Day 6 - Storybook Day with Karneval and ACTA Protest (Now with video!)

So, I think today is best described with all the pictures I took! Especially since I had close to none yesterday. In summation, we went to Bremen Karneval, then went toward the mall area, saw a protest, bought chocolate, came home.

Once upon a time...

There were two girls who didn't know where they were going and decided to follow the crowd because we thought Karneval was very popular and everyone was wearing Bremen scarves. We got off the train and saw a lot of Beck's beer.

We shrugged and figured they were celebrating their town and continued forward. Rachel loves scarves and they were selling some very warm ones for only 5,- euros. We both decided to buy one,  this is the one I decided to buy.

Then, I realized there was a football game! (Soccer for the American folks) I had heard about it but had completely forgotten. As you can see in the background, that's the Stadium. I suppose that's what happens when you decide to get off the train with everyone rather than force your way out on the stop we thought we were supposed to get off.

This is the one that Rachel bought: Die macht in norden Bremen. The Power in North Bremen. Mine has German on it too, but I didn't realize that until after my pictures were taken.

 We finally got ourselves going toward the right direction! You can see on this house "The Four Musicians" it's from an old folk story that the four animals were going to be killed by their masters so they ran away. Together, they decided they wanted to go somewhere, but were so startled by the people that they all yelped and hollered, sounding like instruments.

Closer and closer! (Rachel liked the way that the Apotheke [Druggery] had a tower on it).

We finally made it! We found our way from the station from the drums we heard. Here's the first group we saw. I'm not quite sure what they were, but some of the women looked like nuns. All of the costumes are very strange. The theme this year was "Metamorphosis"

 There were more strange costumes of course, as we continued to walk along the street, through the crowds and stands. Everything's interesting, as are the costumes. Not only performers dressed up but also young children and older people too.

 We continued on further and further, and walked by a group that was just hanging out because they were not performing at the moment. We took a few pictures around them. I realize now that the symbol on my scarf looks identical to the Fighting Irish...

We decided to buy a delicious delicacy, a chocolate covered soft pretzel! It was delicious, but difficult to eat because it was so cold out, hardening the bread.

Then we passed by a stage! It was called "funkhaus europa". Whoever said Germans didn't have fun, I don't think they've ever actually been here. Then I ran into someone in my German class, I was surprised to see him, but it was a pleasant encounter. He's studying naval engineering in Brazil!

 So, there were some very weird costumes, like this ant-farmer guy who had a ukulele with a baby's arm on it... The music was great though!

Finally, the last of the Karneval that we could see was what appeared to be a group of animal Santas being led by Rudolph with snakes dancing around. It was here that you could tell who had the most to drink, or at least more than others by how serious they were dancing. And the beers in their hands, of course.

 We decided that we were getting cold and wanted to go to the area where there were lots of shops. We started making our way towards Domsheide and Rachel pointed out this, a modern glass walkway attached to a very old building. I though it was interesting too!

 Here's another angle! The building was quite cool looking with it's old structure. I don't recall which building it is exactly. It was then that I heard lots of yelling. Oddly, my first thought was there was a protest going on. Then as we approached, I thought maybe there was more of the Karneval going on. That was when I saw it.

It turns out I was right. They were protesting our American ACTA bill. This sign says "Net Censor in every land - our answer, resistance. Stop ACTA" You can see more posters in the background from right to left. "||||||||||| ACTA = Censorship"  "No to ACTA" "Art. 5 GG - Everyone has the right to express their opinion in words, writing and pictures and inform themselves with unhindered common accessible sources . [...] Censor does not follow." The orange flag says "Pirate Party", like a political party.

"ACTA activates defensive forces" "We are legion" (In leet/1337)

I was excited about this because, a) I'm from America and I know what's going on b) it's cool that people in Germany have picked up on the American Pirate's c) I've never seen a protest in person! d) I recognized a lot of the memes and the Guy Fawkes masks and their meanings.

A van pulled up, they pulled out a generator and people climbed on top announcing their opinions about ACTA and what it meant. Sorry, I'm not going to translate this all. I thought it was really cool.

Rachel and I left and made it to the shopping area to warm up in the book store, buy things and attempt to get the iPhone unlocked so I can use it on a local network for cheap cheap! Rachel got books, postcards and no one could help me for now. Rachel is sad because Dobby's [spoilers!] dead. We left, bought some cheap chocolate (cheapest we could find, was still better than American kind!) There after we came home, ate some sandwiches with Land Bierwurst, Hirtenkaese (German feta cheese), and romaine lettuce and enjoyed some cheese.

Their night finished happily ever after.

As per usual, not all pictures were posted, if you would like to see more from this day, you can go here:

http://daniellemaier.kodakgallery.com/gallery/personal-url/albumView.jsp?albumId=557062059408#p/792743059408