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Tens of thousands of revellers kicked off Germany's traditional Carnival season on Sunday-at precisely the eleventh minute of the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. The so-called "mad fools" kicked off the festivities in the Rhineland which will culminate in Rose Monday at the start of Lent in February next year.Because November 11 falls on a Sunday this year, the numbers of party-goers was up on previous years with nearly 70,000 expected on the streets of Cologne-despite the wet and miserable weather.Hundreds of spectacles are expected between now and Ash Wednesday, which next year will fall on February 6-unusually early.November 11 is not a bank holiday in Germany and is not used to commemorate the end of World War I.As in the days of Noah....
