gotta love germans!

so i didnt spend long in the city museum, maybe like 2 hours because andy left work to come meet me at some busy square in the city center. so i walked over there and i kept calling him and saying ok i think i am here but i dont see you...and he was saying "no go here" blah blah but i didnt see it so i ended up leaving that square and getting all lost but after 10 min i finally found him, he was across the street the whole time lol. so then he took me on a little tour of that main city center area. we were on konig strasse (king street) which is the name shopping mecca of dusseldorf, equivalent to 5 th ave. the street was actually very wide, with a pond in the middle, so like park ave how it was divided by something in the middle of the street. that pond had a very pretty neptune fountain, which is apparently famous according to andy. so anyway we are walking down this street, and we pass an abercrombie and fitch store, which i was a bit surprised to see all the way in germany, i didnt know that it had global appeal. so being that andy works in the marketing department of his company, he says to me "this company is very smart about how they market themselves" and i say why? and he points to the front door, and there was a scantily clad sexy model there standing outside, with lots of ladies around him taking photos with him! i was like "wow, its making me want to shop there, and i hate that store!!" i didnt know whether i should go take a pic with him, or give him a winter jacket. but anyway we continued on. after a short while we started walking to his car because we had to go pick up sophie from her music lesson and then we were going out to eat. So we are talking about australia and everyone from there. he was telling me about how andre is in hiedelberg and connie is looking for a job in berlin etc etc. so i asked him several times to tell me the story of how him and Sophie met but he kept avoiding the question whenever i mentioned it, so i think maybe he forgot lol. So anyway we go to the car, he pulls out the gps to go to the ladys apt where sophie is for her lesson, but the gps "Roberta" is having trouble finding the signal. He keeps talking to her like she is a real person saying "Hello roberta, wake up, can you take us to Sophie now?" Lol so roberta eventually guided us and we got there a bit early so we sat in the car and waited. He asked if i had any photos on my phone of michael so i went on fb and showed him the latest ones we were tagged in together like from the end of the term, graduation and Christmas. He said he approved and michael was very good looking! :-) so a little later sophie came out and then we went back into the center, the pedestrianized area with lots of shops, bars and restaurants and went to a restaurant there. Because the menu was in german i needed their help in telling me what there was to choose from. So they said there was a veggie burger but some of the things it came with on the side they didnt know what they were. So when the waiter came around they spoke German together and i said i didnt speak German and he said he didn't speak English very well but he wasn't particularly friendly about it. so andy asked (in german) what came the veggie burger and i dont know what the waiter said but andy told me it was meat. Im like thats dumb! So i saw there was a veggie wrap and so i asked the waiter "is this vegetarian" and he said "obviously" in an obnoxious way. I didnt say anything but i wanted to be like "well obviously veggie burgers are vegetarian too!" Andy and sophie paid for my meal (i was supposed to pay them back but i forgot to give them money when we got back to their place) so i dont actually know if they left a generous tip (i clearly wouldn't have!) But they agreed he was unnecessarily rude to me. So anyway we were at the restaurant for a while, it was actually an American chain, something along the lines of chillis, but ive forgotten now. So sophid told me she also takes german night classes, even though she is nearly fluent! I said wow you are so busy!! And then they said 1 night a week they both take salsa lessons, which was sparked by our nights out in Sydney. I was like wow how do you guys have time for everything!? Props to them.  So at one point while we were having dinner, we hear a marching band parading down the street. old town area where i was earlier. I forgot to mention in the previous post that i saw a really funny outdoor urinal that was like a body capsule you go into and pee in private but the image on the outside was of a giant naked boy baby peeing. Europeans have such a great sense of humor! That would never ever happen in the usa, well we would need to realize the necessity for public toilets first!! But yeah its nighttime by now so the urinal is lit up so the giant naked baby is glowing and it just looked so great! I wonder if the light from the inside creates a silhouette on the capsule so that us on the outside can kinda see what is going on inside!? Ok anyway, so andy and i are in this aldstadt srea and there is a marching band stomping through and a relatively small crowd of people following them. they stop at some point in the square and continue playing their instruments. after the little show is over there is a proclamation from a balcony of what i think was the town hall, but obviously that was in german so i had no idea what he was saying, but andy was translating as he was going along. basically it was the official closing speech of karneval. then everyone cheered and started shouting something related to karnval, not alaaf but i guess a more localized term. and with that, there was no more karneval! i was sad to see it go! ok the night continues in the next entry!

