this was my second time to watch this large parade of the Venezianische Messe otherwise, Venetian Masks and Costumes Carnival in Ludwigsburg, Germany.
the first time i saw it was way back in 2004 as a tourist in town!
the first time i saw it was way back in 2004 as a tourist in town!
now that we have moved from America to live here in Germany, i hope to see more of this carnival again which is held every two years. Next will be in September 2010!
the opening ceremony was last Friday, September 5th and it went for 3 nights until Sunday. We were very fortunate with the weather, it was like a blessing from Above! it rained on Saturday and gloom on Sunday.
the parade kicked off at 6pm that lasted for an hour to the marketplace center but all the mask participants gathered near the train station.
the participants, the spectators and the photographers gathered at 5pm just so ready for us to photograph them. Plenty of time to photograph each one of them.
i take it as a stroke of luck opportunity to get another taste of this famous colorful event with a touch of Venice in the middle of Germany!
i understood from the press released saying there were 700 masked and costumed participants in this event.
as for the crowd, it was packed, everybody turned out and we thought it could be up to few thousands spectators plus both of us to add more crowd :)))
overall, the parade was worth a thousand times to watch, not only it was free of charge (€9 per adult entrance fee to the marketplace) but there were lots of time to photograph them when the evening was still bright light.
you were free to move around and choose who you wanted to photograph and this little girl in red, she was a charm and i cannot resist not to photograph her.
the mask participants were very willing to pose and happy to be photographed which made my day most blessing.
and you can also see them here, best view in slideshow:
in my favorite black and white with little touch-up colors
NinaOA©
