This past weekend was filled up with the insane Köln Karneval, or otherwise known as the Mardi Gras in Cologne, Germany. The Germans call the pre-Lenten Carnival season die närrische saison ("the foolish season"). Carnival celebrations happen mainly in the Catholic parts of Germany, and except for Munich's Oktoberfest, it is the one time of the year when many normally staid Germans loosen up and go a little crazy.

Friday morning was a ridiculous early start at about 03h00, after no more than three hours sleep, followed by shared cab ride with Donna, Kezia and Sarita down to Gatwick and then a flight into Bonn Airport. Bonn was exceptionally cold, but the snowfall made up for it. Wasn't very heavy snow to start with, but still snow nonetheless. We took a walk around Bonn and saw a few of the sights - the Minster, the giant head statues outside the church, the Beethoven statue which was erected in 1845, Beethoven's house, some good proper German Bratwurst and then some hot coffee indoors while we waiting for Keith to get into town.

We headed back to his, met up with the others and then did some shopping for that afternoon and evening... shopping that consisted of pizza, beer and Jägermeister - very traditionally German I was told. After some food and pre-drinks at Keith and Tiff's place, we all got dressed up in our pilots and airhostesses outfits and headed out in Bonn to a local frat-house who were hosting a Karneval Party, which was good fun and good German/Karneval music as well. With all 12 or 15 of us dressed up in similar flight crew outfits - we definitely looked the part! Song of the night? Let's get sloshed Das Geht Ab! Then after 3am, a few of us decided it was home time, especially after 24 hours on the go.

Saturday morning was fairly relaxed, with Keith cooking us a healthy full English breakfast, and combined with a few coffees - helped fill the gap and clear the head. The rest of the day was just around the house, before getting ready into our flight crew uniforms and heading out by train into Cologne, for a big Karneval night part two. After grabbing some Bratwurst for dinner, we queue-jumped into the Brauhaus Früh - where we stayed until closing. A fantastic beerhall, with an insane amount of different rooms, all playing good Karneval music, and everyone inside all dressed up in some of other form of fancy dress.

From the Brauhaus, we caught the subway across to Cologne South (after some misunderstanding and trains in the wrong direction), and did some pub and club hopping. The first place we tried was ridiculously full, to the point we were barely able to get in the door. The second place was better, but still packed to the max. But between the cold and snow outside, we weren't going to try anymore. We landed up staying there until the train back to Bonn at around 4am - which was entertaining with Charlie's random '400 babies' shout out and me explaining his hospital 'condition' to various random commuters.

Then yesterday, after waking up and feeling alive again, we took a walk into Bonn to the Salvator - a good traditional beerhall with Bavarian beer house atmosphere. Without even needing to look at the menu - I decided on a Kolsh beer and pork knuckle, complete with sauerkraut and potato dumplings. Amazing... German food never fails to impress.

We followed lunch up with some Six Nations Rugby at the local Irish pub and watch England narrowly win against the Italians. After the game and just before the sun set, Keith gave us a walking sightseeing tour of Bonn, as well as a bit of history of the town. An easy end to the weekend, and good way to walk off the massive lunch!

Last night's plan was to be home by 11ish, but after delays at the airport to get the wings de-iced, I landed up getting into London after 1 and only home by 2 this morning, which isn't great. Totally knackered today, and can feel the rest of the afternoon lasting forever. And to top it off, it feels like I may be getting sick too which doesn't help either. But can't complain - one of the best weekends I've had in a long time! Wouldn't think twice about going next year again :)