Kölle Alaaf!

If there is one thing I like, it's a parade and Köln's legendary Rosenmontag Zug did not disappoint. On Shrove Monday morning, Kyle and I got dressed up (I as a red-cheeked clown, he as an overgrown gnome) and took a train 20 minutes to downtown Köln.

Carnival is a big deal in the Rhine region. The Carnival season begins on the 11th of November at 11:11 am. Between then at its culmination on Rose Monday, there are parties, concerts, and parades. This site has more information on the history of Köln carnival, which originated in ancient Roman and Germanic traditions before merging with Catholicism. City officials long tried to put down the raucous celebrations, until it was institutionalized in 1823 with the founding of the "Festordende Kommittee" (festival organizing committee).

And organized it is! According to the official parade website, the parade is 7 km long, lasts 4 hours, counts on the participation of 10,200 official participants, 124 muscial bands, and 440 horses. During the course of the parade, 150 tons of candy is thrown to the crowd, along with over 300,000 small bouquets of roses.

There were over 50 different associations marching in the parade, some with hundreds of members marching. The biggest groups, dressed in early 19th century military uniforms, date back to the 1820s, when former city militias established themselves as official carnival societies. Many of the societies had large motorized floats from which the crowd was showered in candies and roses to our shouts of "Kamelle" (candy). There was some intense competition to get the treats, and not only from the children.


In addition to the uniformed and wigged paraders, there were also several floats from what appeared to be local trade unions with  satirical political content--Chancellor Merkel doing a handstand to reveal her thong, the emerging economies of the BRIC countries depicted as wise men bearing gifts. Some kicks were made at Germany's recently resigned President, Christian Wulf, and the Euro crisis was frequently referenced.

After about two hours, Kyle and I were cold and getting tired. Thinking the parade was nearing its end (a novice mistake), we headed back to Bonn. When we turned the TV on back at home, the parade in Köln was STILL GOING. We had missed the finale--when the three figures of carnival, the Virgin, the Farmer, and the Prince and his guard file by. We'll simply have to go again some year. As they say in the local Köln dialect, Kölle Alaaf!

Beuel Bound

The long anticipated Karneval season has swept through the Rhineland last weekend and took us for quite a colorful ride.  The main festivities kicked off last Thursday morning in a celebration known as Weiberfastnacht, or Washer women's day.  That morning I walked across the Kennedy bridge to view  the parade in the section of town called Beuel (pronounced something like 'boil').  Thousands of folks were dressed up in crazy costumes, drinking, laughing, and screaming for "kamelle" or sweets thrown from the parade floats.  The parade weaved through the main center and ended along the river at a stage pumping out endless cheesy, yet festive songs.  Traditionally, women dressed as laundry washers and maids would storm City Hall, harass the men, cut off their ties and plant a kiss on their cheeks.  It has evolved into a rebuttal to the male dominated Karneval proceedings during the rest of the week.  Sadly, the building was under renovation, so the women took to the stage and after many taunts, ousted the pirate-clad men.  It was great fun to see the Washer Princess seize the day, but by one o'clock I retreated from the rain and cold for the comforts of my apartment.  Plus, I knew I had to rest up for the big parties in the coming days.  More about that mayhem soon.

~Kyle

The 'Bonn' Voyage

A new year begins and we find ourselves in a new city.  Karen and I both agree that Berlin is one of the coolest cities we have ever visited.  There was still much to explore in the capital city, but we came here to experience Germany as a whole.  The big and small of it.  The people, the cities, the landscape, the food and wine.  Karen's work took us to the small city of Bonn, five hours Southwest of Berlin and nestled on the Rhein river.  Bonn is the former capital of Germany following WWII and grew into quite an international town.  It is home to a prestigious university that was a favorite among royalty, but it is most known as the birthplace of Beethoven!

As luck would have it, we found a cute little attic apartment in the center of town that looks over the Beethovenhaus.  Very inspirational.  Our place is small, but filled with sun all day long.  I am still marveling at the fact that every item (from dishes to doors) comes from IKEA.  We have always inherited so many types of furniture over the years it was simultaneously comforting/frightening to be living in a catalog set piece. I am proud to say that after a month in the apartment, I have only banged my head on the ceiling only a handful of times.  And for the first time in a decade, we have a big ol' TV, which will be a welcome distraction as I work from home.

We are excited to explore our new home and will keep you updated on our adventures.

~Kyle

Beethovenhaus from our window.

Proof that Karen does the dishes (once in a while).

The living/dining/kitchen/office/work-out/TV room.

New Years in Berlin

I'm always a fan of New Year's Eve.  Most folks think there is a lot of hype around the holiday, but I think it is an important one to observe.  Luckily, everyone and their brother in Berlin agrees with me and I was treated to one of my most memorable nights in the city.  I had been warned of the citywide celebrations on Silvester (or New Year's Eve) on many occasions during the time "between the years".  (A common German phrase regarding the period between Christmas and New Years).  Apparently, the local residents spend millions of Euros stockpiling powerful fireworks and then fire them off from every conceivable location at the stroke of midnight.

