Karneval

 On November 11, Karneval season begins in Cologne and all over North Rhine Westphalia. There are celebrations in cities all over the state with the largest in Cologne. This season lasts until Lent begins, which this year meant until the end of February. Everything culminates in a huge Karneval celebration the weekend before Lent that's basically a cross between Halloween and Mardi Gras, but on an even larger scale. It's one big party, where people dress up in costumes, drink from dawn to dawn, and just have a big time with friends and family. On Rosenmontag (Rose Monday), there are big parades to end the Karneval celebrations. There's one in Muenster and I think many cities have them as well, but the big ones is in Cologne, so we decided last minute to head down there and see what the fuss was about. We left pretty early on Monday morning, and for some reason my brain would not shut down the night before so I pulled an all-nighter on accident, but this was still pretty fun.

Stores were boarded up and closed along the parade route (which was basically all the stores), swarms of people were everywhere, and we were among the odd men out because we weren't dressed up at all. A few days before, we'd considered going to Karneval and allllmost bought some cheap masquerade masks but didn't, and we sort of wish we had!

We moved around a few times, but here are some parade things we saw. For the first hour or so, I'm not sure there was a parade or if we were just witnessing random groups walking along. They were very dressed up, but they came in groups sporadically with lengthy intervals. I think the actual parade started pretty far from where we were and just took its time getting to us.

These people weren't part of a parade... just really dressed up.

There were quite a few political statements and even when we couldn't understand them all, we knew they weren't exactly pro-Trump. This sign says "There is no such thing as Climate Change"

And that's Hilary Clinton's face.

Once the main parade started, there weren't any gaps. There were lots of marching bands, large floats, and groups of people walking. They threw so much candy at the crowd (and at those watching from windows and balconies) and handed out flowers at times. I got hit in the face many times by candy raining from the sky. We knew about this, so we'd brought a bag to hold all of the treats. They were throwing big candy bars, lots of gummy candy, and some full boxes of chocolates among other things. Everyone was screaming "Koelle Alaaf!" or "Camelle!" (which means candy) and having a good time.

And true to form, the Germans know how to party. It seemed that everyone was having beer or shots or wine or all three and no one batted an eye at the fact that it was 10 in the morning. I'm sure the crowd got rowdy from all that at some point, but everyone I saw was jovial and happy, which has pretty much been the case with German drinking from what I've seen. Even those marching in the parade or on the floats had flasks or even full bottles of whatever and were taking sips as they rained down candy from above.

I loved this little baby popcorn costume. Very creative. The people watching here was really excellent.

And a picture with the Kolner Dom as we wove our way through crowded streets to the train station.


We made a stop in Essen to go to Primark (the one in Cologne was closed) and when we got out it was pouring rain. It was a rainy walk to the train and then when we got off in Muenster it was a rainy and cold walk home and then a block from our house, the paper shopping bag broke from the rain and we had to carry our things home. It wasn't a lengthy walk from that point, thankfully, but we felt like wet rats and shivered our way home.

Here's our haul. Most of it is mystery candy and probably a lot of it is milk chocolate which I don't love, but it's very much a fun adventure to try, and it was really fun to attend the parade and yell for candy and get it. We're both very glad we made it to Karneval and got to add another very German experience to our year here.

A Difficult Surrender

In January, we chose a word of the year: joy.

We chose "joy" because we felt that we were relatively accepting of the life we'd been given. We deeply desire a family and this year will be our fifth of waiting on that blessing. Over the past few years, we've struggled with a variety of issues relating to this and I think that in a sense we've become content with where we are in this journey. I really felt sort of mentally pushed toward the idea of being joyful in all circumstances, not just accepting them but receiving whatever hand we're dealt with a sense of thankfulness and peace that only comes from God.

The one thing I both love and hate about choosing a word like this to focus on is that it seems like that gets tested right away. Nearly immediately after the year began, it became difficult to choose joy. Something that sort of rocked the boat happened, and my commitment to being joyful plummeted and my worry and fear took over. It seemed natural and logical at the time, but in truth, I was saddened by how quickly my desire to live out this characteristic and word faded away when difficult things happened. 

I was up thinking the other night about all of these things, and trying to make myself not worry while also making a mental list of more things to worry about, when Psalm 4:8 popped into my head: "In peace, I will both lie down and sleep; for YOU ALONE, O Lord, make me dwell in safety." My immediate reaction to that verse was humility. There I was, thinking of more and more ways to worry my way into slumber, when I have Someone who is more than sufficient to take these worries upon Himself. It is a difficult surrender. 