official last day of celebrating

so continuing on with my stressed ride to dusseldorf..they lived about 5 miles outside of the center in a bit of a residential community. there building was very confusing to find, and google couldnt really locate it. they lived in a complex of tall apt buildings with traffic free (and im assuming bike free but oh well!) walkways connecting them all. i called andy and he gave me directions on how to get to the building. i had to carry lance up an initial flight of steps (again with difficulty as the back was so bottom heavy) but then he went in the elevator up to the apt. finally arrived at andy and sophies at 9:30 pm! i had texted them when i left svens to say i was going to be about 3 hours and i was right on the button. so they had eaten without me which i of course dont blame them, but they saved me some food. so they sat down with me while i ate and we had a proper catch up since the parade was too busy and hectic and not to mention noisy, so we really couldnt chat. andy was working for a marketing type company and i forgot what sophie was doing but her german was really good although she was taking a class 1 night a week. after dinner they showed me to my room, which was the computer room, and they set up the futon for me. i hadnt planned my sightseeing for the next day, so they whipped out all these maps of the city center and where showing me how to take the bus to the center and things to see. then i took a shower. when i got out, we chatted some more, i forgot how long they said they were living in dusseldorf, but it wasnt too long. they showed me their photo books they had printed. the one of the US was cool, that was the trip where i met up with them in times square in august 2011. so they printed a pic of a usa map with a route drawn on it. they flew to california and rented a car and drove around the west coast. they spent a lot of time in the west actually. they went to places that ive only dreamed about going, and im the american!! sad how that works..they went to redwood national park, joshua tree and yosemite. they went to vegas and the grand canyon. they had some lovely beach and coast photos! sophie made a joke about how there were lots of hot young guys on the beach, and andy said something about how he didnt notice any other girls on the beach because sophie is the only one for him. i thought that was incredibly sweet! so while we are going through the album i get a call from michael. i didnt check in with him and this was quite a late time for me to be arriving so he was concerned. but i told him i arrived not too long ago and was safe =) when we hung up, a&s were asking about him so i said he was english, works for rspb, met him at leeds etc etc. they said they were very happy for me =) so then  we continued through the album, they took a lot of pics of things that i normally dont think to take pics of. like road signs, the meals i have, random things like that. on their own the pics would seem pointless, but together in the album, i think it added a fun element to it. in the nyc section, they had pictures of cop cars, fire trucks, fed ex trucks, one way signs etc. i thought that was quite funny because im so used to it but they said they see those things all the time in so many movies based in ny, but to see it in person was so magical. i didnt really see it that way lol but then again, i felt the same way about the iconic red double decker buses in london (which i still havent ridden but anyway!). so still in the ny section i saw pics of me and when i was with them that night =) i was happy to have made it into the album! so after looking through that it was time for bed, because they had to be up mega early for work in the morning. i went on the computer for a little bit, looking up stuff to do for the following day and skyping with michael. but then i finally went to bed.
tues feb 21: so a&s had already left for work by the time i got up but they left me some cereal and breakfast food. we had made plans the night before to meet for dinner so i didnt bring lance. andy had given me directions to the bus stop through their pedestrian walk ways that led to the street but i got lost. i eventually found the main street and the bus came within 20 min. i was really missing lance because i did not want to wait for that long at like 8:30 am, if i had known the schedule, i would have just slept for 20 min longer. but once it came, the ride wasnt too long, and i got off in the altstadt (old city), like near the market square. it wasnt too busy at this time of morning. i went to the tourist info and got a map and a little free guide book. and saw there was a museum called haus des karnevals (cologne and dusseldorf are rival cities for hosting karneval events..like glasgow and edinburgh for hogmanay! cologne = edinburgh. so i figured since the karneval museum was closed when i was there, i would check out this one. so i went in but it was more like the office for the karneval organizing committee with some costumes and memorabilia upstairs. when i walked in i asked the lady if i could walk around because the ground floor was like a reception. she said yes but didnt seem too friendly. so i went upstairs and saw all the stuff. they had pictures of some of the floats from previous parades. a lot of them were political humor, negative things about george bush. it really gave me an idea of the stuff that i missed when i was at the cologne parade because i couldnt see the floats too well at all, except for the one i saw when nathan lifted me up. the costumes looked really fab too. so as i was looking around, an older man who worked there came upstairs with a family sized group and was chatting away in german, so im assuming he was giving them a tour of the collection. i wish i knew what he was saying =( so when he was done with that and they left, he asked me something in german, probably "can i help you with something?" and i said "i dont speak german" and he said "oh..no english." so there went my tour. but after i saw the small collection i realized i didnt have a souvenir of carnival. i remember when i left a&s at the train station there was a souvenir shop in the station with carrnival stuff but i figured it would be overpriced so i thought i would have other opportunities with cheaper souvenir shops, but i never did get the chance, so i figured it was now or never. but my problem was how do i ask this guy if they sell them!? so i whipped out my trusty google translate and typed in carnival memorabilia. whatever it came back as in german, he had no idea what i was asking. so i tried again with like "carnival type items." and showed it to him, he then reads it and goes, "oh souvenirs!" and im like yeah! then i thought to myself, why didnt i think of that word in the first place!? but i was surprised out of all the english words to know, he knew that one lol. so he brought me downstairs, and into the reception office with the sweet lady in it and he took a something small that was in a packet in a bowl (like a candy dish when you go to the doctors) and he opened the packet and inside was a fake gold pin of a jester and on the bottom said "karneval dusseldorf 2012". and he pinned it to my jacket and smiled. i thought well, i didnt celebrate karneval in dusseldorf per se, but i left the building satisfied. he was a nice old guy anyway so that made me happy. so next i walked around that little market square area, where there is an equestrian statue of Jan Wellem (thanks wikipedia). nearby there was also a unique sculptural memorial to dusseldorfs history and being granted privileges as a town. it was eerie because it had skulls and a peasant, but it was really cool looking. so i walked along the rhine for a bit, there was a nice promenade path there. it was also a sunny day out so i wanted to take advantage of the nice weather, although i hadnt had a bad day weather wise in a while! i walked by a film museum which seems awesome because they ahd a lot of old antique stuff and told had the history of film exhibitions and of course lots of film memorabilia, but decided to skip that and perhaps visit on a return trip when my german would be a bit more better. so i walked around, following my little self guided tour. i passed some nice old churches. i then went to the stadtmuseum, the city museum. this was all very close to the rhine by the way. so i went in for a while and saw the permanent exhibitions (temps in german again) which told the history of dusseldorf. sorry to end on a boring note but i must rest now. really i am not doing the beauty of dusseldorf any justice, perhaps once i figure out how to post some pics i can really spark things up in this blog!!

