We came across these witches while skiing in Austria a couple weeks ago. Witches are everywhere during carnival season, looking for naughty children to kidnap and put in cages. I wonder if these found any on the slopes?
Happy Fat Tuesday!
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Today München Narrisch (“Mad Munich”) got underway downtown. The walking district is full of costumed revelers enjoying carnival food, all kinds of drinks, live music, and other entertainment. Naturally there’s plenty of confetti to go around – confetti which I’ll be picking out of my hair and shoes for days to come, I’m sure.
This carnival celebration continues through Tuesday, all day every day. One of the highlights is supposed to be the Dance of the Market Women on Tuesday morning at 11:00 at the Viktualienmarkt.
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Bellinzona is one of the most beautiful cities in southern Switzerland, nestled between the mountains with a castle-studded skyline. This Italian-speaking city would be worth a visit almost any time of year, but it’s especially fun during carnival season. Rabadan got started yesterday, and will be in full swing until February 5th. There’s a daily parade of creatively-themed floats as well as parties all around the city each evening.
The one downside? Bellinzona is the only city I’ve ever been to that actually closed off the city center and demanded an entrance fee (I believe it was around CHF10) during their …read more
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The carnival spirit is in the air here in Munich. I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s celebrations. Here are some other cities getting geared up for some revelry, as well:
The Paris Traveler takes a look at the ever-popular Carnival in Venice. The costumes really are exquisite to see, but the crowds combined with the narrow, winding streets are pretty intense. It’s one of those events that I’m glad I went to but never need to experience first-hand again…
The Switzerland Traveler takes us to Lucerne’s carnival (called Fasnacht in German-speaking Switzerland). There are parades, costumes, and a whole lot of …read more
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Cities all over the continent grow lively and festive in the days and weeks leading up to Fat Tuesday, which falls very early (February 5th) in the year in 2008. Although Venice has the most internationally well-known European carnival (and arguably the most beautiful costumes around), plenty of other cities put on world-class celebrations, as well. This week at Europe String I’ll be taking a look at some of these festivities.
Interested in attending some carnival fun yourself? The local tourist office should be able to tell you what’s planned in the city you’re in, or which nearby cities are worth …read more
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The 6th of January is a holiday in many European countries (because, you know, there haven’t been enough holidays recently). It is the celebration of Three King’s Day (or Epiphany), supposedly the day that the three kings made their way to visit Jesus with all those funky gifts. The celebrations vary a bit from country to country, but most seem to involve some form of baked goods and crowns. Here are a couple examples:
The Paris Traveler shows us how the Fetes des Rois is done in France.
Spain celebrates with processions and cakes, with the most famous festivities happening in the …read more
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