Liestal Fasnacht

Liestal Fasnacht
Originally uploaded by joneiche
I was looking over some older pictures and came across some photos from our trip to Basel Switzerland. Charmy and I had planned this trip with my cousin. We were super fortunate, my cousin's wife, Debbie, had lived in Basel when she was in high school, and still had local friends.

The trip was great. We flew into Frankfurt and took to the train to a small town in SE Germany call Staufen. We got to Staufen in the afternoon, had a great walk up to the ruins of Staufen Castle, ate a delicious dinner and closed the day off with a peaceful nights rest.


Staufen at night

The next day we hopped the train to Basel to meet up with my cousin, Debbie, and her friend Anna. What an experience! Fasnacht is "Wild West Switzerland" from what I hear. People up all night wearing crazy costumes and playing fifes or drums. We thought it a little...that is until we made it Liestal. Freak'n Crazy.

We think we are free in the US. Tell you what, this would never happen here. Lawyers would be lined up behind lawyers suing lawyers to represent the victims of this thing. Switzerland on the other hand, they don't care. Drink Gluhwein until your are drunk then go watch this event.

Wagons are loaded full of wood, then are lit on fire and pulled down the hill.. This comes behind guys who are carrying burning baskets of wood on their backs. And guess what, you get to stand right next to it all and bask in its hot, fiery goodness!! The wagon's start out small, only 5 or so feet tall, and get progressively bigger throughout the parade, until the grand finale! I'm not sure how big the last wagon is, just rest assured, it is REALLY BIG, and has a REALLY BIG fire. The explosive power of this last wagon is no joke. You can feel your eyebrows singeing while it is still at least ten yards away.


People covering their face to avoid the fire

Seriously, this is something you should see at least once. It is totally out of control, and a heck of a good time.