Here’s a toast to the fact that I was able to keep my blog updated regularly despite the fact that a new adventure followed quickly on the heels of the latest Swiss adventure. Still, there were a few things I skipped and planned to write about later, but never found the time for. Now I’m trying to get my housekeeping done before going back and I’m sick of taxes (they changed the rules on my regarding foreign earned income – blah!!!!!!!!) so here is a flashback in picture of Basel’s crazy (but not drunk and dangerous) pre-Lent celebration that occurred after Ash Wednesday because Bebes (Baslers) are special.
That's not snow, those are footprints in the confetti!
Me and Sarah in Barfuesserplatz for the guggenmusik concert.
Lantern display
This one is for NMKB
Mostly the lanterns are political and they seem to have more freedom of speech than we do. If you can't guess who is riding Ms. Liberty, click on the thumnail to see the full picture.
Of course most of the lanterns had to do with local politics, and since they were written in Swiss German, I was mostly clueless. I have no idea what this one is trying to say, but of course it caught my eye. What a combination of the past two years: Japanese anime and the Basslstab!
I'll let you figure this one out. It was the first I understood and it's still my favorite.
Basel Fasnacht Parade
- Did you notice that Lady Liberty's rider has only three fingers, like cartoon characters?
- The Anime picture has to do with Basel testing school uniforms. Have a look at this and see if you can figure out which of the kids are Bebbi!
- And that brings me to a detail: It's "Bebbi." (Technically, the term only refers to boys, and sometimes men.) "Bebe" would raise associations to "bébé," the French word for baby. ;-)
I tried to look up 'bebe' and figured I'd got it wrong. I first came across the word because it was written on one lone piper's lantern. It was 4am and I was sure my eyes were tricking me. It was written in katakana! I asked my host about it and he explained, but obviously my memory failed me in exactly how it was written, only that it sounded like 'baby'! Thanks for the correction.
I learned how to upload large files so I've added a video link to the end of this post. It reminds me of World's Worst Marching Band days. Gotta love it.
