Carnival parade in Kiedrich

Today, the last day of the carnival season, I have lots of pictures to show you from yesterdays parade. These were the funniest/most creative groups of the parade:






Usually, people in the parade throw confetti and sweets for the kids or even little toys, and shout "Helau" (which as far as I know doesn't really have a meaning; correct me if I'm wrong). And that's localized; in Cologne the shout "Alaaf". Since we're in a wine region, some of the groups even give out wine - people have to bring their own cups though.

For more pictures of carnival hats, please visit Wiesbaden Daily Photo.

"Zum Krug" in Hattenheim

This a very beautiful example of a half-timbered house in the Rheingau. We call the technique "Fachwerk". Most of the times the 1st floor is made with stone and then on top of it the builders first created this "shell" with wooden blocks and built up the walls. Sometimes it's just painted white in between. But this building has a very complex decoration if you look closer. Inside this building is a very good restaurant called "Zum Krug" which means "jar" or "jug".

Animal costumes

Besides all the witches, cowboys or clowns that are out there every year, I've seen more animal costumes than before this time. Has there been a movie recently about rabbits or dogs? That is usually a big influence for the costumes of a season. Maybe it's just easier to keep warm this way (especially for the parades...).

Decorated window

Some people (the real carnivalists) decorate their houses during the carnival high season in all kinds of ways. I found this window in Hattenheim, where they'll have a carnival parade on Sunday.

During this weekend and on "Rosenmontag" (literally "rose monday"/ carnival monday) there will be lots of parades. The biggest ones in Cologne and Mainz even get broadcasted on TV.

Rheingau and Wiesbaden are "seperated" now

Just so you know - I've seperated the Rheingau and Wiesbaden into two different blogs now:
http://rheingaudailyphoto.blogspot.com
http://wiesbadendailyphoto.blogspot.com

Since Wiesbaden is a city (a smaller one, but still a city), it'll be more of a real "city daily photo blog"). Whereas the Rheingau as a region allows me to take photos in all the different small towns and tell you a bit more about the region since it's not that well known (it's more of a "Geheimtip" - an "insiders' tip" so to say). So please come and visit me on both blogs and let me know your thoughts.

Thanks!

Nicola

Altweiberfastnacht

Uff, this was tough work taking Carnival pictures for this blog last night... ;-). We basically "parked" ourselves in one of the bars and watched all the groups come in. This was my favorite group - they added the best atmosphere to the bar with their "show" - we danced, did polonaises through the bar, got lots of little chocolate pills (against all kinds of illnesses ;-D) and sang a lot of course.

What I like the most about Carnival is that young and old are celebrating and "going crazy" together which I think nowadays doesn't happen too often anymore.

Carnival or "Fastnacht"

Today starts the "high season" of the Carnival in Germany and of course we celebrate it in our region as well!!! Today is called "Altweiberfastnacht" where it's tradition that men in business suits get cut off their ties by women. So usually men wear their oldest ties that day to be on the save side.

This photo is actually taken from a poster announcing the "Schnorrer-Rallye" taking place in Oestrich which means: people dress up in teams (each team has its own theme) and then they walk from bar to bar performing a little "show" (like reciting carnival poems or singing songs or... doing things to make people laugh). At the end of the day the best team gets rewarded. We'll hopefully see them tonight (you never know how many teams are on the road and where they'll show up) so that I can show you some pictures tomorrow.

Btw, Carnival actually starts already in November (11.11.) at 11:11 am (which is supposedly the ultimate carnival time) and ends at Tuesday midnight before Ash Wednesday. So you're gonna see lots of carnival pictures over the next few days...

Graues Haus ("Grey House") in Winkel

The Rheingau has lots of old, fascinating buildings - one of them is the "Graues Haus" (which means "Grey House") in Winkel. Don't ask me why they call it that way, maybe because of the color of the stones... It's estimated to be one of the oldest houses in Germany (from around 850). There used to be a very good (and expensive) restaurant in there but it closed and since then the building is empty. What a pity...