walki-talki.com Travel Blog

That time of the year is drawing near. Yes, Carnival season. There are many choice places to enjoy it in Europe: Cologne, Duesseldorf, Aachen, Maastricht, Basel, and Venice, to name but a few. Wherever you go, you are assured to have a great time.  

By far the best and biggest celebrations are to be found in Cologne (Koeln), Germany, and in Venice, Italy. The Karneval in Koeln is quite an experience. I had the pleasure of attending this event in 2006. It consists of of an entire week of celebrations that culminates in a gargantuan parade on Rose Monday (Rosenmontag). During this parade, you will see over a million costumed Germans drinking, eating sausages and scrambling to catch carmele (candy) being thrown from the various trains in the endless parade. Upon catching a carmele, a man may present it to a women and demand a bütze (kiss in the Cologne dialect) in return.

The entire affair is totally friendly, the trains in the parade are invariably hilarious and edgy (and not for the prurient, see image), the beer (Kölsch, a pilsner) is good, the sausages aretasty, and the entire affair is difficult to forget. Of course, the giant parade on Rosenmontag is almost an afterthought for the informed traveler. It is best to arrive on the Thursday before (see link above) and enjoy the weekend. The entire city (Germany’s gayest city, by the way) is dressed in costumes and drunk for the entire four days. Every bar one enters will be full of costumed people singing traditional German music and dancing to disco. There will be Brazilian drum sections traveling the streets, and classical troupes spreading mirth everywhere in the city. So, arrive early, party early, and leave in one piece. 

The Carnevale in Venice is a decidedly more elegant affair, though equally hectic. The Venice Carnevale is a festival of masks. Elegantly dressed people will parade the city in the most beautiful and elaborate masks that one can imagine. The masks themselves have evolved into remarkable works of art and one of the many crafts for which the city is renowned. You can learn more about the Carnevale from the walki-talki.com mp3 walking tour of Venice. This tour will also get you acquainted with the major attractions should you find time before or after the party. As with Cologne, you are advised to arrive early to enjoy the festivities before the final parade. 

This year (2008) Karneval, Fasching, Mardis Gras, Carnevale (whatever you want to call it) happens on Monday, February 4.  

Payam

La Biennale di Venezia: Cinema. August 29 - September 8, 2007 Director: Marco Müller

The most preeminent film festivals in the world are the Cannes Film Festival in Cannes, France, the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah, and the Venice Film Festival in Venice, Italy (linked above). How do you decide which to attend?

Cannes is a beautiful beach town, but the festival has associated with it a media feeding frenzy that is perhaps unbearable to most. Park City offers a spectacular natural setting for a festival, and Robert Redford has transformed the movie industry by creating the Sundance Film Festival as a showcase for independent filmmakers. However, many claim that the festival has lost its “independent edge”, and that, for example, the Toronto Film Festival offers a better variety and quality of films in North America.

This leaves, of course, the Venice Film Festival as the festival of choice because, frankly, few complain about it. And, if the lack of complaints is not incentive enough to visit the Venice Film Festival, consider the following. The Venice Film Festival is part of La Biennale, the biennial (the namesake) art festival in Venice. La Biennale is the biggest art festival in the world. It takes place over several months, and it covers every aspect of art: fine arts, design, architecture, dance, music, and film. Although each genre is fested at a different time, you are assured some overlap (art exhibit is from June 10 through November 21, 2007) and a dreamy setting to cleanse your palate between movies.

And, this year, there is a tribute to The Conformist, Bernardo Bertolucci. You can decide if you like him better for edgy films like The Conformist, the sex-laden movies like The Dreamers or Last Tango in Paris, or sentimental movies like The Last Emperor. It may be fun just contemplating.

And, if all of this is still not enough, then grab the walki-talki.com mp3 walking tour of Venice, and see Venice this year. It is a good time to visit.

Payam

La Biennale di Venezia: Dance. June 14-30, 2007

La Biennale is perhaps the greatest art exhibit on the planet. It is now well under way in Venice, and you have until the 30th of June to partake in the dance portion of La Biennale. You really should partake in this event because there are no bonehead judges of the sort in the “reality” television series. It is the highest form of the art, performed on stage for your enjoyment and intellectual enrichment, should you choose to take a break from your vacation.

So, grab a copy of the walki-talki.com mp3 walking tour of Venice, and enjoy La Biennale.

Many more events remain in La Biennale, which officially lasts through November. We will bring you updates as they draw closer.