I didn't know that today (the 8th of March) is the International Women's Day. There were posters about gender equality in career at the office entrance, but it just didn't strike my mind. So, to all women around the world, Happy International Women's Day!
How did I know about this special day?
A shop owner in Rotterdam gave me a beautiful stalk of pink rose. Well, one of his employees actually did not know about it until he came to work. He even mentioned that Valentine's Day was just less than a month ago. Now, guys have to prepare something for women... again! I'm not complaining, though; I'm on the receiving end ;)
How do I celebrate International Women's Day?
Not in a very glamorous way. I went out with my friend for a retail therapy at PRIMARK (also known as Penney's in Ireland and UK). We frequently visited Penney's when we were in Ireland and we've never been to PRIMARK. It's about 10 minutes away by train from Rotterdam Centraal, so it's not too bad for the both of us. My colleague warned me that it's always crowded in the weekends, and there's no lie in it. I don't think I'm gonna come back there on Saturday or Sunday. I could barely breathe there, and the queue for the fitting room was so long. It took me about half an hour just to get into the fitting room. Thankfully, the cashiers were somehow efficient. It didn't take us that long to wait on the queue.
And then... we went for a 'meat' therapy. Not very glamorous or lady-like, I know. But hey, we are supposed to celebrate gender equality, right? Who says women can't love grilled meats?
It was also very sunny and warm outside, so we decided to sit by the flower bed and dig in to indulgence. Which turned out to be cold and needed to be reheated, but we still ate our shares anyways.
There was no big celebration in Rotterdam (or maybe I missed it), but it was such a nice day today, and I feel so blessed. I hope everyone had a good Saturday, and again...
Early in January, my plan to celebrate Carnival in Cologne (Köln) was initially cancelled. I then thought of going to Den Bosch or Maastricht in the Netherlands, but somehow that plan failed too because there was no solid plan. I finally went to Breda on Friday, only to get stared and giggled at in Rotterdam Centraal Station with my costume. Generally, Carnival is only celebrated in the southern part of Holland and practically, there's no one in Rotterdam who celebrates Carnival. Well, a few, but not many.
So, thanks to my Facebook post, my old friend in Cologne said I should come down there, and that I could stay with her (yayyy!!). It was a really last-minute trip planned.
What's so fun about Carnival? What IS Carnival, anyways?
The boring explanation is that it's a big celebration before Ash Wednesday. People in Cologne actually started celebrating on 11 November at 11:11 AM and it kind of gets temporarily suspended during Advent and Christmas period. Then, they get crazy again about 4 days before Ash Wednesday. Typically, the climax is on the Monday before Fat Tuesday(party all you can before you can't for the next 40 days if you are a Catholic, or just party all you can even if you are not religious anyways) and they call it the Rosenmontag (Rose Monday).
In practicality, going to a Carnival parade, at least in Cologne, means:
1) Screaming for sweets, candies and chocolates,
2) Screaming for flowers,
3) Wearing costumes,
4) Having fun, and
5) Drinking beers.
Before going to watch the parade in Cologne, make sure you know how to shout these three words:
1) Kölle Alaaf!!
It means "Cologne above all" in Kölsch (a dialect in Cologne). Every now and then you will hear the commentator of the parade shout "Kölle!" and then everyone will respond with "Alaaf!". It's like shouting "Hip-hip!" "Hurrah!!"
And don't forget to wave your right hand to the air as you shout "Alaaf!"
Every songs you hear during Carnival in Cologne is basically about Cologne-is-awesome. Which indeed it is during the Carnival. Here's one of the few Carnival songs that are still stuck in my head: Viva Colonia.
Shout this when you see the paraders getting ready to throw candies, sweets, or chocolates. Or if you don't care about getting flowers. Just keep shouting, get ready to catch, and... hopefully you'll get one. You should be able to get one, at least from those that fell on the ground because nobody could catch it. The parade lasted for about 5 hours on the same spot, so if you really couldn't get any candies... I think it's time to consider getting some exercise to train your body's reaction time.
Now, this one is a bit more difficult. When you shout for Strüßjer, you are asking for a bunch of flowers. Typically, you'll get roses, but I've seen others like tulips and orchids. These are more rare than the confectioneries, but if you are lucky, you can even get as much as 30 stalks or so, and make a giant bouquet out of the flowers you got.
I myself got in total of 5 stalks, of which all were roses. I earned three of them from the parade, and I earned the other two from other kind-hearted spectators. I was even ready to trade my chocolates for the flowers. I've seen some people trading their flowers for a piece of warm pizza, too. If there is one thing I learned from this parade, that is if you know what you want, you have to find your way to earn it.
The policewomen who guarded the parade also have at least a stalk of flower on their chest pockets.
Aside from getting the sweets and the flowers, watching the parade is also exciting. There were in total of 74 floats, 10.096 participants, 350 horse riders, 117 bands from Cologne, the surrounding area and several other European countries. I actually saw a band from Maastricht and the Dutch post office!
