Fasching = Halloween + Donuts

Last Tuesday was Fasching (aka carnival aka Fat Tuesday . . . ) and I got to celebrate Munich style. While the best place to be for Fasching is actually Koln, Munich was fun too. There is a big celebration in the Marienplatz where everyone is dressed up in costumes and walks around drinking, eating, and throwing massive amounts of confetti, but mostly they are drinking. There are portable bars set up all over and not just beer but wine, Gluhwein, hard alcohol, and pretty much any other kind you'd want.

My favorite part is that the traditional food for Fasching is krapfen aka Berliner aka filled donuts. It is so nice to have an excuse to eat donuts all the time, and even though the US is the country known for loving donuts I have to say that Germany in general has nearly perfected the filled donut.

The costumes are great and let me just say that there are no holds barred. Everything goes. There were fruits, witches, Hello Kittys, tigers, police officers, and then people dressed as Mexicans, Arabs, Gypsies, and more. I found that a bit surprising and realized that in the US we don't typically dress in the traditional (or stereotypical) dress of major cultures. I don't know if it is good or bad. Anyway, Fasching was a great day and not just because we only had to work a half day!