German Mardi Gras
Pictured: John, Willi the Schutzman, Chuck the Adjutant, Erik and myself
Here’s another German adventure w/ Eric and John. This time we went to the start of the Milwaukee German
society’s Mardi Gras season where the prince and princess for the year are crowned. The fun
starts at 2 in the afternoon w/ a hospitality suite w/ free food and an open bar. Sooner or later,
someone breaks out the accordion and everyone starts singing and schunkeln, which is to lock
arms and sway back and forth. At 5:00 there was a 2 hour break before the coronation party
began so we decided to head out to Waukesha to eat at The Gasthaus. This place has the best
German food I have ever tasted , even the rye bread was exceptional. You can’t beat the
atmosphere either, you feel like you are in Germany. After the dinner, we stopped to pick up some
supplies for the rest of the night and hit the TYME machine for more cash. Once we made it back
to the hall, the grand march was about to begin. I was really amazed at the costumes that the
participants were wearing, some costing close to $1000! After the elaborate coronation (all in
German) the polka bands started in and everyone was given a bottle of champagne and a booklet
explaining the traditions of German Mardi Gras. One of the other things that really surprised me
was how much people were drinking, even the older people were doing shots of Jagermeister! As
the night wore on, we saw a guy that had to be in his late 70s just fall completely on his face because
he was so loaded. We were all doing pretty OK ourselves, but still headed to the hospitality suite for
some more munchies and a beer. It was around 2:30 before we finally got to sleep, 12 hours of
drinking, ouch. The next morning we were surprised to find that we were each given a medal of special recognition from the prince and princess for making the trip down. I’ll probably have more pics from other Mardi Gras events as the season is in full
swing, so keep checking back.
