Fasching Parade in Wiesbaden, Germany

In Rio, they have Carnival; in New Orleans, they have Mardi Gras; but in Wiesbaden (and the rest of Germany), they have Fasching.

This is an insanely busy parade that lasts for HOURS upon end, and it was unlike anything I had ever seen before.  I think we went down about an hour or so into the parade and left after 2 1/2 to 3 hours, and the parade was still going strong.

We walked down from our house, as we had a feeling it would be insanely busy.  Good guess on that one.

Caedmon backpacked it.  He was too little to really care about much of it, and despite all of the ruckus, he fell asleep.

This was probably the most normal thing we saw the entire day.

People didn't just throw out candy, they threw out bags of popcorn, lanyards, and all kinds of crazy stuff.

The marching bands were pretty cool.  Everyone was dressed up in some kind of elaborate costume.  I personally prefer the dragons to the huntsmen with wooden shoes below.

Yep, they are handing out drinks.  Beer, wine, I don't even know what else, and this was probably at about 10-11am.

I'm not sure what the story is with the hats, but each group seemed to have the same type but a different style/design.

Shooting off canons always adds a little pep to the parade.  And yes, they did shoot it.

Oh look, more beer!  Yeah, I have never seen so many happy, probably drunken, people.

See below.  ;-)

So this was my first taste of a real mardi gras style celebration, and it was something else!