Carnival in Cologne

Toward Germany

I am having a holiday of two weeks from work, one week behind by now and this week still left. No need to stress for the work, more time to see people and places and no need to wake up so early in the mornings. Though, last Saturday I had to wake up even earlier than on my work days. Because I was free for the whole weekend (compared to the normal weekends when I am working also on Saturday), we had planned to go for a weekend-trip with H. Our destination ended up to be Cologne in Germany because neither of us had ever been there before and because I knew some people living there nearby and they had promised to host if I ever came to Cologne. The most unfortunately, H got fever on Friday and decided to stay in France to rest. But since the train tickets were paid already, I woke up very early on Saturday morning to take a train at 6 a.m. through Belgium to my destination.

Karneval and sights in Köln

I had contacted my acquaintances beforehand and they told me that my timing to visit Cologne is good because they have "Karneval" there. I knew to expect people with costumes but I was still surprised by the amount of people who dressed up and the effort that many people had put on their costumes. I saw some costumes already at the central railway station and the more I walked the city and the later it got, the more I saw of them. But soon I realized that visiting Cologne at the carnival time had a downside as well. All the sights were closed. The big cathedral, other churches, all the museums... I could only admire them from outside.

The Cologne cathedral right next to the station.

So many people were dressed up already in the morning...

Gross St. Martin Church

The same church and some colorful houses of
the old town of Cologne.

Old town streets

The only sight that was open during the weekend was the Triangle skyscraper. I walked over the Hohenzollern Bridge and was surprised of the amount of love locks on its fence. I have only once before seen a bridge so full of those but the bridge in Paris is not even close as long as this one. And it really was the full length of the bridge's fence that was covered by locks.

Hohenzollern Bridge

The view from the Triangle skyscraper. All the other big churches
look like nothing compared to the huge Cathedral.

I was quite hungry already before the noon since I had my breakfast so early. I still wanted to find something more typical German than pizza or pasta, so when I noticed a restaurant with Wienerschnitzel on its menu, it was enough. The taste was not that interesting but the size was. Even though I was very hungry, it was impossible for me to finish it all.

The carnival getting more and more atmospheric

After the lunch I continued walking around in the town admiring the costumes and the happy atmosphere. There were some groups with identical dresses (I suppose those were for performances) but even the audience was something wonderful to see. Monks, nuns, clowns, movie and game characters and all kind of other colorful clothes... Especially when I reached Neumarkt - a square that had beer stands and some program going on - I was completely amazed!

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Getting showed around by my German acquaintances

In the afternoon my German acquaintances (from my previous visits in Germany when I joined a theological conference at my Finnish churches sister church) came to Cologne to greet me. We met at St. Maria im Kapitol church - which was closed as all the others - and continued walking around. They explained some history behind the carnival and told me about places and customs. They had not had lunch yet so we entered a typical German brewery where I tasted Weinschorle (=white wine mixed with soda) and Apfelstrudel (=apple strudel). The brewery had traditional ways to do things, too, and I was lucky to have local people to explain those for me. I would have had so many problems there if I was alone. Firstly, all the workers were men because in the old times only men were allowed to go to such places. And these men were not friendly toward the customers. If you were on their way while waiting for a table, they didn't kindly ask to make space. And when they took orders, there was no smiling, no thanking, but just writing the things on their paper and then leaving. Nor was there even asking the orders always. If you didn't order a drink right away, you soon got a beer in front of you, without any asking. If you come inside, you drink. And if you don't order the drink fast enough, you drink beer. And when you have an empty glass in front of you, they'll bring you another beer without asking and mark to your beer mat how many you have had. I was explained that if you don't want more drinks, you should place the beer mat on top of the glass. Wow, how hard it must be for the tourists who come to see the carnival!

St. Maria im Kapitol

Apfelstrudel und Weinschorle

Feeling like having some sausage?

Interesting architecture. Those buildings are called "crane houses".

Other towns in Germany

Early evening we left Cologne together and I joined my acquaintances at their friend's birthday party in Bonn. It was nice to socialize and dance there especially because my other plans were destroyed by H's flu and the closed places in Cologne. From Bonn we drove to a smaller village where I could stay overnight at my acquaintances (or maybe I could say 'friends' already at this point). The area was so nicely peaceful and in the morning I could enjoy the fresh smell of nature and the sound of birds. These are things I miss when living in Paris.

Sunday service with the sister church

I knew that my friends were going to Sunday service on Sunday morning, so I wanted to join them. It had been already a couple of months since I was able to participate physically in a service. But I was not aware where they would go to and therefore it was a nice surprise to hear that they would be driving to Steeden, to the same church that I had visited twice before. It meant that I would meet also other people that I know from my sister church. I was very happy to see them and they were happy (and some were very surprised) to see me, as well. Whenever I go there, I feel like being at home and I don't want to leave. After the Sunday service, everyone had a lunch together before returning home. And just like the previous times, I ate too much.

I got to taste something new German thing also in the church.
Malz drink was sweet and reminded me of something else,
though I don't know of what. Kotikalja..? Syrup..?

I was told to taste all the desserts...

Carnival parade

I got a lift back to Cologne from my hosts. We arrived there around 3 p.m. which meant that I had a couple of hours to go around before heading to the train. At first I was wondering where to go to since everything was still closed (because the carnival continued until Tuesday - which I don't understand how people can party like that for days in a row), but after reaching the streets nearby the big cathedral we saw a parade. My host told me that it's only an amateur parade since the main parade would be on the next day. Nevertheless, I stayed there to watch groups walking with colorful costumes, playing music and throwing candies and flowers. Some people - especially kids - were following the parade with big bags open for the candies. They must have gone home with a huge catch because even I got quite some souvenirs from there after a while of watching. Eventually I didn't have much of extra time to see new streets in Cologne because it was not the fastest day to reach even the railway station. So many streets were blocked due to the parade and every place was full of people.

Dominikanerkirche St. Ansdreas

I got candies and a rubber duck.

My trip to Cologne didn't start in the best way but it surely ended up to be worth of going. The weekend took my thoughts completely out of my everyday life in France and it was very refreshing to see the church members and it was very fun to see a real German carnival. They surely know how to party!