Then, the next but very important question: What costume should I wear?
You can be literally anything you want to be. I wore a dress that my friend made for me, and it's actually not the best costume to wear during Carnival in Cologne because my neck was open to the cold air. It was not freezing - the temperature was around 10C and it's not as windy as in the Netherlands. But unless you grow up in a country of harsh winter like Russia or Sweden, wearing a dress like mine is highlyNOTrecommended. But anyways, you can dress up as a citizen of summer, if you can handle the cold. There are no rules to it.
Still, if you stand within the crowd and jump and bend down a lot to catch the goods... you can survive. It keeps you warm.
Some people wear cozy jumpsuits to dress up as animals. I think that's smart because you can still wear hoodies or sweaters inside, and the jumpsuits are warm. Or, you can also dress up as colorful as you can, like this sweet couple:
Some costumes are creative and eye-catching. I could see this Minion from the third floor of my friend's office building, and when I found the guy, I decided to take a picture with him.
And some costumes make me feel that I'm in a manufacturing or a pilot plant (not my favorite, but still, I bet they make you warm).
In the mean time, when you are hungry, get some food from food stalls around. A bratwurst (grilled pork sausage) costs 3 euros, and my favorite curry wurst costs 3.5 euros. It's a bit more expensive because it's Carnival, but you'd buy a bratwurst for 2.85 from a normal shop anyways.
And, if you're in Cologne, don't forget to try the local type of beer: Kölsch (which also means a dialect in Cologne)
How different is it than a blond beer? Don't ask me, I'm not a beer expert. I don't drink enough beers to properly describe beer flavors. It's certainly not strong, and that's why I like it.
If you stand in the same spot, the parade on Rose Monday will last approximately for 4-5 hours. In the beginning, I was enjoying the parade from my friend's office on the third floor....
...enjoying the parade while eating Berliner, a doughnut with jam filling and sugar icing and powdered sugar topping. This is a very typical snack for the Carnival in Germany.
I really enjoyed observing the floats.
And while some Carnival associations did not have fancy floats, their costumes are awesome.
What can be better than visiting 221B Baker Street for Sherlock fans? Yes, the street actually exists in real life London.
Well, I'm actually not his biggest fan. I tried to read Sherlock Holmes when I was in secondary school and I gave up because it was too difficult to read when I was 12. I know about Sherlock Holmes from a manga called Detective Conan, and then the two movies with Robert Downey Jr., and then... the series on BBC. That series just got me hooked on Sherlock Holmes.
By the way, I finally made use of Picasa photo editing service up on Google+. It's actually pretty handy. I thought it would take a lot of time to get them edited, but with good internet connection, there wasn't much problem. I think I'm going to keep editing the photos for the next blog posts!
Located exactly as it should located, 221B Baker Street (my brother was surprised that I could even remember the "B" in the address), the museum is technically where Sherlock Holmes lived (in the story).
You have to first buy the entrance ticket in the museum shop. A pretty clever way to get you browse the shop, huh? But anyways, the shop has a cool setup.
I even tried the deerstalker hat. It's certainly a weird hat. And I tried holding the pipe, too!
The ticket costs £8 for adults and £5 for children. The ticket is basically the pamphlet about the museum and about Sherlock Holmes, which is pretty nice. The queue might seem long, but it took about 30 minutes for a line with 25 people or so to get in. It's not too bad.
Oh, by the way, before you enter the museum, make sure you check the basement. There is a small, kind of hidden staircase in the shop. I'm the curious type of person, so I checked everything around before I leave the shop. It's a habit I got from playing RPGs too much when I was young. But anyways, just ask where the restroom is. This 'secret' basement is basically next to the restroom, but you can't enter this room. You can only see it from the window. I'm not even sure if anyone can enter this room.
Anyways, we headed inside. The house was kind of old, so you'll hear the floor board squeaking every step you make. But the setting was just gorgeous.
And somehow this painting caught my eyes. I was like, "Hey, isn't this the Netherlands?!"
Just because I live in the Netherlands. LOL. But anyways, I had fun checking out the first two floors of the museum, until I went to the next floor and entered the first room next to the stairs (ah, I spoiled the fun for you!)
Dammit, that was scary as hell!!
I didn't expect it and somehow it looked kind of real. But once you realized that it was a doll.. it wasn't as scary as I thought it was.
You will see "re-enactment" of some murder cases around the house. You can even see a 3-D portrayal of Sherlock and Watson.
One of the best thing about my visit was the view from Sherlock's bedroom. It's a good place to observe people and the street below.
And there are just other things to explore in the museum, depending on how curious you are. I clearly don't have a lot of knowledge on the kind of details I should be paying attention to because I haven't read the book yet, but there are just many things that make you interested because either you're not born yet when they had / use these things, or they're just weird. They're Sherlock's; it's supposed to be not surprising to have some weird items around the house.
If you like stories of Sherlock Holmes, definitely pay a visit to this museum :)
