Cows on the subway

Kölle Alaaf! – Long live Cologne

I am definitely a carnival reveller! I love this time of year, when you’re sitting next to a cow in the subway, watching a cowboy driving by on his bike or when you’re standing in a queue in your local bakery with a knight, a pig and a clown. During carnival, Cologne and the Rhineland go haywire. The entire city is absolutely colourful, everyone is dressed up and jolly, and even the shops are closed most of the time. Every day and every night people go to different places, dancing, singing and laughing, and I hardly ever leave the house without a costume during these six days of carnival. It’s definitely my favourite time of the year!

Why I love Carnival

I was born in the Rhineland and I have been celebrating carnival as long as I can remember. Without it, my year would simply be incomplete! "Karneval" officially starts on 11 November and ends on "Aschermittwoch" (Ash Wednesday), which is normally sometime in February or early March. The biggest and most celebrated days of carnival are the last six days before Ash Wednesday. In these days from "Weiberdonnerstag" (Womens' Thursday) to "Veilchendienstag" (Violets' Tuesday), carnival is no longer celebrated in festival halls, like the weeks before, but out in the streets. Every year, I look forward to the start of this street carnival weeks beforehand.

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