And so on the big night, Karen and I made our way through the city.  First we strolled down Unter den Linden to see the massive crowd partying at Brandenburger Tor, but the police barricades were a kilometer deep.  Fortunately, we were able to join some artist friends in the Northern part of the city called Wedding.  After a lovely meal where we wished each other einen guten Rutsch (a good slide) into the new year, our host rose to beat a large gong and ushered us, champagne in hand, to the balcony.  And as the church bells rang, the sky lit up with hundreds of huge explosions.  For over twenty minutes we stood in the cold, toasting each other and cheering on the colorful pyrotechnics launched in every direction including underneath us.  It was like a dozen 4th of July firework displays all at the same time.  We were amazed.

Like all good things, the celebrations slowly came to an end in the wee hours of the night and Karen and I tromped back through the bottles and burnt paper casing to eat our Berliner Pfannkuchen and get some rest.

~Kyle

Unter den Linden all lit up.

Ich bin ein Berliner.

A quiet Berlin Christmas

(Needless to say, we're a little behind here with the posting...New Year's resolution to recommit to the blog:)

As my job wrapped up and most of our friends headed home to visit family, Kyle and I settled in for a peaceful Christmas weekend. On Friday, we searched Berlin high and low for bagels for our favorite Christmas breakfast of bagels and lox. We finally got lucky at Barcomi’s, a bakery and deli opened by an American woman in the 90s. Next we headed to Kochhaus, a brilliant store that provides you with interesting recipes and sells you the exact amount of high quality ingredients you need to make them. We opted for some Guinea hens in a Madeira sauce for our Christmas Eve dinner.

On Christmas Eve we trekked through the rain to the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church to hear a concert of Bach freshly arranged by a very energetic organist. The excellent acoustics in the 1960s addition to the church made for a dramatic experience.

Few people were out and about as we traveled through the city on Christmas weekend and Berlin was uncharacteristically quiet. Speaking with our German friends, we learned that Christmas Eve and the two days following are usually spent with family and center around meals together (hey, that sounds familiar!). Kyle and I were both missing family that weekend, but lucked out to have a very nice Christmas dinner with some American friends in Berlin. 

The alter in the Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church on Christmas Eve

Prague

A few weeks ago Karen and I were able to spend a wonderful weekend in Prague.  We have heard from so many people that this was a must-see city and it's proximity to Berlin was almost too easy, so for my birthday we took a four hour train across the border to the Czech Republic. (Luckily, my passport was returned the night before we left after spending a month getting passed around the governmental visa departments.)  On advice from some friends, we booked a charming room at a small B&B called House at the Big Boot.  This family run hotel is in a perfect location and our balcony looked up to the Castle and various embassies.  Despite the sporadic rain all weekend, Karen and I wandered the curving cobblestone streets of Old town, toured the vast Prague Castle and it's many churches, drank fine Czech Pilsners and ate Trdelniks at the Christmas markets.  I fell in love with this magical city and enjoyed exploring the different neighborhoods.  The architecture of the city is a mash of Medieval and Modern with Gothic spires next to Cubist offices abutting Art Deco apartments and Art Nouveau cafes.  The main areas are best experienced on foot, so we logged many miles hunting for quirky sculptures from artist, David Cezny and visiting the former studio of pop-up master, Vojtech Kubasta.  To cap things off, on our final night we witnessed a bizarre adaptation of Faust performed by a local long-standing black light theater group.  This trip will truly remain one of the most memorable birthday gifts I have ever received.   Thank you Karen.

From Berlin to Nairobi

Giraffes at the Nairobi National Park

The first week in December I set off to Kenya with my German colleague Ute to attend a conference on the creative economy in Africa. The conference brought together creatives from over 30 African countries to discuss the state of the cultural and creative industries. I learned a great deal (if you’re curious to learn more about the creative economy check out this report, for more on the organization that convened the conference, click here). 

The cultural economy conference

 The conference was intense, but luckily Ute and I had a little time to explore. Nairobi was a bustling city with new constructions going up everywhere we turned. This rapid development is happening alongside extreme poverty, which we only caught glimpses of from position as conference attendees staying in a nice hotel in the wealthy part of time. 

Me and my colleague Ute in Nairobi

The highlight of our visit was a tour of the Nairobi National Park, which takes up 117 sq. km. just outside of the city center. Ute and I took a Land Cruiser tour along the park’s rugged roads and got to see all sorts of large animals—several types of antelope, giraffes, white and black rhinos, buffalo, gnus, and boars. Sadly, no lions.

Artist workshops at the GoDown Center in Nairobi

We also got to visit a really cool arts space in Nairobi, The GoDown Center. GoDown converted an old industrial space into offices and studios for nonprofit arts organizations, artists, dance and music companies, etc. It was impressive to see how this cluster of creative enterprises was beginning to reshape and revitalize Nairobi's industrial neighborhood.