven Friday morning. My group, group A, didn’t leave for Western Europe until Monday.
A guy named Eric introduced himself to me and asked if I had ever been to Kansas. I told him that I had probably driven through Kansas at one point or another, but couldn’t remember a specific time or reason for being in Kansas. Well he said he had spent a year in high school in Kansas and, naturally, he was a fan of Jayhawk basketball. I asked him if he followed K-State at all, and whether he knew coach Jim Woolridge. He said he didn’t like K-State, because they’re rivals with Kansas, and he had never heard of coach. But he said he followed Kansas basketball very closely, so we decided to watch some games together come tourney time. I also learned that Freiburg actually has a semi-pro basketball team. Eric said he attends a few games a year, but he said they suck and it’s hard to watch. I definitely want to check it out – see for myself.
A study abroad student from Canada was also at the party. Shortly after talking to her I learned that she had crone’s disease. It was an interesting tidbit of info to learn about a person and make relatable to the personal experience of a loved one. We talked about that briefly and then about American-Canadian politics. President Obama made his first foreign visit last week to Canada. So that was interesting.
I left the party at about 2:30 in the morning and went to bed. I woke up at about 10:30, went grocery shopping and then to the train station to meet Leah.
We dropped Leah’s luggage off at my room. Leah was hungry I took her to a Uni-Kabab Turkish restaurant in the city center. The restaurant served good kababs (like a gyro) and cheap cheese pizza (only three euro!). It’s an odd restaurant. Its walls have pictures of Communist leaders, like Che and a guy that I swear looks like Mao, but Leah doesn’t think it’s Mao, and a map of Cuba – which is strange because I don’t think there’s a picture of Castro – but they make good and cheap fast food. After a late lunch we went to a little restaurant that over looked the city. The restaurant was classy, an old building with Victorian décor and classical portraits. From the view we could see the whole city and well into the black forest. The forest was dark against the gray sky and the city sat below very pale. We could not afford a meal there, but I really wanted to take Leah to the best view in Freiburg, so we both ordered beers – Leah’s first German beer – and shared a slice of cheese cake.
We stayed at the restaurant on top of the hill for a little over an hour, long outlasting our drinks and cake, and then left for my room. By the time dinner came around we weren’t really hungry so we decided to go into town and eat a pretzel and then to the bars.
Martin’s Brauer was Freiburg’s oldest brewery. It’s a classic. Martin’s was located in a cellar. Leah said that it reminded her of Cheers, the local pub where all the friends get together. They served traditional German food and brewed two different beers, a blonde and a dunkel (dark beer). We ordered a pitcher of dunkel which only costs us 8.10 E (in Paris a single beer will cost 6 or 7 E). Dunkel taste sweet and smooth. It is a very good beer.
A group of about a dozen people with faces painted pink, wearing Mexican sombreros and black conquistador type outfits, marched into the cellar and started playing marching band type of jazz music. It was outrageous. They completely surrounded the table that was next to ours and played for about fifteen minutes. They had all the instruments of a typical marching band. The trombone and bass drum players stood closest to us. At the end of their performance they were given free beers. They then mingled with the folks around the bar. Just moments before they had arrived Leah said that she would like to see some live music. She was disappointed that she had not seen any live performances in Paris yet. And then, right here in little old Freiburg, we get a free and unexpected show.
We were almost done with our pitcher when Leah had to go to the restroom. She was gone for a little longer than a usual use of the facilities should take. I was starting to get worried, but then she came back with a smile on her face. She then explained that she got lost and ended up going down the wrong hallway after using the restrooms. It turns out that a few bars are connected and use the same restrooms. She accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up walking into another bar. In that bar a live band was playing classic rock music. We finished our drinks a few minutes later and paid for our drink and went to bar with the classic rock music.
All the folks in the bar were at least 35, and most were about 50. The music was good though so we decided to stay. The band was called “The Liverpool Beats.” They played everything from surf music to the Rolling Stones.
Our true Karnival week experience took place on Saturday.
We woke up at about ten o’clock. I made Leah and me some eggs and bratwurst. We also had an apple and then went into town for a pastry.
I wanted to show Leah around the city a bit, but we ended up getting swept away by a small parade. Hundreds, maybe a thousand people, were marching to a location near the city center. Groups of about a dozen people played music. These small bands played joyful jazz tunes. Beer was sold from small stands. Pastries and bratwurst were available at similar venders. Some of the costumes people wore were ridiculous: pirates, Native Americans, colonial wear, but the most common costume was an outfit that looked like a person who was tarred and feathered. These people also wore scary masks. I think it was some sort of traditional karnival costume meant to scare away the evil winter spirits.
