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Carnaval de Nice: Roi de la Méditerranée

19 02 2011

So last night was the start of Carnival, and the one in Nice happens to be one of the largest in the world. You know, up there in ranks with the ones held in Venice and Rio de Janeiro. Needless to say, it was quite the spectacle.

We went together with our host family, but they left within maybe ten minutes of getting there. It was 8:30 in the evening, and Nicolas would normally be getting a little cranky anyway, but the whole thing scared him. Poor thing.

The theme this year was “Roi de la Méditerranée” or King of the Mediterranean. They had these huge balloons shaped like various sea creatures, a dragon of some sort, and some crazy mermaid thing that had cat heads for boobs. I really wish I could have understood what they were saying, because if they described that I would have liked to know. Oh well. The crew was a lot of fun to watch, the people pulling the balloons had some crazy make up, and the spectators were throwing confetti everywhere and hitting people with silly string. I must say, I’ve spent many hours watching the Travel Channel, and of all the things I’ve seen people throw in a celebration, these two are preferable, by a long shot.

Now, I don’t really know how to describe the rest of what I saw. It seemed to require the same amount of acid to create this event as Beatles used while creating the Magical Mystery Tour album. So I’ll have to once again let the pictures do the talking.

BUT: My camera is poorly suited for night photography. I have not had the funds available to purchase a proper DSLR, so I’ve been working with a Canon PowerShot SD1000. That being said, its definitely the best point-and-shoot I’ve ever had, and Jon had the same one, but I acquired it used from a pawn shop and its a little dated now, since they don’t even make it anymore. Needless to say, my first big purchase (aside from a Vespa, scooter or small car of some sort) once I get back to the states will be a proper Nikon DSLR. Its hard to make photography a real hobby, or even more, with a point-and-shoot.

So, long explanation aside, the pictures are blurry. I couldn’t let that keep me from showing you guys just how crazy and huge this event it. So here are my pictures. Jon is still going through all of his (which turned out much better), but he will be posting them in a blog post soon, so keep checking in on his blog here for his pictures.