Speaking of toilet brushes . . .

The impromptu gift of a toilet brush last week reminded me of one of the things about Germany that struck us particularly quirky when we moved here, something that is still the case, judging by our experience helping a friend in his move to Germany recently.

In the US, rentals, both apartments and rental homes, come standard with a "furnished" kitchen.  At a minimum renters expect a kitchen to come equipped with counters, cabinets, a sink, an oven and a stove top.   Whether or not a fridge is standard varies by region, but it quite often is.  Many include a dishwasher as well.  

Here in Germany the majority of landlords expect you to bring, or buy, your own kitchen.  The kitchen of your newly rented unit will look something like this when you are handed the keys:

That's right, the kitchen is simply a big, empty room with hook-ups for a sink, and extra electrical for stoves, ovens, etc.  There might be tile or other "backsplash" material at the right height along the walls.  This is a really alien and confusing concept to us Americans (apparently also to the Brits) but totally the norm among Germans. 

Likewise, in the US we expect to find light fixtures installed and ready and waiting when we move in.  Not so in Germany where we found mostly bare wires hanging from the ceiling six years ago.

But the funniest thing to us, the most oddball, whose bizarre-ness was only heightened by the lack of a kitchen or lights, was that when we unlocked the doors and walked in, lined up neatly on the bottom step, were three brand new toilet brushes, sitting in their little holders and wrapped in cellophane.  One for each toilet in the house.  

Similarly, our friend who just moved here has an apartment with no kitchen (the previous tenants kindly offered to leave their light fixtures as they want different ones in the new place, so he is lucky there).  He collected the keys on a Sunday and the poor landlord was falling all over himself apologizing that he had forgotten to buy the new toilet brush (stores are closed on Sundays, as you might recall) and promising to bring one buy first thing Monday morning.

Yes, it would seem that Germans place great stock in the value of a clean toilet bowl.

--Hadley

The Tale of a Toilet Brush

Marika and I go for a walk around town nearly every day.  More often than not our walks include a stop at one of the local grocery stores--we have definitely fallen into the habit of buying fresh items just in time to prepare same day.  We had an interesting incident about a block from the store earlier this week:

I still have the American habit of smiling and saying "hello" (or "guten Morgen" as the case may be) to nearly everyone we pass when we are out and about.  After wishing an older lady who was heading home with her groceries a good morning, she stopped and asked us if we needed a new toilet brush.
 Okay, now both Marika and I understood the German right away, but we convinced ourselves that we MUST have misunderstood--I mean, who asks you if you need a toilet brush, just randomly, while you're walking down the street?  We must have looked as confused as we felt because she went on to explain.
 It seems that her son-in-law accidentally stepped on her toilet brush holder over the weekend, cracking it.  The holders are not sold individually, so she had just bought a new brush in a holder.  She lives alone now and has recently replaced her brushes and will not need that new brush for  long time and hates to see it going to waste.  A mom and teen walking together indicate we are a family, and families need new brushes often, so she thought she could give it to us and know it would not be wasted.

Which is how I became the owner of one brand new toilet scrubbing brush.

Sometimes life in Germany (or anywhere) is very random.

--Hadley

Heidelberg Faschings Parade 2015

Like New Orleans celebrating Mardi Gras, Heidelberg always celebrates Faschings with a parade on Fat Tuesday.  Being a small city, having a large university and being a tourist town all contribute to our parade being quite a big bigger and having more of a prolonged party atmosphere than the smaller, more hometown celebration of Michelstadt.  Heidlberg is much smaller than the Rose Monday celebrations in Köln (Cologne) and Mainz, never really out of control (that I have ever seen) and there is no charge for simply being downtown to view and celebrate,  but it is not tiny by any stretch of the imagination.

It's a pretty long route, running for about 1 kilometer down Bergheimer Strasse and then down the full length of the long pedestrian zone in the city, for a total distance of nearly three kilometers.  It moves slowly too--starting at 2:11 and generally begining to pass by our preferred viewing location near Universitätplatz around 4:00.  And it is all the lead up to one giant party: the final float is always sponsored by the radio station Sunshine Live, which plays loud music out behind the float and ropes off a safe distance back--after which a growing stream of attendees join in a moving street party as they follow the parade further into the city.  Yesterday it took a good ten minutes for all the people to pass us by as they kept coming and coming, ready for more fun lasting well into the night.  I've never been one for long or loud parties, so am always among the 20% or so heading away from the madness once the parade has passed me by (most of the rest heading my way have young kids or are seniors).

