|| Fasnacht In Basel//Part Two ||

Craziness right? Photos might give you insight of this carnival, but there is nothing like being there. The themed groups throw out oranges, roses, flowers, candy and I saw some carrots and potatoes too. Not to mention the mounds of confetti being thrown or shot out at people. Spectators are crazy for catching the flying confetti, oranges, candy...etc. Each group also hands out a paper that tells the story, in rhyme, of their theme. Some people around me went crazy for those...this one old lady was relentless about getting each, like if she couldn't reach a paper she had someone near it get it for her. Once she got one, she would hand them to her husband...he had quite the little pile in his hands.

Jachen strongly dislikes having confetti thrown on him, so he didn't want to get too close to the "parade"so he stayed back with his dad to watch while I went into the thick of it. How it works is there is an inner loop and an outer loop of groups so there is essentially two different lines/sets of groups going at the same time. I was standing in the perfect spot, right in between both circles so I was where they would pass each other. To my right was the outer loop and my left the inner...or vice versa. I had confetti thrown on me many times, but there were some areas where people would get drenched with confetti. A few times Jachen came where I was standing to visit me and the poor guy had confetti thrown on him. I actually didn't stay for the whole thing, after over an hour and a half standing and switching between watching both sides of the parade I was getting tired. So I left my spot and went to met up with Jachen and his dad. His name is Gian by the way, I am getting tired of saying "Jachen's dad" so, I met up with them and we decided to leave. However, on our way out it was inevitable that we would see more because street after street was filled with people and more costume people. Instead of taking the boat back over the Rhine, we walked across one of the bridges. It was packed! Who knew the "parade" was going on, on the other side of the Rhine too? Man, those groups have a lot of ground to cover...however I was informed the Fasnacht committee is a stickler on making sure groups get breaks...which is good. So we crossed the bridge and took a bus back to Gian's car. What a day! Thanks to Gian for taking us and spoiling us while we were there.

I took tons of pics, but these are my favs.

That was my first confetti of the day

Sneaky kids would throw confetti at some costume people, but this kid got it back full force

See that shot of confetti?

Seriously mass amounts of people on several streets. 

Where I stood was about smack dab in the middle of this picture.

Gian's group in action.

Gian buying us Basel treats. He is such a spoiler.

See how the bridge is covered with people?

Good times.
Part one, here & 2010 Fasnacht, here.