Tuesday, February 16, 2010

Fasching's Parade

Both our coffee machines at work gave out this month so we HAD to go buy another machine. Corinnea and I decided on a whim to go downtown today after we picked up Ethan from kindergarten. We got downtown and the street the parking lot is on was blocked by firetrucks. After we parked somwhere else we came up to the street and found this!

I couldn't believe that we walked right into the Stuttgart Fasching Parade! I've never even seen one and we found ourselves at the beginning of the parade on a perfect street corner. And then who should come along in a horse drawn carriage? The Garrison Commander and Command Sergeant Major! I don't know if they recognized us, but they did throw us extra candy! When I get the pictures from Corinnea's camera I'll update the slide show. But it's really just more of the same... witches and goblins and marching bands! :) For those of you who don't know, Fasching is the German version of Mardi Gras. In this area the history of the event is more like Halloween than the Catholic version of Mardi Gras. The theme is driving out the evil spirits of winter. But it's still about indulging before Lent, which of course starts tomorrow.

We did finally buy a coffee machine... and it made us very happy! :)

4 comments:

Thorngren said...

Did you miss the one in Weil Der Stadt? Hopefully not. We went every year,so much fun!!!!

Corinnea said...

When I got home and said to You know who, know how we said we'd never seen a Fasching parade? He just had to laugh. I'l get those photos to you.

Jennifer said...

um...6 years and I've never see one in person either. How is that?? I'm glad you had a nice break from work yesterday while we were slaving away..we weren't. It was calm:) I just might make coffee for other with this new machine. Maybe...it's a new day!

Mary A. said...

Ohhh, new machine! I wont be missing work Thursday.

I've been lucky to see a lot of Fashing parades here and in Belgium. The German masks really scared me as a kid, but I sure loved the Berliners.