Friday morning, Heidi and I checked out of our fabulous hostel to catch our flight to Dusseldorf, Germany. My friend Ali is an au pair there and that week was the start of Carnival. Carnival is basically a huge celebration throughout the whole city, it's a lot like Mardi Gras. People dress up in crazy costumes and roam the streets with their beer. Heidi and I had missed Thursday, the opening night of the Carnival, which is also the craziest night apparently. We met a really nice guy on the way from the airport into the city of Dusseldorf. He was German and we started talking to him because he had helped us figure out our tickets. He had lived in the U.S. for awhile when he was in high school and his English was really really good. He told us all about Carnival and helped us figure out the right tram to take to Ali's house. The next night, we ended up seeing him again out on the streets! It was really fun to run into him again. Unfortunately, my camera died early on the first night we were in Dusseldorf so I don't have very many pictures.
Anyways, after Ali made us a delicious dinner of pizza, we dressed up in "costumes" to hit the town. Since we didn't have much time to put together an outfit, I went as a hippie with a headband and a peace necklace, Heidi went as 1980 with pink feathers in her side pony and Ali went as a cowgirl. See below for our first night out in Dusseldorf:
We hung out with Ali's boyfriend who is Australian and his good friend who was Irish. We went to one pub where the crowd was mainly 50 years old and older but the old man who was the bartender, came over and gave us all large spoons. He then poured in some alcohol, I am not sure what it was called but it tasted very cinnamony. We had to take this as a shot but it was a little difficult since it was in a spoon. This shot is apparently called a Loffel, which means spoon in German. I think the bartender was just happy to have some young people in his bar so he gave us two for free. After that bar, we went to another one where we all had liter beers. Needless to say, it took me awhile to finish mine.
The next day, we walked around Dusseldorf for awhile looking for a costume for that Saturday night. The little part that I saw of the city, I thought was really pretty. We ate at an Irish bar and then Heidi and I bought some wigs to wear that night. We went out earlier that night to Carnival. There were already so many people out drinking and in costumes. There was music playing and people dancing all over. It was so fun. Again, we met up with Ali's friend Mark and his other friends from Australia. I didn't buy a drink that whole weekend because I wouldn't even be finished with one beer and I'd have another one handed to me. That's the Carnival way I guess. We didn't walk into many bars this night because so much was going on in the streets and you could buy alcohol outside, too. It was fun to see all the funny and random costumes people came up with. For example, below is a picture of some of my favorite costumes. A group of about 5 or 6 adult men dressed as rabbits carrying around a giant carrot.
I have to mention this one pizza place we went to both nights. The pizza was soooo good! It was cheap, only about 5 or 6 euro, and about the size of a plate. I think Heidi and I ordered three or four of them. They were delicious, I want to go back just for that! Below are some pictures of Heidi and I in our blue and pink wigs:
We were all really tired so we ended up calling it an early night. We had been out since early that evening and Heidi and I had another flight to catch Sunday morning. Carnival was absolutely so much fun. It was great to see Ali again, too! It was a fabulous way to end an already fabulous vacation.
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