Fasching is the German term for Mardi Gras. Germany has three cities known for their huge celebrations and this year Justin and I decided to go to the party in Mainz. The USO in Kaislerslautern (army/air force base about 40 minutes away) was hosting a trip which meant we wouldn't even have to drive! After about an hour on the bus, "listening" to the history lesson the tour guide decided we needed to have at 7:30 in the morning we arrived in Mainz. The parade started at 11:11am so we had plenty of time to explore and figure out the best place to watch the parade. After much debate, mainly about where we would be closest to food and drinks, we picked the drink tent right next to the grandstand. Perfect place to keep refilling our
gluhwein cups, the only thing keeping us warm in the below freezing weather!
Thousands of people flooded the city and everyone was dressed up, it was like halloween with even crazier costumes! The parade lasted four hours... There were political floats, horses, marching bands, costumes and even a giant polar bear. Everyone was throwing out candy, toys, confetti shot out of canons and I'm pretty sure I even caught a sham-wow. The street carnival was a blast, complete with delicious food. There is no better carnival food than bratwurst cooked on an open fire in a warm bun. Yum, I am getting hungry just thinking about it. We took a break from the festivities in an attempt to warm up and found a little hole in the wall diner called
Bugerlanden, the only decent burger I have in had in Germany.
After the parade we went out on our own to explore the city. Mainz is most famous for being the home town of Gutenberg. We found the ruins from the church he was baptized in as well as the remains of the building where Gutenberg printed the first bible. Unfortunately most of the cities famous attractions were closed off to the public to save them from possible destruction in the four day fasching celebration. The police were out in full force and the EMT were well prepared, for good reason because the celebration gets out of control crazy!
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| The memorial ruins of the church where Gutenberg was baptized. |
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| What is left of the building where Gutenberg printed the first bible. |
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| EMT preparation |
We slept the entire way back to Kaiserslautern, it was an exhausting but amazing experience and we can not wait till next year!
Fasching is the German term for Mardi Gras. Germany has three cities known for their huge celebrations and this year Justin and I decided to go to the party in Mainz. The USO in Kaislerslautern (army/air force base about 40 minutes away) was hosting a trip which meant we wouldn't even have to drive! After about an hour on the bus, "listening" to the history lesson the tour guide decided we needed to have at 7:30 in the morning we arrived in Mainz. The parade started at 11:11am so we had plenty of time to explore and figure out the best place to watch the parade. After much debate, mainly about where we would be closest to food and drinks, we picked the drink tent right next to the grandstand. Perfect place to keep refilling our gluhwein cups, the only thing keeping us warm in the below freezing weather!
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