All the bands had their time to play. Some were good, others were nicht so gut. We left the karnival festivities eventually and went to the Munster. It is a beautiful cathedral built in the gothic era. We spent some time there and ended up getting swept away by more karnival activities. That was pretty much how we spent the afternoon.
I cooked Leah some of my famous bratwurst and spaghetti dinner (yes, I eat bratwurst with almost every meal). Leah brought me some salted-butter from France (Germany doesn’t put any salt in its butter!) and it made my masterpiece dish even better. We drank some wine with dinner, the meal was perfect.
We went out that night to Aspek café. Aspek is a hip little café near the city center. After that we went to Art Café, another hip place, but the food and drink was too expensive. It was right next door to the Turkish place we ate at the day before, so we decided to go there. We split a pizza and a beer.
The next morning we woke up very late, around noon, showered and such and then went into town to eat some cheap Chinese food. It took us a long time to figure out what the Hell the Chinese food menu said in German, but eventually we ordered. I had some beef concoction and Leah had their chicken concoction.
Leah left at four p.m. Sunday. It was sad to see her go, but I’ll be in Paris on Thursday with my IES-EU program so it won’t be too long until we discover more of Europe together.
After seeing Leah off, I went into town to see about purchasing a phone card (I’m almost out of minutes). The store I needed to go to was closed for Sunday, but the streets were even more crowded with Karnival activities. It’s almost becoming too much!
I returned to my room and wrote this, which has become quite lengthy.
Off to Luxemburg tomorrow,
Karnival is an annual week long pagan festival. It reminds me of Halloween because everyone dresses in crazy outfits which are meant to scare off the spirits of winter. There are two reasons for the holiday: first, to bring about an early spring (like groundhog’s day); second, it’s an opportunity to rebel against political leaders. The city of Koln was criticized last year for having a float that carried a naked sculpture of Angela Merkel, Germany’s chancellor. Many thought that such an insult to Germany’s first female chancellor was too much, but stuff like that is common place in karnival celebrations.
The week of karnival began Thursday, but the first day of celebrations was only for women. It starts this way to give the people, women, who have been most traditionally oppressed the first chance to rebel. Any man that dared to wear a tie on Thursday probably had it cut off. In some cities, the ties that are cut off get strung across wires that hang from window to window for the remainder of Karnival. Everyone was allowed to celebrate and party on Thursday, but if a man wished to party, he had to dress in drag. For the record, I didn’t party on Thursday.
But I did party very early in the morning on Friday. Promptly, at midnight Friday morning, I went to a party across the hall on the same floor as my flat. The theme of this party was to go as you, thirty years from now. So everyone was supposed to wear business casual or, as the ladies often did, old lady dresses. I simply wore a work shirt and my brown corduroy pants. I thought about wearing a tie, but thought better of it. There might have been some crazy women runnin’ ‘round that still thought it was Thursday.
The party was a fun start to the karnival week. I was surprised to find another kid, Adam, from my IES-EU program. Adam was pulling an all nighter because his group, group C had to leave for Eastern Europe at seven Friday morning. My group, group A, didn’t leave for Western Europe until Monday.
A guy named Eric introduced himself to me and asked if I had ever been to Kansas. I told him that I had probably driven through Kansas at one point or another, but couldn’t remember a specific time or reason for being in Kansas. Well he said he had spent a year in high school in Kansas and, naturally, he was a fan of Jayhawk basketball. I asked him if he followed K-State at all, and whether he knew coach Jim Woolridge. He said he didn’t like K-State, because they’re rivals with Kansas, and he had never heard of coach. But he said he followed Kansas basketball very closely, so we decided to watch some games together come tourney time. I also learned that Freiburg actually has a semi-pro basketball team. Eric said he attends a few games a year, but he said they suck and it’s hard to watch. I definitely want to check it out – see for myself.
A study abroad student from Canada was also at the party. Shortly after talking to her I learned that she had crone’s disease. It was an interesting tidbit of info to learn about a person and make relatable to the personal experience of a loved one. We talked about that briefly and then about American-Canadian politics. President Obama made his first foreign visit last week to Canada. So that was interesting.
I left the party at about 2:30 in the morning and went to bed. I woke up at about 10:30, went grocery shopping and then to the train station to meet Leah.
We dropped Leah’s luggage off at my room. Leah was hungry I took her to a Uni-Kabab Turkish restaurant in the city center. The restaurant served good kababs (like a gyro) and cheap cheese pizza (only three euro!). It’s an odd restaurant. Its walls have pictures of Communist leaders, like Che and a guy that I swear looks like Mao, but Leah doesn’t think it’s Mao, and a map of Cuba – which is strange because I don’t think there’s a picture of Castro – but they make good and cheap fast food. After a late lunch we went to a little restaurant that over looked the city. The restaurant was classy, an old building with Victorian décor and classical portraits. From the view we could see the whole city and well into the black forest. The forest was dark against the gray sky and the city sat below very pale. We could not afford a meal there, but I really wanted to take Leah to the best view in Freiburg, so we both ordered beers – Leah’s first German beer – and shared a slice of cheese cake.