there is hope for humankind

sunday feb 19: so i miracously woke up in the morning before my 8 am alarm and found everyone from the night before sprawled over various pieces of furniture in the living room. i quickly got up to go to my phone to turn off the alarm because i didnt want that to wake everyone up, but my moving and shifting woke up one of the girls. so i got ready to leave and so did she. right before i left i told her i was sorry for waking her and she said it was no problem because she wanted to leave early anyway. i doubt it was THAT early though! so i snuck into svens room to get the key to the terrace to get lance but i woke him up and he again didnt look too thrilled about that! but i was able to get lance and then head into the center of cologne again. so i went to one of the art galleries, the Wallraf-Richartz-Museum, and i was actually 5 minutes early for the opening! it is one of the main art museums in cologne, and one of the only open ones during karnival. the cathedral was again open from 6-9 am so i missed that. so yeah anyway i got to the museum early but the front door was already open so i stepped inside but the person at the desk said they were closed, but i asked if i could wait inside since it was freezing out! and he said yes =) so when it officially opened i went in, they had a special exhibition on german cartoon/comic like art, but of course no captions in english so i had to miss that. the museum has art from medieval times to the 20th century. i saw the modern stuff first to get it over with. it was a lot of glass and tiles and stuff in a narrow corridor. so i then made my way through the rooms, the medieval stuff was very old, some 14th century wood sculptures of religious scenes and saints and of course mary and baby JC. when i made my way to the second floor (there werent a lot of people in this museum the whole time by the way), i went looking around and then when i was near the window i saw a parade marching down the street, going right next to the museum. i watched from up top for a bit, i didnt feel compulsed to go join in on the festivities because i was going to the main parade the following day. still, it did look like a lot of fun. so as i continued to go around, the security guard, who clearly was very bored, came over to me to explain one of the paintings. it was a 13 set series telling the life story of saint ursula (there was a big wood carving of her downstairs with the virgins she took with her on her voyage, from like the 15th cent or whaterver). im quite glad he did explain it, each one individually, because the text panel next to it didnt give enough detail (in english anyway). then he asked where i was from, so i told him. and he said he had family there and he has visited a few times before. he had quite a strange accent because he was not a native german, but clearly learnt english in germany. he was from like cambodia or somewhere in that area of asia so when he spoke english it came out as a mix of asian/german lol. then we got talking about other paintings and i forgot why, but he took me to one of the other paintings, a real famous one, i already saw in the previous room. it was a nice religious painting, about ibraham or something. i cant really remember what he was telling me about it, other than there  is a second half to it, which the museum doesnt have. there was a computer screen on a bench in the middle of the room which explained that, but it was only in german =( so i was glad that he told me. so then i continued around the gallery until it was closing time. i then went back to svens and we cleaned up and then had dinner together. michael was not so friendly with me anymore, clearly annoyed at my rejection the previous night. so when sven and i were doing the dishes after dinner, i was unloading the dishwasher to put the new batch in, when i dropped a tall guiness glass on the floor and it shattered. i felt extremely bad about this and cleaned it up and kept saying i was sorry and sven said "oh we spent all night trying to steal that glass!" and i said "well dont make me feel even more bad about it!" and he explained that him and daniel and michael were out at a pub one night and they were determined to steal the glass and they eventually did, so it was more the memory of the fun they had that night that was attached to the glass than the actual loss of the glass, that he was concerned about. so i told him i would steal him a guiness glass this night and he can pretend that was the same glass. he said that not a lot of cologne bars/pubs sell guiness so i wouldnt be able to find one, but i said i would make sure i did. so we decided we were going to do our own thing that night, he hangs out with his friends, and i go out with mine. carmen had left in the morning so she wasnt coming out that night but at least i was going to see jorien again! so a little later on i ended up taking the train into some part of cologne and meeting them at some bar. when i got out of the station i had no clue where to go, so i asked some guy on the corner but he didnt speak english very well. he was asian so im not sure if he was a tourist as well or a german immigrant but either way it was pulling teeth to ask him where this bar was. after like 5 minutes of getting nowhere, i saw mayke, floor and crew across the street so they started frantically waving but then crossed over to me so i told the guy that i didnt need directions anymore because i found my friends! im sure he got the message. so we went to this german pub and they played more horrific german/karneval music. but the atmosphere was fun, although it was very crowded and i was getting squashed. it was just more chill than your average club. i liked it a lot more than the previous night! and there was no one smoking. so it was good to catch up with jorien and see everyone again. some of them changed their costumes, stefan was a scottish highlander, chris was some builder guy/construction worker, floor was a dutch girl, lotte was like a 20s flapper type lady, jorien was a king?? she wore a crown and red faux fur coat with white trimming, and mayke was the flight attendant again even though she had bought 2 costumes, she couldnt fit the other one in her bag!! so everyone kept buying rounds of beer, but everytime i asked for water =) i reallly appreciated that none of them ONCE tried to pressure me into ordering an alcoholic drink. they asked what i wanted and i said water and then for the rest of the night, they got me water =) i did ask though for a guiness and chris said they wouldnt have it there but he asked anyway and he was right. i thought oh no, sven was right =(  so we had more crazy antics going on, stefan said he kissed a guy once so i tried to get him and chris to kiss but chris said he didnt do random hook ups, so that was a bummer for me! after a while of dancing and jumping around to the fantastic soundtrack, we went to another place. but not before going to a late night take out shop, i was hungry but not very tempted by the food, my god did we take a while in there though! so this other bar was more of your typical bar. this neighborhood of cologne was apparently really good for nightlife but it actually wasnt jam packed with lines out the door and outrageous entrance fees. so we got in right away and went directly to the back where the dance floor was. it was sooo full of people that there was a lot of bumping and rubbing against me. within 5 minutes of arriving, i realized i lost my purse. i kept my composure but inside i was freaking out! my phone, camera, debit card, passport, cash and svens key was inside! if i lost that i would totally be screwed!! so i told my friends and mayke and floor immediately started calling my phone over and over. i went and retraced my steps from when i entered the door. when