The other day I mentioned wanting to "pull the golden thread" to Carson, and he didn't know what I was talking about. It's a story I remember reading as a child in the Children's Book of Virtues (I remember so many of these little stories and was so glad to find a nicely used copy at a thrift store last summer). In the story, there is a young man who is frustrated by the time he's been waiting for something and so one day he happens upon an old woman who gives him a spool of golden thread with a warning: you can pull the thread to move ahead to events in life, but you can't put it back. So the boy pulls the thread to shorten his school days, his engagement, the difficult years when his children are young... and one day he looks over and realizes that he's an old man and has completely missed out on his entire life. He finds the old woman and asks her if there is a way to push some of the thread back into the ball so he could relive the parts that he missed. There is not of course, and he missed his whole life. It turns out that the whole thing was a dream, so when he wakes up, he gets to live that same life over but without any skips. (I found an adaptation of the story here, and the cartoon with the story I also remember from Adventures From the Book of Virtues on YouTube)

The waiting is hard, but worth it. I think sometimes if I had a golden thread, I'd like to pull it just so I could get to the "other side" of this, but maybe there isn't another side. Maybe there's more waiting, or more wondering, or something else that I' can't imagine. Either way, I feel pretty confident that the journey is going to be worth it in the end. And I'm very thankful to not have the temptation of skipping ahead.

Worry isn't something that is going away as a struggle of mine, it's sticking around for the long haul. It's going to be that thing that when I'm 90, I'm battling. But I don't want to get to 90, or 29 for that matter, and suddenly realize that all my life I've been holding on to being in control. I don't want to trudge through life looking for things to worry about and focusing on what I can't change. I'd love for my nights to be for sleep and not for worry, and to be thankful when things are hard and when they're good. I want to thank God for what He's given me and then surrender my fears to Him. 

It's so hard. It sounds really easy and simple and I think that's what makes it so difficult. It's very easy to say things to myself like "Oh, but you have to plan ahead!" or "Oh, but I'm only googling this so I have peace of mind" and to turn to little things like that while slowly turning away from putting trust in God and confidence in His plan. 

So, joy, thankfulness, trust. These are things that are a burden right now. They are the difficult surrender as I attempt to place my will in line with God's plan. When He says no and I want it to be yes, choosing joy is hard. When He says turn right and I'd like to go left, it's still not easy. I want the control. I want the knowledge. I want to pull the golden thread and zoom ahead to the good parts. But the joy is not just in the good. It is in the heart of the struggle, it is in the yoke of trusting God's plan. It is in the everyday of looking to the cross and running the race that is set before us. 

"Rejoice in the Lord always; again I will say, rejoice. Let your reasonableness be known to everyone. The Lord is at hand; do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication WITH thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus" (Philippians 4:4-7)

Third Day in Copenhagen

Our last day in Denmark was the shortest day yet. I still had a cold, so we got up late and checked out of the hotel (they kept our bags while we went into the city, thankfully) and headed into Copenhagen. We had to get a picture with these signs, right across the street from the train station.

I asked Carson to take a picture over the gate to Tivoli Gardens and he did. It looks exactly like the "It's a Small World" ride at Disney World. I really wish we'd have been able to visit this place!

This is the Church of Our Saviour. I think the staircase is really neat!

We went to Christiania, which is a community in the Christianshavn area of Copenhagen. It's a free community which I think means that it's not governed by the same laws. It's something of a hippie commune. You aren't allowed to take pictures inside but it was a really interesting place to see. This is the exterior.

Inside is a little difficult to describe. I mean, it feels like what I'd expect a hippie commune to feel like. It's got a gritty edge to it, everything looked like it needed a good power washing (the lack of leaves on trees this time of year makes everything seem even dirtier and worse than it really is).

And... well, there's pot being sold openly inside on a certain street. This seemed to be a big attraction for many of the people walking around. It was very strange - there were men with huge bags full of marijuana set up at tables scooping and weighing out the correct amounts for people very openly. It wasn't scary, but it felt very weird. And the smell was definitely all over the air. I really hoped we didn't smell like that all day, but I don't know. Pot is not legal in Copenhagen, and technically isn't legal here either, but it must be a sort of "don't ask, don't tell" mentality, because it was pretty open.

For me, the highlight of Christiania was this dog. He spotted Carson ordering shwarma and batted those sad eyes our way and of course we offered him a sample, so he followed us around quietly pleading for more. I have no idea who he belonged to, but he was very cute.

After we left there, we walked toward Christiansborg Palace. I really think this dragon tail spire is so interesting.

We decided to spend some time sitting at a cafe, so we settled in with treats at Andersen's Bakery - I had this chocolate mousse thing and it was delicious, and Carson had a cream-filled something. We sat here for awhile talking and enjoying the free wifi before we decided to head to the airport.

Once at the airport, we thought this was handy. They had a long table that extended down a hallway with places to set your bag and arrange it for security, complete with bags for liquids to make it easier. We didn't have to take our shoes off at security, and the lines were very short.

We got hot dogs for lunch at the airport and they didn't break us financially, which was nice. If we'd known, we might have eaten airport hot dogs every day we were in Copenhagen.

The Copenhagen airport is NICE and you can shop inside. There's an H&M, a LEGO store, and countless other stores inside, all after security. I read that it was named "Best Airport" several years running and I'd believe it. We wandered around for awhile and then saw passport control leading to the gates, so we went through, surprised that we were getting our passports stamped. It's not often that we get passport stamps in Europe because the borders are so open - this might be the thing I'm most sad about when it comes to travel here. Anyway, we got our stamps and then discovered that... we were in the wrong gate area (people who are not travelling to somewhere in the EU would get their passports stamped and then fly there), so we had to go to the people and tell them that we were morons and needed to get out of that area. So we each got two passport stamps there. Nice little trick for if you want passport stamps but don't mind looking like an absolute moron... I don't think this happens that often, judging by the reaction we received (thankfully they were different people the second time).

