An American...in Mannheim?: Fashing

The parade on Sunday was on a beautiful day in Mannheim (sunny!), and just a bit chilly... but I was really cold by the time the 80th float went by. They have little booths set up all over town (carousels and little driving games...as well as lots of bratwurst and drink stands) There were lots of people dressed up, and even the bus schedules were different. It was the one time I was glad I live so far away...because the buses were full when we got close to town. :)

Game booth

Even though this is a festival, beer is still given out in glasses. You just pay around a 2e "Pfand" (deposit) that you can get back if you bring the glass back...or you have a glass for 2e. Your choice.

Lots of these stands all over...personally, I think the farm animals are a nice touch :)

Ferris Wheel by the Wasserturm! (Where I watched the parade...and got candy!)

It was cold, but a lot of people worked around that with their costumes. The music playing was also quite eclectic...I think I've heard more Michael Jackson (and seen more people dressed up as him) than I have ever heard in Florida. But you had a Michael Jackson song, followed by the "better shape up because I need a man" song from Grease (but all in German...it was a horrible version), followed by some traditional German song, followed by the YMCA. Weird.

One of the most different things was the amount of people on the float that were drinking. I thought sometimes they were going to splash the crowd with wine from their wine bottles instead of candy! (Although some people did have nice glasses...classy, I admit)

How can you have Karnvaal without people watching from a balcony?

There were also a lot of little kids dressed up as lions...they even had a float with all these kids dressed as lions...locked in a cage. I couldn't get a good angle on that float (I thought at first they were mannequins until I saw one kid move) but here is some little kid in his nice and warm costume!