i got to the dance floor, a guy sitting in the corner saw me looking around on the floor and said "what are you looking for?" and i said "my purse!" and he said "what does it look like" and i said "its small and black" and then he handed it to me! i said "omg you are a lifesaver!!" and he said "no, he found it" and pointed to the guy in front of him. so I went and kissed that guy - just on the cheek ;) and i checked inside and everything was in there, including the cash. my faith in the people that frequent the club scene was restored. so i then went back to the gang and told them i got everything and they said i was so lucky. so the partying resumed! we continued dancing away, the music was a bit more varied. people smoking inside again though =( i again tried to order a guiness at the bar but the bartender said the only beer they sold was the cologne brew. i thought omg this is impossible!! so i gave up and didnt end up replacing the glass lol. we were having fun, stefan was taking provocative photos by hiking up his kilt. so after a little while, i was eyeballing a guy in a ghostbusters costume that had outrageously horrible dance moves. i was thinking to myself "he looks like kevin james" and literally a split second later mayke said to me "that guy looks like the guy from hitch!" and i said "i was just thinking the same thing!" so i went up to him and told him. he was not impressed! he said "are you calling me fat?" and i said "noooo [but thinking, well you do have a bit of a belly!], its a complement, kevin james is funny!" and he said "but youre saying i need to lose weight". but mayke and i were denying we made any implementations. so then we got chatting with him and his friend, who was also in a ghostbuster costume. they were both german, but kevin james guy didnt know english as well as his friend. either way, i managed to find out that he was from heidelberg and so i told him i was going to be there around march 9th and so we traded numbers and said maybe we would meet up while i was there. so the night went on, chris ended up bumping into a friend of his who was this real sweet gay guy, with a possible latin background. so we hung out with him for the rest of the night, but he kept buying everyone shots, including me! i kept saying no but i took them anyway. i got a bit tipsy real quick. when it got towards the end of the night and the place started clearing out, people were leaving their costume pieces behind. i found a black covering for a shoe in the shape of a boot, like that puss in boots would wear. mayke and i were playing with it and i suggested in my not so sober state of mind that we keep it as our friendship boot and whenever we see each other we pass back and forth the boot and call it "the sisterhood of the traveling boot". mayke was not so much for this idea so we left it at the bar! we then left a little bit later, although chris stayed with his friend. so mayke and lotte ended up walking me to the train station and taking me down into the actual underground and mayke asked someone on one of the platforms if i was headed in the right direction. then they asked if i wanted them to wait with me until the train came but i said i was fine and i knew what i was doing and where i was going so they didnt need to worry. but mayke wasnt convinced (i still wasnt completely sober at this time but i did really know where to get off etc) so she asked this guy (in german) sitting next to me on a bench waiting for the train if he can make sure i got off at the right stop. he said ok. i then told her if she could ask him to share his pizza with me because i was hungry! she didnt. i asked in english. he didnt understand. i went hungry. so i told mayke i would call her tomorrow to figure out a place where to meet for the parade, and then they left. pizza eater didnt exactly do a good job of "looking after me" but whatever, i didnt need a babysitter anyway. so i arrived at svens without incident although i did kind of forget where to turn to get to his house, but i found it. it was like 3 am again and i went to bed right way on yet a different couch.
monday feb 20: so another early wake up, but not 8 am early. i didnt end up doing any exploring, or the self guided walking tours that i paid 50c for!! it just warrants another visit to cologne then =) so after breakfast sven said he wasnt going to the parade because hes been there several times before, he explained i was going to get a lot of camela, which i understood was candy but not exactly sure what kind though. so i left in the late morning and found myelf a cozy spoke somewhere along the parade route, which was along the pedestrian area that i walked around the first day i arrived. so i of course went in my costume. it was still a while before the parade started though, so in the meantime i was texting mayke to try and describe where i was to so everyone could meet me. but it became clear that that was unfeasible because of the large crowds of people and the rows of people behind me! so we called it off and decided to just meet up later. so the parade finally started, there were lots of fantastic floats with people in costumes and bands on them. they then threw LOTS of candy and chocolate at us, while we all screamed camela!! there were kids scrambling in between everyones legs picking up all the remainders on the floor and bagging them, but seriously every float threw tons of candy at us, there was PLENTY to go around for everyone. i couldnt believe how much free chocolate i was getting, it was like halloween in the winter, without the effort of going to peoples houses! i thought, hm if i knew i was going to get so much i 1) wouldnt have gone crazy on sat looking for german chocolate and 2) should have brought a pillow case! i should probably mention that a few days prior, i had made plans with andy and sophie to spend tues and wed night with them in dusseldorf. but on this monday, they asked what i was doing and i mentioned the parade so they said they would come (i thought wow they are coming all the way from dusseldorf just for the parade! i later found out its only a 20 minute train ride lol). so while i was waiting for them i see a group of 5 guys behind me all dressed as mario characters - yoshi, wario, luigi, mario, and toad. they were trying to take a pic of themselves so i said i would do it and then asked if i could take one with my cam. so after that we got chatting and i ended up hanging out with them for the whole parade! they were really fun and knew english quite well. they were all around my age, with the youngest being like 19. i asked where peach was and one of them's gf was peach but she left early!! that would have been cool to see them all together. so as the parade is going on, they explained what some of the floats meant, because some had like paper machie figures on the front, like mardi gras, only they were like propaganda. like one said something (in german) about the US being bankrupt. so we continued to collect the camela which apparenlty meant candy and we screamed as loud as we could at every float "camela!!" and i truly felt in the karneval spirit then =) a bunch of the camela we got was fake money and yoshi told me that used to be the deutsche mark before the euro. the guy who was mario, nathan, put me on his shoulders for a little while and wow could i see so much more, especially the floats!! i also swapped to the yoshi  guys shoulder and he was taller so that was even better for me lol. i of course had to explain my costume to them but i think they liked it! nathan seemed to have a thing for me (go figure) but i was more interested in luigi, philipp. but either way i had a great time with them all. toad and i switched head gear. he made his toad hat himself, by covering a motorcycle helmet. it was really heavy!! he wore my devil ears for