OOps.

Ok, ok.  I really suck at this blog thing.  I swear I am going to try to get better.  Hmm where did we leave off.. Ok, so I got back from Berlin, and it turns out, after that week, I happened to have 2 weeks of vacation time.  Seriously, France knows what's up.  A normal person would probably be tuckered out after (barely) sleeping in a bus for 12 hours, but as the french say "il faut profiter!"  So, I slept most of the day on Saturday, and on Sunday morning I got up and drove up to Cologne, Germany with some of my Frenchy friends.   So just the same as we celebrate Mardi Gras in the states in New Orleans, there are a bunch of cities here in Europe that celebrate Carnival.  Cologne is one of the biggest celebrations that there is.  Clearly, the goal of this trip wasn't exactly for sightseeing, it was more to go and have fun for a couple of days.  

The first day we wandered around the city, saw some parades, drank some brews, etc.  Later that day, our 2 american friends, Kara and Debbie met up with us.  We went out that night, which happened to be a Sunday, and you would have thought that it was a Saturday night.  This town was like one big party.  All I know is that we spent way too much time at a club called "Diamonds" towards the end of the night/early morning.  I think we'll leave it at that.  Monday is the day of the big parade.  We got up, put on some "costumes," which were basically just a random assortment of accessories, and headed to the parade.  Lucky for us, my friend Debbie has some German friends, so we actually spent some time watching the parade from a balcony which was cool.  After seeing Mardi Gras in New Orleans last year, this was a pretty calm celebration.  There were a lot of people but nothing ever got out of hand and the crowds were bearable.  Leave it to Germany to have an orderly drinking fest.  Point for the Germans.  

The only thing I really could have gone without during this festival was definitely the traditional music.  German people are crazy.  I love them, but they're crazy.  This song happened to be the theme of the trip, it's called "Viva Colonia."   I still can't get that song out of my head.  I put the link there so I can spread the torture to others, I wouldn't recommend actually listening.  I don't know why but sometimes I just really can't take the language seriously when there are people constantly yelling "WUNDERBAR!" which actually sounds like VUNDERBAR! (it means wonderful, in case you didn't know.)  

Also one of my favorite things about this little trip is the fact that I got to eat German cuisine for 4 days.  A diet of schnitzel and french fries is definitely my cup of tea.  That's fat free, right? I really enjoy the fact that in Germany it is perfectly acceptable to use mayonnaise as a dipping sauce.  I no longer put mayo on my sandwiches because it is so bad for you, yet I think it's ok to use it as a dipping sauce for my french fries.  Healthy, I know.  

Well that's all for now.. next it was onto Brussels, Amsterdam and Heidelberg.  To be continued..