Float On!

It's not Mardi Gras, and it ain't Carnival Rio-style, but Köln--that's Cologne to you rubes--has its own way of celebrating the run up to Lent, with its own parade with floats (pictured below) and everything. I'm still trying to figure out the iconography of Lady Liberty and what she's up to here. I can figure out though why Berlusconi is smiling (courtesy Der Spiegel).