a while but i left my place in line to call andy to tell him where i was. i really couldnt describe much to him though. when he and sophie arrived he said it was sooo crowded and hard to move that they as well wouldnt bother meeting up with me until later. so i was alone with the super mario team lol. when i got back to where i was standing i found out that toad broke my horns lol. i thought oh damn, i was planning on selling those! but whatever. they even persuaded me to drink some of their beer which of course was awful, but there are some funny photos floating about of them dribbling it into my mouth! id say the wario guy was the only one who wasnt so drunk and rowdy, and ironically, he was from bavaria. but then again, im sure he gets wild for oktoberfest =) so after about 5 hours of parade madness, it was coming to a close and andy and sophie tried again to meet up with me. i put him on the phone with one of the guys who could give better directions that i could. andy and sophie showed up about 10 min later, him wearing a pink wig and and crazy big sunglasses and she wore big glasses and a big wig lol. but it wasnt before long that the last float passed and the parade ended! there was soo much crap on the floor but the sanitation workers were lightning quick to clean it up! so i then said goodbye to my new friends, got philipps email address to swap the pics and then i went with andy and sophie through the streets to the train station but it was a bad move because we kept running into the parade route!! so we had to wait after floats passed to dash inbetween them. what would normally be a 10 minute walk took us like 30 min but we finally made it to the train station. they told me i should just go with them but i said that i had all of my stuff at svens still so i needed to go back and i was just going to bike there. it was only 20 miles but it was getting late and i was getting nervous about what time i was going to arrive because i originally didnt plan on staying the whole time at the parade. but nonetheless, i still ended up meeting with mayke and everyone after i left andy and sophie. we met not far from the parade route, in a popular pedestrian square where there were so many people still. so it was just a quick goodbye, everyone was back in their costumes from friday. mayke said she was sad to see me go but i assured her our paths would cross again! so then i was a bit in a rush to head back to svens, so i got on the tram like trains which was the first time i was taking them so i was confused as to where to actually stand to get them. someone helped me out but i of course went in the wrong direction so i had to get off at the next stop and go on the other side. so this only delayed my trip even more. i finally did get back to svens, about 6:15 pm and i was so stressed. i quickly changed out of my outfit into normal clothes, gave sven half of the camela i collected (this broke my heart to give up so much chocolate but i had no more room in any of my bags!), told him to keep my succubus wings as a memento of our karneval 2012 together, and i packed the rest of my costume and then got lance outside and set up my bags. its 6:30 pm now and starting to get dark and i hadnt even left yet! i get my tail light out and of course it doesnt work. i changed the batteries quickly, but it still didnt work. sven was like "what are you going to do?" and i said ill just have to continue on my way. so another quick goodbye, i thanked him for having me, he said it was a pleasure, and then i invited him to ny and he said he would take me up on the offer one day. and with that, off i went!! so luckily the route wasnt too difficult where i had to keep stopping and checking the map, because that really puts time on the clock. just followed  the b9 for a lot of the way. and luckily it was flat. as the night went on the streets had hardly any traffic at all, but i still stuck to the sidewalk as much as possible, which had no people. it was lit too but not too bright either. i was pretty panicky the whole time because i was afraid i was going to arrive at 9:30 and I wanted to spend time with andy and sophie. ok enough for this post, another long one coming soon =)

not impressed with the german club scene!

so when svens friends arrived we got the party started with the music and everything. they were quite nice and spoke english mostly in my presence so i appreciated it. but when they would switch to german for like a sentence it made me wonder if they were talking about me lol. stupid me for not learning the language prior to my visit!! so jeff asked for my fb so i gave him my name and he added me then and there on his phone, and then we started going through my profile pics, so i had to explain them all (well, not ALL of them, we would be there for weeks otherwise!) and i realized that i put up lots of pics of me in costumes as my profile pic cause that was nearly every photo! so after a bit of chatting and trying to communicate with michael, i told him to teach me german. so he tells me to repeat some sentence. i had no idea what he was trying to say and i kept pronouncing it wrong so i told him to write it down. this was the sentence: Ich liebe Männer mit dicken Schwänzen. so all i knew of that was i love ___ with ___ ___. so after practicing this sentence over and over and continually screwing up the last word, i decided to announce to everyone my nearly learnt german phrase. it didnt come out crystal clear, but everyone laughed so i guess they knew what i was trying to say. i then asked what the translation was: "i love men with thick dicks". and ironically, dicken is the word for thick, not dick lol so after a bit of laughter at my expense, i got in touch with mayke and persuaded her to bring the crew to svens. i thought for sure they arent going to venture all the way out there but sure enough they did. they had to go pick up jorien at the train station around 11:30 pm so they came around 10:30 so obviously couldnt stay for long. it was good to see them for that short time and we caught each other up from when we were together last at the medicine ball the previous night. they were such party animals, staying out till like 6 am. i thought, my god i am turning into an old maid, cause i went to bed at 3! but then again they woke up in the afternoon and did nothing, at least i got to do some sightseeing and explored a bit of cologne and felt the carnival atmosphere. so they soon left, i thought it would be best to stay with sven so i wouldnt feel like i was ditching him and only using him for a place to rest my head, but we decided we were going to go to a club altogether (meaning with svens friends as well) later on in the night. mayke said she would text me once they got jorien and figured where they were going. well some time goes by and the germans decide we are going to a club. so im completely at their whim since i didnt know the area at all. so i just followed along when we finally left svens. it kind of reminded me of when i was in high school and went out as a huge group, and feelings of how much i hated going out as a big crowd came fleeting back. it was just so annoying, this one needed to go to a gas station to pick up food or cigarettes or whatever so we had to wait. and blah blah, it was all just so slow getting there. not that i was in a rush. sven ignored me the whole time to be with his friends, and sometimes they would talk to me, but they mostly spoke to themselves. every now and then daniel or michael would ask me something and i would answer and that would be the end of the conversation since they didnt know how to respond to my answer in english. so we eventually get to this club, long line, so we wait. had to pay E5 to get in and the guard told me to do something but i just stood there blankly until one of svens friends