Festival: Carnaval de Nice

Where It Is:

Nice, France

When To Go: 

During Mardi Gras season, usually late January – mid March.

There are three parades occurring on various dates during Carnaval season in Nice.  The Flower Parade (10EUR standing) takes place during the afternoon and the Parade of Lights (free entrance) takes place at night, usually on Saturdays.  I didn't attend the third parade which is The Carnival Parade.  There are standing and reserved seating prices for each parade, with reserved seating prices more expensive.  I found standing was much more fun and not at all uncomfortable as you could easily mingle with the revelers.

The Flower Parade

The Flower Parade in the afternoon was fun and beautiful. The floats were decked out in all varieties of flowers and the participants of the Parade were dressed up and painted to resemble flowers also.

Unofficially named, "Pinwheel Park" by moi =)

 

I laughed joyfully when streams of paper ribbons were shot into the air and colorful bits of confetti were thrown around. The kids armed themselves with cans of silly string and no one was left unharmed by their weapons.

Spot's trying to avoid the confetti

Towards the end of the show, the revelers threw flowers at the crowd. Some left with insanely large bouquets while others, like myself, left with one or a few stems. 

The Night Parade
The Night Parade was much more relaxed than the afternoon Flower Parade. The crowd stayed on the sidelines, but there were no regulations to keep the watchers from crossing to the other side of the street when there wasn’t a float passing by. Because there weren't railings to keep us at bay, my friends and I were able to dance on the street (occasionally to the booty-shaking sounds of reggaeton) and walked right up to the revelers to take their pictures or get silly stringed by them. The merriment was so loose and casual; we had such a good time. 

Yes, that's a man in a dress.

The Rat King

At the end of the night...

...the ground was more colorful than the Parade itself

I couldn’t help comparing how this sort of behavior would never be tolerated in America. Back home, we would not be able to dance on the streets with the performers because security would constantly hold us back. I doubt very much that silly string would be allowed at our parades either. Life in Europe is so much more carefree and less stressful. I love it!