Spazieren gehen im Waldpark, Fasching in Ludwigshafen, Schwetzingen

Spazieren gehen am Sonntag im Waldpark (Strolling on a Sunday in Waldpark)

Waldpark is a nature reserve that is somewhere south of Mannheim, and today we woke up really early to take a walk. In fact it is a common German pasttime to walk on Sunday. I was introduced to Ian's friend who also just arrived in Mannheim and he will be attending German preparatory courses like Ian before studying full time in Germany.

as you can see from the exhaled air as we speak, you can imagine how cold it is.

Nature trail
It was meant to be a puddle of water, but well... it got frozen and my shoes crushed it.

Verrücker Fasching in Ludwigshafen (Crazy Carnival at Ludwigshafen)

The march possession which I saw on Saturday in Mannheim (earlier post) was just a mini appetizer to what I was going to experience in the afternoon. Ludwigshafen is just seperated by a river away from Mannheim, and so we went there in the afternoon to catch the parade. It was something like a chinggay festivals, with march past by kids, adults and even the elderly. Each mascots were actually by different German firms or associations. And as they marched past, they threw sweets, popcorn and other snacks at the people watching, and everyone scrambled to grab them. Most people even brought along their bags they use for shopping (in Germany you do not get plastic bags when you shop) to fill them up with sweets. And as the paraders marched past, they greeted us with Ahoi!

Ahoi!

They came in trucks like this and threw sweets from the trucks at the watchers

And some crazy people who lived along the streets used their fishing rods and umbrellas to catch the sweets!

My stash for the day.. not bad considering I spent a lot of time on videos n snapping away instead of picking up sweets

And I also videoed some of the very interesting costumes and march past by different groups. All can be found in the picasa online folder. All in all it was a crazy day. Kids dressing up in different mascots. Even adults and some eldery are in wacky costumes. The policeman on duty were disturbed by the march past people and their cars sprayed with streamers. You'd never see this in Singapore. No wonder Steffi, my German friend who is now in Singapore said that Fashing is when hell break loose.

Eislaufen und Schloß in Schwetzingen (Ice skating and Palace in Schwetzingen)

After having enough of the parade, we hurried down to Schwetzingen before it got dark.. yeah the sun sets at like 5.30pm here in Germany during this period of the year. Schwetzingen is a small town which is about 20minutes via train from Mannheim. And like almost every German cities, you see castles/palaces everywhere once you step into the inner core of the city. The streets in Schwetzingen gave me the feeling that this is an expensive place to live in. At the same time, what caught my attention was the outdoor ice-skating rink. It was interesting because the temperature was like 2-3deg but not 0. According to Hong Keat, it could be due to because chemicals were added to make the water freeze at a slightly higher temperature.

Sun was about to set when we reached there at 5plus

The snow on the floor is real. It was just being showeled off the skating ring so that it is still skatable for the next group of people.

Schloß (Palace) in Schwetzingen next to the skating ring. Actually it looks very common and you see palaces almost everywhere in Germany. Shall blog about the one in Mannheim next time.

Schwetzingen at 6pm

Ok, time to sign off. I am going to cook dinner now. I bought dried Pasta with white sausages which I am going to have for dinner. Hopefully I am still able to blog during this time as school has not yet begun for me.

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/03Feb08StrollingAtWaldparkFaschingAtLudwigshafenAndSchwetzingen

http://picasaweb.google.com/mannheim08/WaldparkFaschingSchwetzingenCharmaine