told me to open my bag to be searched. so once we got in, it was extremely crowded!! the line for the coat check was unbelievable. no organization at all, just a huge mass of people all surrounding a tiny desk. these are the times i wish i was a giant. so after dealing with that for like 15 min we finally got on the dance floor and danced for a while. most of the music was either german, carnival and/or kologne related, or shitty american dance music like the song "hangover". so needless to say i wasnt enjoying that too much. but the worst part was people smoking inside. it drove me crazy. the smell was getting all over my clothes. and also i was being bumped into and shoved a lot. but i just kept dancing trying to have fun although i couldnt wait for carmen and mayke and gang to come. i texted mayke saying where we were but no response. time ticked by and i kept checking my phone to make sure i hadnt missed a call/text from mayke but nothing. i didnt hear from her all night. i guess i should have been a bit more persistent, like called or sent another text, but i didnt. so they never showed up. svens friends eventually started disappearing on the dancefloor amongst all the people. sven danced with his friends and didnt talk to me at all and i saw michael sitting in the corner looking bored so i went over to try and talk to him. some song came on and i made a comment about how cheesey it was and he said something along the lines of, "its robbie williams!!!" with such excitement. didnt realize he was so big out there lol so we went and danced a bit. 2 of svens female friends said we made a cute couple and that he really likes me and i should go for it. i said ummmm no thanks!! so shortly after we rejoined the mob scene to get our jackets and then walked back to svens. sven was real drunk by this point and saying stupid things and spoke to me a little bit but i was tired and annoyed i hadnt heard from mayke so i wasnt really in the mood to be dealing with his drunken antics. when we finally got back to his place, everyone crashed in the living room. i slept on some broken couch, and went right to sleep as soon as we got back. they told me they were going to watch some movie, forgot what it was now, one of these new action films, but it was in german dubbed so there was no point in me watching. they asked if it was going to keep me awake but i said no. so i curled up as best i could on the broken sofa, sven said something like "thanks so much for coming i really really appreciate it" but im sure it was just the booze talking. michael invited me to share his bed with him to sleep for the night but i said no and with that i went to sleep. still nothing from mayke. i was so tired by this point that i literally did not hear anything from them or the tv while they watched the movie all night long!!

The madness continues

sat feb 18: So the next morning I don't know how but I managed to wake up at like 8:30 am, even before my alarm went off! So I decided to do some sightseeing before another manic night ensued. I wanted to take lance but he was on the terrace, behind a locked door so I went shuffling around in svens room looking for a key, I didn't find it but it woke him up and so he got it and unlocked the terrace. He didn't look so pleased about being woken up so early and was wondering what I was doin up! So hopefully he went back to sleep after that. So anyway i was off, I rode to the cathedral to maybe do a guided tour and finish the last parts I didnt get to see the day prior. But it was already closed and it was not even 10 am! So I went back to the tourist info and she said the cathedral opens at 6 am and closes at 9 am during carnival! I would imagine that at 6 am there would be stupidly drunk people running rampant on the street then, so perhaps having church doors open isn't the best idea, but hey whatever works for them (at least by 9 all the drunk people would be fast asleep but I guess they don't see it that way). So I checked my leaflet that said which museums were open and a shame that the carnival one wasn't, so I went to the stadtmuseum which was nearby. It had an audio guide that corresponded to the exhibits, and also in English, which was great, and the temp exhibition was separate so you didn't have to pay for it if you didn't want to, a nice change from the Netherlands! The lady at the desk said it was all in German anyway. So I went around seeing artifacts and paintings and religious stuff from colognes history from the middle ages to now. Ww2 memorabilia in there as well. So I spent a bit of time in there, learnt about this specific family that made a brand of chocolate in cologne in the early 20th cent (so kinda like sunlight soap made in port sunlight) so after reading about it I wanted to try it. So in the early afternoon I was still at the museum and I texted sven asking if he needed any help setting up for the party he and his house mates were throwing that night. He said yes and to show up around 3. So I finished the museum, and as I left I asked the guy at the desk where I can find that brand of chocolate and he told me the names of a few department stores and their locations. So I was riding around the pedestrianized main area and went to one of those dep stores, they sold chocolate but not that specific brand I read about. And I think this happened the day before but when I was in that pedestrianized area some man came up to me and was one of these annoying charities that pester people on the street for money, so I just said I don't speak German and he walked away. As opposed to when Mayke and I got stopped by some cancer charity in maastrict and the guy spoke dutch and I said I don't speak it and he said in fluent English"ok ill speak in English then!" So yeah anyway I continued to ride around, found an aldi, that was closed. And I couldnt find anywhere else that sold that chocolate so I gave up and was just about to head to svens when I saw this little performance going on on the street that drew a big crowd. Musicians banging drums and playing pipes and the rest of it, in carnival costumes of course! So I watched that for a bit, I wanted to continue hanging around outside and see what other street performances were going on, but I felt debted to sven for letting me stay, so I left and rode to his. On the way though i stopped off at a netto and bought a 35c bar of chocolate! Wasn't the cologne brand, but I was just craving chocolate by that point. Cologne has a chocolate museum but that was closed :-( :-( oh well, just means I need to revisit! So I arrived at svens and helped make streamers out of ribbon. I was trying to curl them with scissors but I was terrible at it. I preferred to clean than to decorate but the place was mostly clean by the time I arrived. So my job was to make these streamers and blow balloons and place them around the house. I really was a bit crap at that! But in the end I dont think anyone cared! I tried to hang balloons from the low part of the ceiling with scotch tape but it wasn't sticking so sven did something magical and got them to stick. He pretty much fixed my bad decorations into decorating the way he wanted and I thought, why did I come back to help again? Lol so in no time it got dark, we had some dinner and then I showered in his housemate Michaels bathroom when he wasn't there. But when I got out I saw Michael in his room so I think he was a bit shocked to see a stunning girl in a towel walk out of his bathroom! (I knew he was there cause I heard him shuffling around) . His English was very bad, as was Daniels, the other housemate. So yeah conversations didn't really get anywhere, unless sven was interpretor. So after a bit, we got our costumes on and his friends started coming. And this seems like an opportune moment to end it here so I will cut it off for the night!

