RE: Carnival in Venice
So as we were planning the trip, an Irish buddy of mine and a few German dudes I know who have all gone before were going on about how Carnival in Venice was prohibitively expensive, pretty much 15 Euro drink night all over the city, so being enlisted Army, not really in my budget yet. Where everyone did recommend as much more fun and affordable however, was Köln (Cologne). It's apparently a pretty well known secret throughout Europe that Köln is the best party spot for Carnival, which must be true, the entire downtown aria was a massive street party and I didn't see any other Americans there... so in other words, fucking awesome!
What to expect there: People in Germany seem to dress up like it's Halloween for Carnival then get absolutely pissed and party in the streets, so a little bit of an effort to appear like your part of the party is expected, maybe just a pirate hat or something. A lot of people wear some pretty ridiculous shit there, but like you see at Halloween a lot of girls dress up in 'Sexy (random profession)' costumes too. Almost all of the clubs were packed with lines out the doors, but were either free or incredibly cheap to get into with cheap beer, but because the streets were pretty much just as fun, you don't really have to bother with the clubs. Outside there were several beer tents and descent street-food vendors scattered around, all the liquor shops were open (also, Germany doesn't seem to have open container laws... which is nice), and there were people with speakers playing dance or folk music, or drum circles everywhere creating little impromptu mini parties, which because everyone is drunk and in a good mood, are pretty easy to join and get random street makeouts.
The talent: Pretty hit or miss, and completely randomly scattered though out the downtown aria in the street and clubs, but because so many people travel there (mostly from other German cities, but almost everyone speaks some English), you can find a ton of cute girls (so I really have no idea about the local population of Köln). Also, the vibe wasn't as overtly sexual as somewhere like Rio seems to be (haven't been there yet), so not every hot girl was dressed sexy, but a lot were! The hotter girls in slutty costumes seemed to be a little easier to find in the crowded clubs too, but pretty much all of them were drunk and friendly and easy to kiss. I recommend asking if they either have a room or live nearby following any drunken dancing/makeouts too, I got a local girl in a Supergirl costume (she looked a lot like Helen Slater in that shitty movie from 1984, thanks IMDB for help on the reference!) by asking that and she said "yes, you come with me for a drink?" After we were done, we went back to our groups of friends and went our separate ways, so pretty fun!
As far as the intel I was able to get on Venice, it's supposed to be fucking incredible... if you have money. It's supposed to actually have the 'Eyes Wide Shut' Orgy-Mansion vibe I was hoping for (so definitely going in the future), and less of the Halloween/drunken street party vibe that Köln has. Apparently lot of people wear 18th Century masquerade-ball outfits complete with powdered wigs, but you should be set if you wear a nice tux or something else appropriate for New Years Eve, so someone like G Manifesto should clean up there! But I highly recommend Köln for Carnival, this definitely will not be my last time going!
Upgrayedd. Which he spells thusly, with two D's, as he says, "for a double dose of this pimping".
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