Shrove Thursday to Ash Wednesday are the most important days of carnival in Germany. Here´s a short tour of the carnival capitals Cologne, Mainz and Rottweil. The main carnival events begin on Shrove Thursday. At precisely 11:11 a.m., Cologne's triumverate kicks off the festivities. For six days, the streets, pubs and clubs are filled with merrymakers.

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The Shrove Monday procession is the highpoint of celebrations in Mainz. Carnival Association members pull their floats along a seven-kilometer route through the city center, as some 500,000 onlookers line the streets.

Rottweil's "Fools' Leap" is one of the most colorful parades in southern Germany. Around 4,000 masked participants dance, jump and leap through the historic old town. The parade follows centuries' old strict rules.