Creed had always wanted to go to Basel and see Fasnacht again. He did this on his mission. On February 22 we went off to Basel on the intersection of the Swiss, German, and French borders. The vibrantly red Rathaus in Basel is very beautiful.
At the back of the Basler Münster, overlooking the Rhein.
We went to see one of Heidi's old friends in Zürich.
Nash & Grant on Bahnhofstrasse, in front of the Zürich Bahnhof.
Grant and Luke on Paradeplatz, with the Grossmünster in the background.
And at the end of Bahnhofstrasse, overlooking the Zürichsee.
Luke enjoyed the street musicians, and made a small donation.
Heidi and Angie.
Up at Lindenhof, a park overlooking the Limmat river, with nice views of the city.
View of Zürich from Lindenhof, with the Grossmünster in the background.
On Monday we woke up at 3 in the morning for Morgestraich, the beginning of Fasnacht.
All the electric lights in the city went out to be replaced by candle lit lanterns mounted on the heads of masked Pfeifer und Tambouren (fifers and drumers). These groups are called Cliques and there are many that participate in Basler Fasnacht.
There were many interesting characters and costumes. The drums and fifes were deafening but fun at the same time.
Each group of fifers and drummers had huge lanterns that they paraded through the streets.
After the early morning parades we headed back to the hotel, slept a bit, and then headed back out to the city center to see the daytime parades.
The picture above shows a little Basler dressed up as a Waggi in the Fasnacht daytime parades. The Waggi costumes are designed, as tradition has it, to resemble the farmers from Alsace just across the French border who used to sell their produce in Basel. In Karneval in Cologne and Bonn the participants wear costumes that make fun of invading French soldiers. I guess German speakers just love to make fun of the French.
These parades are famous for their confetti. We bought some of our own. On Luke's right collar there is a small copper badge. This is called a Plaquette. One can buy these from noisy venders shouting 'Pllllllaquette' all around the city. The proceeds go to the Cliques and they support Fasnacht. If you don't have one of these badges you will be heavily bombarded with confetti as we saw countless times.
Mallory reaching out for candy, oranges, or anything else thrown out by the people on the floats.
Swiss-Native American tepee float. Interesting.
Native American Swiss drummers. Not odd at all.
I've never seen more confetti in my life!
Ankle-deep confetti in the streets.
