Karneval

I'm sure you guys have heard of Karneval. It goes by many other names like Carneval or Mardi Gras. No matter what you call it, one thing is certain. Karneval is super fun. As you know, Karneval takes place before Lent and provides people with the opportunity to get a little crazy before they have to be good for Lent. In Germany it consists of people dressing up and drinking a lot. Karneval is celebrated all around Germany but it is really big in the state of Nordrhein-Westfalen so I headed to Nordrhein-Westfalen. I stayed in Düsseldorf with a participant who lives there. Düsseldorf is in Nordrhein-Westfalen and is super close to Köln where all the craziness happens. So, from the 17th to the 19th of February I basically wandered around Düsseldorf and Köln and made jolly with all the other people dressed up and having fun. It was a blast. It was like Oktoberfest but even better because everyone was dressed up and being silly. I really wanted to dress up as something unique and fun. I went to ebay.de and browsed the costumes they had until I found the perfect one. It was a Fliegenpilz costume. A Fliegenpilz is that red mushroom with white dots (toadstool). Germany is really big on the Fliegenpilz and you can find Fliegenpilz themed things everywhere in Germany. Side note, Fliegenpilz translates to "fly mushroom" and it is called so because way back when, people would take the cap of the mushroom and place it in a bowl of liquid where it would float. Flies would settle on the mushroom cap and get poisoned by it and die. So it was a very effective way to keep flies in the home at bay. Yay! I went to Karneval as a poisonous mushroom! It was a big hit and strangers wanted pictures with me. Seeing as Luigi and Mario were the most popular costumes at Karneval, I think it was very appropriate that I slightly resembled Toad from Super Mario Brothers...twins right?

 Some strangers who wanted their picture with me. As you may be able to see, it is common for the women to wear lipstick and cover people's faces with smooches.

I found another Fliegenpilz!

This was my costume for the last night. Just a "simple" mask while drinking some Altbier. Altbier is a dark beer that is regional to Düsseldorf. It is served in a tiny 0.3 liter serving size.