It's Raining Confetti and I Love it!

The first weekend of Febuary is known as carnaval, it's biggest known spot is obviously Brazil. Europe has a great scene for carnaval as well, so we decided when in rome (the expression) to check out the European carnaval scene! The original plan was to go to Venice, but we found ourselves celebrating a very traditional Swiss carnaval in the small mountain town of Sion! Many of you probably haven't heard of Sion, but it is in Southern Switzerland, central/east, and like I said, it's a very small town. If it wasn't carnaval weekend, we probably would have never thought to visit Sion. As our bags were packed, train tickets booked, and an airbnb waiting for us, we were off to a carnaval adventure that none of us expected!

The train ride was only about 2 hours of winding through the mountains to different little towns. The scenery, per usual, we extraordinary! Once we arrived in Sion, we couldn't check in to the airbnb until later that day, so we wondered around town while waiting for a couple of others in our group to arrive on a later train. The most beautiful part of Sion was that almost all of the town seemed to be an Old Town. As we were on our way to the information center for a couple of maps, we saw the gate fences being put up on the streets the parades would be going down, this is where the excitment kicked in. Right behind the info center were 3 HUGE tents set up, as we proceeded to realize that this was where the parties would be! After gettting our map, we ventured tour the street we were told the parades would be on, just so we could get a rough outline of where to go. As the streets were preparing for the parades, we caught the last bit of the daily farmers market that is set up on the main road. As we wondered up and down the market streets and through the side streets for hours, it was time to meet our friends and head up to the airbnb to settle in before returning for the late night parties.

Let me tell you about my airbnb... It was great and all, except for the whole suppose to be 5 minutes from the center of town but really was 5 minutes if you took a jet pack up the mountain. As stated on the website, the airbnb was suppose to be 5 minutes from the center of town and a 2 minute walk from a quick and easy bus stop. HA! The bus ride up was about 15 minutes which wasn't horrible and it dropped us off fairly close to our house which was expected. What we didn't expect, was the rest of our travels through bus. There was a stop either 2 minutes from our house or 30 minutes. Turned out, the bus stop 2 minutes away had maybe 7 buses go there throughout the ENTIRE day and the last one leaving to go back to town was at 7pm... A 30 minute walk to the other bus stop seemed to be our only option. Of course, keep in mind, this bus didn't run past 9 or 10. It ended up being a fiasco getting up and down from our airbnb all weekend. We always had to walk to the 30 minute bus stop... If we missed the bus, some of us hitch hiked, some of us called a $40 cab.. it was just a mess. One night we ended up going back to the airbnb at 9:45 because that was the last bus!!!!!! The airbnb itself was fine, we had the entire apartment to ourselves and it overlooked the mountains and the town of Sion but my golly, traveling there was awful.

With that being said, I will just go day by day to tell you about the weekend.

DAY 1:

As most of day one was already explain above, we finished our night by FINALLY making it down to the party and stay there until the late late hours of the night. There was a 16+ tent and a 30+ tent, so you can imagine we were some of the only college kids there. Like I said, it is a very small mountain town, so we didn't expect too many college kids.. I guess? Anywho, the DJ played some solid throw back songs from my childhood so we sang and danced and eventually made our way home.

Day 2:

PARADE DAY!!! This was the best day of the weekend by far. This was the day of the biggest parade in town! We wanted to get a good view so we went there nice and early to grab some masks, a couple of drinks, and a nice spot right on the street. We didn't know what to expect for the parades, but it wasn't 30+ bands, that's for sure. One by one the bands marched down between the floats. Each band dressed differently and playing different music. The floats were one of a kind. Most of them had a confetti gun on board to soak the streets, and our drinks, with confetti. One of the floats was star wars themed and had everyone dressed in star wars. We were standing perfectly right next to the street and occasionally I jumped the metal guard rail so I was on the street side of the parades. Some of the marching bands let me walk with them and dance. Well, they didn't really let me, but I still joined them walking down the street and dancing. The parades seemed like it went on forever and none of us were happier! We followed the parades all the way back to where the bands took the stage. There was a stage set up and food and beer tents all around it. Each band took it's turn on stage playing for about a half hour before the other band came on. This went on all night! Unfortunately, we did not feel like paying for another taxi ride so we decided that we would take the last bus up to our airbnb, at 10pm. We grabbed some beer and some nice cuban cigars and headed up to the house. We finished our night drinking and smoking under the stars. The place was so quiet that we could hear the marching bands from a faint distant away.

Day 3:

Parades for the most part where over, so we decided to hike. In the heart of the city, Sion has two hills, once which sits a castle and the other sits a church. We hiked up the small hillside for the views from both. They were spectacular! The church was just as gorgeous inside as it was outside. We explored all around the church and the "backyard" looking at the spectacular views of what seemed to be never ending mountains. The castle on the other hill was closed but the views were even better since the castle was a little higher up from the church. We climbed all around the rocks of the castle until the late afternoon. Some people paid a train ticket for an earliler train than others. We spent about an hour searching for food since today is a Sunday and nothing is ever open. We finally found Manor, the huge department store that also opps as a cafeteria. We managed to squeeze in dinner before the place flooded with little kids after the child parace was finished.

While some of us had a train to catch, the others who didn't had a couple hours to kill. Joe, myself, and two other friends were staying to 8, so what better to do than follow sounds of marching bands and drink! Just because the parades were over, didn't mean the music was. The stage was filled with marching band after marching bands. Each taking their turn in playing their music. I can't say I have a single complaint about any band, they were all amazing. Some of they played songs that we were able to sing along to. We danced and sang and drank for hours just to the bands. Don't forget, it's also SUPER BOWL SUNDAY. We found it to be nothing wrong to randomly scream out SUPERBOWL SUNDAY and then take a drink. There were very few people who would cheers and drink with us but we didn't care.

The moment of being with friends and drinking to the marching bands is one of my favorites. No one thinks that a marching band would play party songs, but my god they did and I loved it! Makes me wish I still played the french horn and could be in a cool band.

We eventually had to leave to catch our train. We had a few beers with us because we knew that the second we got back, it was going to be SUPER BOWL time! My dorm has a lounge where everyone crowded in while we streamed the game! Some friendly people who I don't even quite know made enough burgers and hot dogs to share with everyone!

Sion, you were a great time. I'm still finding confetti all over the place but it was worth it.