If you think Brits know how to party, then you’ve obviously not been to Germany

— Posted Monday 22nd February 2010 by Rebecca Shay

It’s minus 6 degrees outside and I’m considering the fact I might actually have frost bite in my toes…yet all around me the people of Dusseldorf don’t seem to feel a thing. Beer sloshing everywhere, to my left there is as a ‘Conga’ snaking the street including a woman dressed as a piano and to my right, some teens dressed as ‘Bunny-Boilers’ all screaming ‘Jeck we can’.

‘Jeck we can’, in honour of Barack Obama is the theme of this year’s Dusseldorf Carnival and the entire city, young and old, is out on the streets in fancy dress. It’s my first visit to Germany since starting to work for Air Berlin in 2009, and wow, what a weekend. I’m with a group of six journalists who are all brilliant fun, but currently we seem rather dull in comparison to the locals. Clearly, it’s time for a bit of the local brew to ease us into the next event on stage, the Tutenlauf – a raucous competition between different drag queens who parade up and down the Ko (Dusseldorf’s famous fashion mile) to win cheers from the crowd.

And so, the fun begins. Next stop, we’re in a famous Dusseldorf watering hole shouting ‘Prost’ before swigging down some local liquor aptly named ‘Killepitsch’. This liquor, which roughly translates to ‘Killer swig’, was so-named during the war. As bombs were dropping on the 80%-destroyed Dusseldorf, the residents of the pub ran down to the cellar and said ‘Prost’ one last time before they died – I admired their spirit and this made the shot of bloody-red liquid all the more poignant. Lovely stuff it is as well, similar to Jagermeister, it’s just what you need to warm you from your head to your frozen tootsies. After several killer swigs, we went off to enjoy a delicious local meal at Brewery ‘Zum Schiffchen’. First up, we were treated to a divine local speciality of raw herring on rye bread served with onions and herbs - who would have thought Germans were doing sushi long before it came to our shores through Asian influence. The menu was full of hearty, warming food and the beer was flowing ; the rest of the night fades into a blur of fancy dress, euro pop and dancing.

It’s not all drunken debauchery though. By day, I felt the Carnival had something to teach us at home about community spirit. We enjoyed a meal in a local restaurant and I’m amazed to see older couples in full fancy dress, one pair in matching tiger costumes, ballroom dancing around our table and children singing local traditional songs at the tops of their voices. I couldn’t help but reflect on whether I had seen such a sight back home; a whole CITY in fancy dress, singing in chorus.

We have time for one last ‘Prost’ before the flight back, it’s been just 48 hours but I wave goodbye to a group of journalists who I hope will remain friends. It could be the killenpitsch talking but I’ve had a blast. I'm just planning another visit next year, but this time, I’ll be doing as the locals do and going in fancy dress!