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Last Sunday was Carnival in Braunschweig, and I had been hearing about how great it was all week. Honestly, I didn’t expect too much from a small city like Braunschweig, yet I was told by numerous people that it was one of the biggest parades in Germany. Well, it lived up to what I had been told, and certainly didn’t disappoint. Sunday morning at 12:00, Ray and I walked a few bahn stops down from where the parade was supposed to begin, as all of the roads had been blocked off. I was surprised right away by the sheer number of people….more people than I have probably ever seen before, as far down the street as was visible. And, this parade route stretched 6 kilometers to the city center, so we were not even in the busiest or most popular area! Still, on every corner, booths were set up selling beer, bratwurst, and kabobs.
The parade was scheduled to start at 12:40, and believe it or not, as soon as my watch said 12:40, the first float was on its way. All of the floats were extremely elaborate….nothing like I have ever seen before other than on TV for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. All together, I heard that there were over 50 bands and 400 floats. The atmosphere was pretty neat, and we were just about the only ones not dressed up. Little kids were running around dressed as Indians, pirates, and super heroes….and even most of the adults were in full costume! Everyone was certainly happy! All of the kids ran around with pillowcase-sized bags, trying to get armfuls of candy and toys. Many of the adults participated as well. The floats weren’t only throwing hard candy like you’d normally see, but full sized candy bars, bags of chips, stuffed animals, T-shirts, calendars, gift certificates, bottles of wine, and toys of all kinds. One float was even handing out small bratwursts, while the baker’s float tossed freshly baked buns. After an hour, almost every kid had a full bag! We ended up staying over 3 hours, until nearly 4:00, but finally decided to head home. Unbelievably, the parade was still going, and it didn’t look like the end was near. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and we had a beautiful day….I’m not jealous of all that snow you guys are having back home!
Later on that night, at about 11:00, a huge group of us all met at Barnaby’s Blues Bar to watch the Superbowl. The owner lived in Chicago for 40 years, and has an American sports channel. It was a great time, but things didn’t turn out how most of us would have liked them. Enough said with that. Oh, well. The Celtics have been on a tear, and the Sox are already reporting to Spring Training. We have a lot to look forward too!
The parade was scheduled to start at 12:40, and believe it or not, as soon as my watch said 12:40, the first float was on its way. All of the floats were extremely elaborate….nothing like I have ever seen before other than on TV for the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade. All together, I heard that there were over 50 bands and 400 floats. The atmosphere was pretty neat, and we were just about the only ones not dressed up. Little kids were running around dressed as Indians, pirates, and super heroes….and even most of the adults were in full costume! Everyone was certainly happy! All of the kids ran around with pillowcase-sized bags, trying to get armfuls of candy and toys. Many of the adults participated as well. The floats weren’t only throwing hard candy like you’d normally see, but full sized candy bars, bags of chips, stuffed animals, T-shirts, calendars, gift certificates, bottles of wine, and toys of all kinds. One float was even handing out small bratwursts, while the baker’s float tossed freshly baked buns. After an hour, almost every kid had a full bag! We ended up staying over 3 hours, until nearly 4:00, but finally decided to head home. Unbelievably, the parade was still going, and it didn’t look like the end was near. It turned out to be a lot of fun, and we had a beautiful day….I’m not jealous of all that snow you guys are having back home!
Later on that night, at about 11:00, a huge group of us all met at Barnaby’s Blues Bar to watch the Superbowl. The owner lived in Chicago for 40 years, and has an American sports channel. It was a great time, but things didn’t turn out how most of us would have liked them. Enough said with that. Oh, well. The Celtics have been on a tear, and the Sox are already reporting to Spring Training. We have a lot to look forward too!
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