Colgone Carnival Madness

Carnival is celebrated to some degree in several countries throughout Europe and February is Carnival season.  But did you know that Carnival in Cologne, Germany is just as big and important Rio or Venice?  As a matter of fact, it's such an important event in this particular German region that it's considered the "5th season".  See Wikipedia blurb below:

The Cologne carnival is a carnival that takes place every year in Cologne, Germany. Traditionally, the "fifth season" (carnival season) is declared open at 11 minutes past 11 on the 11th of November. The Carnival spirit is then temporarily suspended during the Advent and Christmas period, and picks up again in earnest in the New Year. The time of merrymaking in the streets is officially declared open at downtown square Alter Markt on the Thursday before the beginning of Lent. Street carnival, a week-long street festival, also called "the crazy days", takes place between the Thursday (Women’s Carnival Day) before Rose Monday and ends on Ash Wednesday. All through these days, "kölner" folks go out masqueraded. The highlight of the carnival is Rosenmontag, which takes place on the Monday. The typical greeting during the festival is "Kölle Alaaf!", a Kölsch phrase which can be translated as "Cologne alive!"

Apparently, other regions in Germany either celebrate Carnival on a much smaller scale or don't celebrate it at all. 

Rick and I had the good fortune to attend Carnival in Cologne with our friends, Jessie and Hannes, who happen to be German.  While Hannes is from Bavaria, where Carnival is not celebrated, Jessie is from this region.  They were both able to give us some good insight on the tradition and significance of it all, however. 

So, the beer monk (Rick), the angry German farmer (Hannes), Lara Croft (Jessie) and a love bug (me) all ventured out for an evening of Carnival madness.  It was great fun getting dressed up in costume ourselves as well as seeing the variety of creative and crazy costumes that others came up with.  A lot of people seemd to go "all out".  There were also a lot of group costumes.  I hate to say it but I think this event puts Halloween to shame (and I love Halloween). 

The bars played mostly German folk songs that everyone sang and danced along to.  Jessie and Hannes did a good job translating the songs for us so that we would know what they were singing about.  We basically just copied the people around us and sang the parts that we could remember.

Champagne Tasting Chez Clark

Stephanie Clark had Elitza, Mariana, Ali and myself over for a fun evening where we tasted some of France's finest, ate some yummy food and chatted.

De Gans

Rick and I had another interesting beer experience at this beer cafe in East Flanders.  It's called "De Gans", which means "The Goose" in Flemish.  As you can see by the decor, the place stays true to its name.  De Gans is famous for a unique method of serving beer.  They stick some pokers in the fire until they are good and hot and then use the pokers to rapidly stir glasses of Chimay Rouge until they are nice and frothy.  This process carmelizes the beer and results in a sweet flavor that tastes like marshmallows.  This tradition is what piqued our interest in De Gans.

The Chimay Rouge was very good and we enjoyed watching the owner of the bar work with the hot pokers, but it was not the highlight of our visit.  The best part of the day was getting to chat with the her  (she and her husband have owned this bar for almost 30 years) and to try some aged beers that she recommended.  We were the only customers in the bar so we had her full attention.  Once she realized how passionate and knowledgeable Rick was about Belgian beer, she started pulling out "the good stuff".  We opened a few bottles of aged beer and she told us that we didn't have to pay for them if they were not good.   One of the beers we had was a Christmas beer from 1986....it was awesome!

In addition to the great beer, we also had a nice meal, followed by dessert pancakes, the bars other specialty.  This was an ideal place to wallow away a few hours on a cold, winter day.  Both the hospitality and the environment were warm and cozy.

Beer Warehouse and Aachen Christmas Market

Shannon, Ali, Reagan, Rick and I ventured out to this beer warehouse near Antwerp and then to Aachen, Germany for the Christmas market.  Rick was in heaven with so many beer choices at great prices!  The Christmas market was also fun.  We ate some of our favorites (potato pancakes and mushrooms in cream sauce) as well as some yummy German desserts.