We stayed at the restaurant on top of the hill for a little over an hour, long outlasting our drinks and cake, and then left for my room. By the time dinner came around we weren’t really hungry so we decided to go into town and eat a pretzel and then to the bars.
Martin’s Brauer was Freiburg’s oldest brewery. It’s a classic. Martin’s was located in a cellar. Leah said that it reminded her of Cheers, the local pub where all the friends get together. They served traditional German food and brewed two different beers, a blonde and a dunkel (dark beer). We ordered a pitcher of dunkel which only costs us 8.10 E (in Paris a single beer will cost 6 or 7 E). Dunkel taste sweet and smooth. It is a very good beer.
A group of about a dozen people with faces painted pink, wearing Mexican sombreros and black conquistador type outfits, marched into the cellar and started playing marching band type of jazz music. It was outrageous. They completely surrounded the table that was next to ours and played for about fifteen minutes. They had all the instruments of a typical marching band. The trombone and bass drum players stood closest to us. At the end of their performance they were given free beers. They then mingled with the folks around the bar. Just moments before they had arrived Leah said that she would like to see some live music. She was disappointed that she had not seen any live performances in Paris yet. And then, right here in little old Freiburg, we get a free and unexpected show.
We were almost done with our pitcher when Leah had to go to the restroom. She was gone for a little longer than a usual use of the facilities should take. I was starting to get worried, but then she came back with a smile on her face. She then explained that she got lost and ended up going down the wrong hallway after using the restrooms. It turns out that a few bars are connected and use the same restrooms. She accidentally took a wrong turn and ended up walking into another bar. In that bar a live band was playing classic rock music. We finished our drinks a few minutes later and paid for our drink and went to bar with the classic rock music.
All the folks in the bar were at least 35, and most were about 50. The music was good though so we decided to stay. The band was called “The Liverpool Beats.” They played everything from surf music to the Rolling Stones.
Our true Karnival week experience took place on Saturday.
We woke up at about ten o’clock. I made Leah and me some eggs and bratwurst. We also had an apple and then went into town for a pastry.
I wanted to show Leah around the city a bit, but we ended up getting swept away by a small parade. Hundreds, maybe a thousand people, were marching to a location near the city center. Groups of about a dozen people played music. These small bands played joyful jazz tunes. Beer was sold from small stands. Pastries and bratwurst were available at similar venders. Some of the costumes people wore were ridiculous: pirates, Native Americans, colonial wear, but the most common costume was an outfit that looked like a person who was tarred and feathered. These people also wore scary masks. I think it was some sort of traditional karnival costume meant to scare away the evil winter spirits.
All the bands had their time to play. Some were good, others were nicht so gut. We left the karnival festivities eventually and went to the Munster. It is a beautiful cathedral built in the gothic era. We spent some time there and ended up getting swept away by more karnival activities. That was pretty much how we spent the afternoon.
I cooked Leah some of my famous bratwurst and spaghetti dinner (yes, I eat bratwurst with almost every meal). Leah brought me some salted-butter from France (Germany doesn’t put any salt in its butter!) and it made my masterpiece dish even better. We drank some wine with dinner, the meal was perfect.
We went out that night to Aspek café. Aspek is a hip little café near the city center. After that we went to Art Café, another hip place, but the food and drink was too expensive. It was right next door to the Turkish place we ate at the day before, so we decided to go there. We split a pizza and a beer.
The next morning we woke up very late, around noon, showered and such and then went into town to eat some cheap Chinese food. It took us a long time to figure out what the Hell the Chinese food menu said in German, but eventually we ordered. I had some beef concoction and Leah had their chicken concoction.
Leah left at four p.m. Sunday. It was sad to see her go, but I’ll be in Paris on Thursday with my IES-EU program so it won’t be too long until we discover more of Europe together.
After seeing Leah off, I went into town to see about purchasing a phone card (I’m almost out of minutes). The store I needed to go to was closed for Sunday, but the streets were even more crowded with Karnival activities. It’s almost becoming too much!
I returned to my room and wrote this, which has become quite lengthy.
Off to Luxemburg tomorrow,
Cheers!
You forgot the part about how I almost missed the train, and had to pry the doors open to get on!
ReplyDeleteBrett,
ReplyDeleteHow has it been? We have been to Kansas. We stayed in a Holiday Inn in Wyatts. They had Mini-Golf and a lot of bugs.
What did the girl from Canada say about Chron's.
See ucr won 15-10. My IM team is 4-1 should win on tuesaday and be 5-1 going in to playoffs.
Hope all is well Bro
Kyle Richard Lewis