Kölle alaaf!

So sven and I did the usual catching up, and we made pizza for dinner. Prior to me coming we had been in fb message contact and I told him that Mayke, carmen, Chris, stefan, lotte and floor were going to a medicine ball for karneval, so I asked if he wanted to go. So we decided we would try to go but all advanced tickets were sold out so we would have to line up at the door and see if we get lucky. But he was for it so we got on our costumes, him as an NYPD officer and me as succubus and we hopped on the train and went to the hall where this was taking place. We went quite early, maybe like 6 ish because I had emailed the organizers asking for tix  and they advised to show up early. I didn't bring a jacket cause I was afraid of it getting stolen since I knew this was going to be a massive party, so I had lots of glances on the train!! The corset I bought didn't fit too well so my boobs were kinda popping out! But oh well that just adds to the fun of it all right, I mean it was karneval after all! So when we got out of the station it was a short walk and not windy but I got cold quickly.  there was a long line but we waited anyway. After about 10 minutes a woman went around selling tix to the people on the line, saying her dad was the owner of the building or something like that and offered us tix at discounted prices (this was in German obviously so sven did all the negotiating). So we accepted and I was worried they were going to be bogus but they weren't and so we got in! But since we skipped the whole line we were one of the first people in there, so it was quiet to begin with. When we entered a professional photographer took our photo :-) So then we walked around, checking out the place. It was ginormous! 3 floors, each with at least 2 rooms all with different music. No wonder it was like €25 to get in. But of course the food and drinks were overpriced at the bar. Sven was nice enough to buy me a glass of wine though and he bought himself several beers throughout the night. So as the night went on it got busier. The dance floor got more crowded as people poured in. I saw some brilliant costumes but one that is permanently implanted in my mind is a huge man (tall and broad) in a dress with heels and a long blond wig. That was probably my favorite! So everytime sven left me for the bathroom, I got hit on. Once was by a group of middle aged German guys who didn't know English very well, one was by 2 cute guys around my age, guy A started up small chat with me and about a minute later guy B chanted "kiss! Kiss! Kiss!" And before I knew it guy As tongue was in my mouth. So I pulled away and then guy B asked for a kiss on the cheek so I leant in and at the last second he turned his head and got me on the mouth. I should have seen it coming, but I also wasn't complaining. And with that they walked away. And the third time was later on in the night, people were starting to get drunk. Sven and I went downstairs to where the photos from earlier were displayed. I could have sworn the lady in charge said the first photo was free but you had to pay for the second, but there was no one working the stand with the photos so I just took both. They came out real nice. So while we were downstairs sven went to the bathroom again and I was waiting outside for him and a guy in the line started talking to me, first in German and I said I didn't speak it and he switched to English and said I was very short or something like that (he was gigantic).  Then he asked where I was from. So we got talking about ny, he had been there before, blah blah then sven comes out of the bathroom so goliath asked where he was from and he said Massachusetts (he had told me earlier he wanted to pretend to be American) and the guy goes "oh I've been to Boston!" And sven is like "uhh..ok" and the guy is asking him all these questions and sven is just making up stuff, clearly with not a clue as to what he's talking about. So eventually the conversation ended nd we walked away I go "you know Boston is in Massachusetts right?" And he goesz "oh no I didnt!" So I explained that's why goliath mentioned he had been there lol. So then we headed back to the dance rooms.  We danced to a 70s/80s cover band which was real good but had a mostly older crowd. I preferred them to the dj rooms with the annoying crowd and packed out dance floor.The main room had some karneval music and traditional dancing on stage though which was cool. I also saw a guy I met in sydney, hurst his name was( which I had actually forgotten) , but I didn't know him very well in Sydney so I didn't think he would recognize me, but he said hello. So all the while I had been texting Mayke and she first said they would be there at 11:30 pm but that came and went so I was wondering if they were ever going to show up, but they did, at like 1 am! And the party wasn't going to go on much longer, so I hope they felt they got their moneys worth! But once they arrived I was so happy to see them, esp everyone who I hadn't seen since Sydney. So I introduced sven, he was very well received by my friends and we all danced in the main room together to more karneval music. Carmen and lotte were betty and wilma, stefan was a gold person, Mayke a flight attendant, Chris was some German cartoon character with red hair, and floor I can't remember lol. So we were all dancing and having a good time, everyone kept buying rounds but got water for me cause I didn't want any beer. And the water was sparkling only!! So I said to carmen "who was that German guy we met in Sydney that was weird?" And she goes "hurst?" And I go oh yeah (I had forgotten his name) and I said he was there and when I spotted him I pointed and carmen went over to say hello so I went too and I said "do you remember me from Sydney?" And he said "yes, Michele right?" And I couldn't believe he remembered! I hardly spoke to him there and that was over 3 years ago! So I started talking to his date and she was real nice, I think she was French Canadian or something. So then carmen and I went back to the group, and we continued to party the night away until the dance floor got more and more empty. I even saw someone waving an American flag at some points!! But I was really starting to dislike the karneval songs, even viva colognia. The tunes were just too cheesy! Then we started mingling with some cute guys next to us, but nothing ever came of that. And of course we took plenty of pics. We eventually started trading costume accessories, so in one of the shots, I am wearing carmens black betty wig, and she is wearing the long red haired wig of floors costume. All in all it was a great night, I was super happy to be having all these australia reunions. But within 1 1/2 hours or so sven and I decided to leave while the rest stayed. We were going to see each other all weekend so I didn't feel compelled to spend every moment with them. So sven and I hopped on the train and went back to his where we set up one of his many couches in the living room for me to sleep on. And with that, at around 3 am or whatever i finally fell asleep!

