Chienbäse

The night before Basel's Fasnacht carnival kicks off there is a special fire parade in nearby village, Liestal. It was very strange getting the train to the place I work on a Sunday and even stranger that the trains were packed! I was glad I knew my way around as I was able to take some side streets and avoid the crowds to get a good spot on the Main Street for the parade.

Firemen marched and ran down the street with huge torches as well as huge wagons with flames a couple of storeys high! I don't think anything like this would be allowed at home!

The most amusing part of the night was the guy standing across the street from me with a very long stick who was cooking sausages as the flames passed us (pictured - tricky to make out but the stick can be seen on the right hand side of the Flames). Genius!

Now my jacket reeks of smoke.