German Karneval Weekend

Two German colleagues of Ed invited us to their villages to celebrate Karneval. We headed to the Günther haus on Friday afternoon. After arriving there we met up with the Seehusen family and we all enjoyed some local German cuisine. Saturday brought a private tour of Bonn (former West German Capital) and Koblenz. The first stop was the Haribo factory store to stock up on enough gummy bears to last a lifetime. In Koblenz we went to the Deutsches Eck (German corner) monument. It is at the confuence of the Rhein and Moselle rivers. Then we went up to Fortress Ehrenbreitstein that was first built in 1066 and then rebuilt in 1817. After our Koblenz portion of the trip we drove to the famed Nürburgring to see if anyone was out test driving their vehicles. Due to recent snow the track was closed so we'll have to postpone that one until this spring/summer. Maria prepared us a wonderful meal upon our return from traveling. The next day we enjoyed a wonderful brunch along the river Rhein (Rhine) in Bonn. After brunch we just hung out all day letting the kids and adults play. We needed to rest up for Monday's activities. Monday morning we headed to the Seehusen haus to get ready for Lüftelberg's Karneval train. The village has about 1500 people and they had a small parade that looped throughout the town. Each portion of the parade had costumed people throwing candy and gifts into the crowd along the route. Manfred was right in the mix helping the three kids collect as much sugar as was physically possible. He commented at one point that he didn't remember his kids getting this much candy. Maybe because as the parent you didn't help them pick up every last piece. Everyone was having a great time trying to find the next corner to walk to in order to catch the parade again. After lunch we headed to Morenhoven for their train. Morenhoven is a bit larger than Luftelberg so the parade was longer and there were some special "candy" for the adults. German beer and schnaps make for a more festive Karneval. After catching the train three or four times we ended up in the town hall where they had food, beer, and a DJ playing music all night. After a number of Kölsh beers and dancing with the girls we headed back to the Günther haus for some sleep. The next day we headed for the second portion of our trip, Garmisch for skiing.