Germany's Reunification Day

Yesterday, 3/10/19, was the German reunification day where we celebrated the fall of the Berlin Wall. My family, a friend, and I took this opportunity to watch the local Warburg parade and go to the carnival.

*Today's highlights: first creppe, first liederhosen sighting, "maeuschen" herz, carnival rides, listening to marching bands*

The parade took place in Warburg along the main street. Every year their is a queen to represent Warburg. Many people in the parade wore traditional dresses or liederhosen and threw candy to the crowd. There were floats about history, local shops and clubs, and lots of adorable kindergartners. Certain clubs even did tricks regarding their floats. I saw dances, street gymnastics, ping pong, and tennis being played as they walked along the streets. (There was one float that offered alcoholic samples to the adults). I've participated in and watched a lot of parades, but none as extravaggent as this!

Walking in, the first thing I noticed about the carnival was that here was a crazy amount of people. There were food, clothing, and game stands set up throughout the entire carnival field selling anything from wienerschnizel to an EU flag. There were stands serving crepps, waffles, chocolate fruit, sausages, beer, jewelry, scarves, shoes, you name it! I, personally, only bought food which included my first ever nutella creppe (of many more to come).

Finally, pushing our way through to the rides, we jumped at the chance to ride what is known as "Musikappella", but first, we needed to buy a ticket. There were ticket stands directly in front of each tride and each stand only had the tickets for the ride it was in front of. They weren't the paper tickets I was expecting to receive, rather a reusable plastic one (see gallery). I was, also, surprised to find that we didn't wair in line for our turn to ride. Instead, everyone stood around and it and took their seats immediately after someone had left. Prices are a bit more expensive, but the duration of the ride is longer. The rides themselves are similar if not the same as American carnival rides. There are a few exceptions such as bumper cars and one where kids can go inside a blown up, clear ball to walk on water (weird but awesome). Afterwards, my family took me to the heart cookie stand and bought me a small "maeuschen" (meaning sweet little mouse) cookie becuase, in my guest father's words, I was the newest and smallest addition to the family. I couldn't have felt more honored.