We landed back in Cologne right on time and we got to see the Rhine and the city from the sky as we flew in (the dark river is, oddly enough, the river Rhine).

I thought this prayer room in the airport was interesting.

He posed like that.

We got on a train and realized we could get off at the Cologne Hbf or we could just stay on until we got to Dusseldorf, so we settled in and changed trains there instead. We had about 20 minutes between trains and spotted this Pizza Hut express and saw the prices and were like "Let's do this!" because we both ate for less than what one of us ate for in Copenhagen. Also we love Pizza Hut. We ordered it just about every week in Tallahassee, which explains a lot.

Copenhagen Day Two

On our second day in Copenhagen, I woke up with a lovely cold, making me want to spend the entire day in bed instead of going out into the cold once again. We got a later start because of this, and the rest was nice. Our feet were rather tired from so much walking the day before.

We looked for breakfast options in the train station and I'd decided that avocado sounded good, so we found a salad bar inside a grocery store there and I had a salad with avocado and chicken for breakfast. And it was delicious.

Carson made a friend!

Stroller parking

Someone came up to Carson and asked for directions because his phone maps were not good. We helped, and I hope our directions were helpful - they were certainly better than whatever app he had!

We happened upon the Botanical Gardens and walked through. February is not the prettiest time to visit botanical gardens, however, so we just enjoyed the walk and the statues.

We went to the National Gallery of Denmark next, but it was expensive and we don't consider ourselves to be art buffs enough to merit a visit, so Carson used their restroom while I sat on the couch in the lobby and tried to stay awake. I am a baby when I have a cold.

Right across the street from that is Rosenborg Castle, which used to be the royal residence, but is now where the crown jewels are held. You can tour it as well for about 15 Euro, or it is included in the Copenhagen Card (which could be a really good deal if you wanted to do a lot of the things on it!), but once again, we just looked at the outside.

We watched this procession heading down a main street. I don't know where they were going or why (if I had to guess I'd imagine they were coming from a castle or palace), but all the nearby tourists lined the streets and took pictures!

Our next stop was the Design Museum of Denmark. It was a pretty decent museum and we got free admission. We got to see textiles and furniture and all kinds of design, from all over the world but of course especially from Denmark.

This chair exhibit was really neat!

There are hot dog stands all over the city like this one and we'd been told that they were a good and cheap meal!

We walked toward the water and made our way down toward Nyhavn.

Amalienborg Palace

There were lots of these saunas available and we thought it would have been a funny thing to do. I'm told this is big in Scandinavian countries.

We crossed the bridge toward Christianshavn and went to Papiron (Paper Island) where there's a famous food market. It's very fun and we felt old and uncool being there but really enjoyed it. There was lots of eye candy.

Inside this big warehouse are booths with different kinds of food from all over the world. Just about everything looked delicious and it was hard to choose. In the end, I went with a burger that had shrimp on it and Carson went for a pulled pork sandwich. It probably sounds counter intuitive to you that we ate some pretty "American" sounding food, but remember that we don't live in America at the moment and sometimes you just miss the food of your people! And I've never had a burger with shrimp before this.

The sun did really fun things so these pictures are totally posed.

Then we walked back over the bridge in search of Stroget, a big shopping street with lots of pricey brands and fun stores (they have a Disney store!).

Royal Copenhagen is a well-known brand of China and we walked around their flagship store. Before we went in, I'd thought it might be fun to pick up a small mug or something, but it became apparent very quickly that I could not afford even the smallest thing inside the store. It was beautiful though!

For size reference, that's a small cake plate. Can you imagine bringing something that breakable and that expensive into your home? I'd probably break it on the way out the door and cry all the way home.

For a less breakable experience, we went to the Lego store! Legos are from Denmark! They didn't have any special Denmark Lego sets inside, but they did have displays and statues (I guess you'd say?) made from Lego bricks that represented Copenhagen.

It wasn't long after we'd eaten our very late lunch, but we decided to head back to the hotel at about 6pm and we grabbed dinner on our way. Carson got a sandwich to eat later from 7-11 and I got a hot dog. It had one of those funny buns that's hollow most of the way in the middle but not all the way through and they squirt a ton of whatever condiment you want in the bottom so you're basically eating mayonnaise with a side of hot dog by the time you get to the end. I ended up eating the hot dog and throwing a good part of the bun away (by that I mean I was going to throw it away but Carson ate it).

By the time we'd gotten back, my cold had decided to rear its ugly head. I could barely breathe, but fell asleep relatively quickly after putting a hot towel on my face to relieve the pressure (I know no one cares that I was sick, but I'm mostly writing these things down so I can read them later since I don't journal, but I know that later I'll want to remember that oh yeah, I was sick! I remember that!).