I had a few technical difficulties yesterday, so do not have as many photos as I'd like, but here is what I got to share:

Most of the route is JAMMED with people, but there is a small stretch just before Uniplatz that is virtually empty every year--so that is where we head.  This photo was taken at 3:30, as the parade was coming into earshot.  

First up we always have two police cars: one driving right on the right edge of where people are allowed to stand and the other on the left, to move the crowd into a safe position.

The man playing the part of Perkeo (legendary wine taster whose likeness is still in Heidelberg Castle) spent the entire 10 minutes that his float was going past our area, glued to his cell phone.  I guess it gets boring after 2 hours up there?  I am always amazed by how energetic and into it the marchers normally are, even that late into the parade--even little kids and even when it is very cold; I guess eventually someone not so interested had to come along.  

(a little more on Perkeo is here:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Perkeo_of_Heidelberg)

Most bands all have matching facepaint too.

It was quite a bit colder yesterday than Sunday--so most groups had capes no over their fancy dresses.

In the "big city" we primarily have trucks, instead of tractors

We have more and more witch groups each year

The ONE tractor 

The witches look scary, but are all about silly fun.  They dump loads of confetti on the crowd, often tease and interact and play around, and frequently hand out small toys to the children (this is in addition to the candy that all the groups pelt young and old with).  

The Ziegelhausen Hexen (witches) have bee in the parade every time I have seen it (and likely a very long time, Ziegelhausen is a section of Heidelberg).  

Here you can see one of the witches chasing a child around her mother (all in good fun, no frightened child, lots of laughing).  There is a LOT of crowd interaction like that from most groups.  I missed the "money shot" when another witch went after Marika with a broom, Marika pulled out her wand and they had a "duel")

And at this point, my battery gave out, but the parade was near the end anyway.  I hope you enjoyed this little glimpse of all the fun in Heidelberg for Faschings.

--Hadley

A Ravenclaw, a pirate and a fighterpilot walked through a wall . . .

. . .in order to attend the Faschings parade in Michelstadt.

Faschings, in case you are not already aware, is the German celebration similar to Mardi Gras or Carnival--and it is some of the most FUN to be had in Germany.  All over the Southern half of the country (and some in the Nothern parts) sometimes between last Friday and this coming Tuesday small towns and big cities have parades and silly, fun, drunken (but rarely out of control) parties.  Faschings parades, which all seem to start at exactly 2:11 p.m. on whichever day the town celebrates, are living proof that the stereotype of Germans as always serious is simply not true.  

Americans wear costumes for Halloween, but Germans wear them for Faschings and they are nearly always silly and light hearted, and everyone, of all ages, participates. Scary or Macabre costumes are really not around at all (you do see those at the growing number of Halloween events cropping up in the fall) Here are a few crowd shots in Michelstadt today:

We'd never been to Michelstadt's parade before.  We wanted to try a smaller town's parade today (Heidelberg is always on Tuesday) and thought this picturesque little town. which does such a nice job with the Christmas Market, would be a good place to try--and it WAS.  We had a wonderful time.  It was just big enough to feel real but small enough to be low stress and have a sweet, small town feel.  Below are many images from the parade, with just a few comments here and there:

Most parades seem to be preceded by a pretzel cart; how could Marika resist a pretzel?

Many of these truck-floats (and also the walkers, some pulling wagons of supplies) throw out candy or bagged popcorn.   Quite a few will also hand you a beer (free, no ID check--this would so never happen in the USA)

I love how Carnival Clubs will have marchers of all ages: from toddlers to seniors

If you aren't careful to cover the top as floats go by, a tossed candy might land in that free beer!

I love the classic "Fashcing's Girl" dresses (I have no idea what they are really called, but that is what Marika and I call them)

I got such a kick about this Steinbach fire department float

Yes, the firefighters dressed as KISS

The float says that when Steinbach is not on fire they'll rock your socks off (it rhymes in German)

A rare pick up truck in Germany, carrying the Prince and Princess as well as the child Prince and child Princess

After the parade, we joined hundreds of others streaming into the bakery for the traditional Faschings treat: jelly filled donuts known as Berliners or Keppels.  Mmmmmm.

I love how, right about when winter is becoming draining and bleak, Germany jumps in and livens everything up with a PARTY full of color and fun.  Happy Faschings!

--Hadley