first true carnival experience!

friday feb 17: so my host woke me up at 7 am in preparation of his daughters' arrival, but i didnt want to leave just yet because it was still dark. so we had breakfast together, which was some really yummy soft waffles! and when his daughters arrived, they didnt speak english really so it was a bit awkward to communicate with them. his older daughter who was maybe 9 understood i was from ny and was 24, but that was it. so the girls went right to playing video games, and i got ready and left soon after, at 8:07 am. i didnt want to dilly dally on my way there, just wanted to get to cologne as quickly as i could to get some sightseeing out of the way before going to sven's. so i followed that route along the railway track and it went well for a bit, but then it suddenly just ended. at first the path turned to gravel (it was originally tarmac) so i thought ok i can handle this. so i continued along and it very literally just disappeared. i really dont know where google maps was getting their route info from, because there was not even the slightest indication of a path, it literally was just a wall and some trees! but just earlier i had gone over an intersection, with a bridge over the railway tracks, so i thought about retracing my steps, but then i decided to take the risk and continue going forward, not where i was, because that would require bushwacking! but if i retraced a little bit and found a road parallel to where i was, i could continue straight and eventually get to cologne. so i did find a road and i indeed followed it, but that only took me to some construction work that was going on near the tracks! it was a completely muddy area, lance was sinking in and there were workers in caterpillars moving dirt around and stuff. i thought, ok this is just stupid now, i need to get back to where a normal road is! so i ditched the idea of moving forward and went back to where i saw that bridge (by the way, the wind was against me the whole time, except for when i was heading back to where i came! so that was quite irritating, esp with the costume bag flying all over the place!) so i went and crossed the bridge and took a road that was on the other side of the railway, very slightly uphill, and a little windy, but it led me into cologne so that was all that mattered! before long i was approaching an urban setting for sure, lots of cars, people (not too many in costume just yet!) and lots of marlboro cigarette ads (again in english). i did pass a nice building that looked like an old gateway that belonged to the city walls or something. i took a pic and thought oh ill definitely have to come back and find out what that is (i never did!!). so i rode through the center, there was some little street party happening at one of the squares, some rides and stuff going on for the carnival. saw some people dressed up there! but i wanted to go to tourist info first and get my bearings. but my arrival time was 12 pm, did 29 mi, max 18.1, avg 8.4 and spent 3:48 actually riding there! so after getting a bit lost through the crowded pedestrianized shopping center, i followed the signs to the tourist info and wow did i get quite a shock! after i passed all the ugly new retail buildings, there opened up the square with the cathedral! it was massive, i was completely awestruck!! i took some pics like the rest of the 3214123 tourists around me, and went to the tourist info. i bought some walking tour brochures for 50c and also received a list of museums and attractions that were open during the carnival week, which wasnt much!! i couldnt believe it, i mean mardi gras is a big thing in new orleans, but i dont think life there stops completely!! but at least the cathedral was open so that was the main thing! so i went inside and took some more photos. i firstly was able to store all my crap in a locker thank god! they are really good about locker storage in europe i have to say, even thought i known i complain about the redundancy of it costing (but not really) E1. there werent any guided tours on at the moment, so i paid 50c for a self guided one that cost E1 =) that kept me busy for a while! i saw the gero cross:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gero_Cross -> for more info and its significance! then i went to the top of the tower (which was a bit confusing because you needed to walk outside and turn left and walk back into the cathedral but at a separate underground entrance) so i walked up there, and went through the bell area and everything. it wasnt a guided way up, just on your own. on the spiral staircase up, you would not believe all the grafffiti on the wall!! i swear, people can be so god damn disrespectful, it really boggles my mind sometimes! but yeah once i got to the top it was real amazing. the weather was good so i could see for miles. but i was kinda focusing on the mini people below me, esp the teletubbies walking by! so there was no info on what was off in the distance, so i really didnt know what i was looking at lol, other than the rhine! so when i made my way down, there were a bunch of kids my age coming up to the top, but in full costume! lol. when i went down i then went to the treasury which was a pretty decent size. and i was so happy that everything was in english! they had some really nice artwork down there, esp old stone carvings, and since it was like in the basement, there were panels explaining the foundations and the stone pillars and stuff. there was also a room on all bishop clothes and yada yada, and of course the elaborate monstrance and those type objects. in a separate room that i very nearly missed, there was the shrine of the 3 kings. here this is also taken from wikipedia (you can tell i am getting tired and lazy):  The most celebrated work of art in the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a large gilded sarcophagus dating from the 13th century, and the largest reliquary in the Western world. It is traditionally believed to hold the remains of the Three Wise Men, whose bones and 2,000-year-old clothes were discovered at the opening of the shrine in 1864. <p>

so i was happy to not have missed that! so after i saw pretty much all i could of the cathedral, i then called sven and told him i was on my way. he lived not too far from the center, but still, finding my way was a bit of an obstacle, with all the busy traffic. so as i was riding along, i did pass another oldish building attached to a wall that could have belonged to old city walls, and right at the end of the road was a very tall modern business building, overlooking a human made pond, so yeah, cologne was very much an integrated mix of old and new! when i finally got to svens street i had trouble finding his place because say his address was 67, the apts went 65, then next to it was 69! so i was just about to call him when some boy walking down the street comes up to me and says "are you looking for sven?" and i am thinking to myself, ok i know i havent seen him in 3 years, but surely this cant be him, he is nothing like i remember!! so i say yes and he says to follow him and he takes me to a little back passageway inbetween 65 and 69 and lo and behold, there was svens place, very well hidden! ok theres lots more to tell about carnival but i will have to continue sometime soon, i hope!