More Carnaval...

Jimmy got into the act when he saw his birth year wandering by.

These walking cupcakes were very colorful...

...and so were these ladies.

Jimmy invaded the parade route once again when these firefighters went past...

...who stopped to pose for a photo. We also had a nice chat with one of the parade judges who explained that all entries win some kind of prize, even if they have to make up a category.

These guys were pretty funny.

This appeared to be a call out on climate policy.

Thought these spectators were adorable.

Carnaval Parade...

Far outnumbering the floats were the many groups that marched wearing a huge variety of costumes.

As plastic straws get banned from countries around the globe, it’s nice to know that the leftovers can be used to make lovely skirts.

I could be wrong, but I suspect these ladies are fat suckers.

This guy made me smile because he reminded me of Hush Puppy, a really great hasher who passed away a few years ago.

Looks like these ladies have gotten plastic surgery for their 55th birthdays.

These guys look like they belong at the top of a medieval building.

Carnaval Floats in Tilburg...

After lunch back at Pink’s, we headed out to the parade. Eventually it was just me and Jimmy watching, but we enjoyed it enough to stay until the end. Here’s a bunch of the crazy floats.

Hashing in Tilburg...

For this year’s Carnaval Hash, our host Pink Panter recruited Just the Tip to lay the trail. Although it threatened rain, it was a surprisingly mild day for early March.

We had a good turnout with several people dressed up for trail.

After thoroughly searching and only finding a dead bunny, we came to the disappointing conclusion that the bag hidden for our beer break had been stolen.

Luckily there was a second drink stop with beer and a local liqueur—this time on board a B&B barge that two hashers had rented for the weekend.

We had a fun circle inside....

...followed by an incredible homemade multi-course Chinese meal made by No More Meat and Just the Tip. Although they had pre-cooked many of the dishes, I was still impressed that they managed to heat up and serve such an intricate meal from Pink’s tiny kitchen. 

That night a bunch of us walked into the center of town to party. Missing Link van Gogh was by far the best costume; he was stopped regularly for photo requests. 

Jimmy and I wore matching bunny onesies, but failed to get a photo together. Instead, here I am with Jesus Hickey Christ.

When we were in the middle of the intense crowds, it felt like it went on forever. It was very strange when we came through the other side to realize that it was actually a fairly small space overflowing with too many people. 

The next morning, Jimmy laid a short hangover trail for the few of us who camped out on Pink’s floor complete with a beer stop. At one point he talked this group into stopping us to ask for a photo while he snuck behind the photographer without us even noticing. 

During Carnaval, residents of Tilburg are called kruikezeikers, which translates to jar pissers. Rumor has it that between the 17th and 19th centuries, textile factory workers would collect their urine in jars at night. They would be paid for their liquids, which would be used to clean the wool with the natural ammonia of pee.

De Pont Museum...

I enjoyed the De Pont Museum so much last year that I was excited to bring Jimmy there this year. As also happened last year, the cloudy sky was reflected onto the Sky Mirror when we arrived.

When we left, it had cleared and Jimmy was reflected instead.

We both enjoyed Anish Kapoor’s other sculpture Vertigo, which appears to be just a curved mirror until you start walking towards it and all kinds of weird things start to happen.

We didn’t have much time to explore, but took some time to visit the white cube filled with colorful mist, created by the same artist as these cool glass panels. I didn’t enjoy not being able to see a thing, so was happy to leave. Jimmy, however, thought it was very cool saying it was like being inside a rainbow.

On our way to the hash we came across these girls with cute and clever costumes that were also really cheap to make.

Textile Exhibits...

We eventually tore ourselves away from the Textile Lab to check out the rest of the exhibits, including this rug as seen from the back...

...and the front.

There were several very cool pieces of art.

I’d honestly figured we’d only be at the museum for about an hour, but we after over two hours we had to drag ourselves to the café for lunch before moving on.