This year carnaval was a little bit more quiet than previous years; instead of going the usual four days and staying till 4 in the morning, I went three days and arrived home more earlier. Still, it was a most enjoyable time. Especially, our participation in a parade was a lot of fun, more than I expected. Also because we had such a lovely group. This was the first time I particated in a parade, and I think our theme of the traffic jams on our local highway was a nice one, and the costumes were lovely done. As you can see on the picture below, I ended up walking the parade with a stag’s head in front of me, quite useful for getting people out of the way I must confess 
Yesterday, I had the great honour of taking part in one of my friends’ happiest days of their live, and what a beautiful day it was. Not only was I invited to celebrate this joyous wedding day with them, but Erik already had asked me in the beginning of this year to be his best man. And being a best man means you have to buy a suit, my first one ever. The day already started well, very sunny, but at the same time a wee bit nippy, especially noticed during the self-organised photo session in Terworm, where Jan (their brother-in-law) and I did our best to make the most beautiful pictures of the happy couple. Finally, we ended up in a nearby village, Ubachsberg, where we were able to warm up a bit again with warm coffee, buns, and of course the traditional wedding cake. Afterwards, the party started, first with the groom, Stephan, and me playing some of our good ole drinking songs, taken over later by the DJ. All-in-all, it was a lovely day that ended in a great party! For the curious, I of course included a picture of the happy couple, the maid of honour, and yours truly.
Carneval 2008 just went by too fast…maybe also because it was already so early in the season…when I really started getting in my yearly carneval mood it was already Tuesday and hence carneval was already over. I had a great time though with my good friends Rob, Stephan and Olivia. The first day, Saturday in Voerendaal is always awesome, also because then we’re always with a nice group of amazing people. Sunday, we watched the parade in Heerlen, started at around two in the afternoon and ended around the same time in the night. Monday it was time for the Rosenmontagzug in Aachen, although still fine, it did not last as long as last year, maybe also because it was very cold and a rainy day. Moreover, Stephan totally freaked out over the aggressively flirting German women, and asked me to protect him from them. The day after it was the big parade in my home town, one of the last in our province and therefore always a big one, because all carneval addicts from other towns want to walk one last parade…again this year it was beautiful…although it was really cold and Rob, his cousin and I were already soon found in the warmth of a local pub. Anyway, check out my Flickr page for some nice pics of the parade:
http://flickr.com/photos/78327945@N00
