Is this a Furry Festival?

If you don't know what a Furry is, I will give you a brief definition.  I am currently an expert, because of the television show My Strange Addiction (It's addicting).  A furry is a person who loves to spend his or her days frolicking in an animal suit similar to a mascot outfit.  Some are even sexually aroused by this experience.  The reason I am bringing this up is because I think I accidentally stumbled upon a furry festival while trying to enjoy Carnivale in Viareggio, Italia.

When one hears the word Carnivale, Venice is brought to mind as well as masks and masquerade balls.  Venice is usually packed with tourists and is quite far from Florence, so we decided to try out Viareggio, an awesome beach town on the coast of Tuscany which has the 2nd largest Carnivale in Italy and is usually more local than touristic.  We bought masks to make sure we "fit in" with the crowd. 

As we paid the 15 euro fee and enter the gates, I was in utter shock at what I was seeing.  Grown adults, as well as children, were rocking furry suits and dancing in the streets!  Most families even matched their ensembles.  NO ONE was wearing a mask.  I felt like a Carnivale failure, but I sucked it up, put my mask on anyway, and had a good time.

 

Viareggio for Carnivale was one of the coolest and most interesting experiences ever!  It is the month long, Italian Halloween that lasts from 3 PM to around midnight every Sunday.  Everyone is dancing, singing, throwing confetti, and shooting each other with silly string and foam.  A man in a furry flower suit from one the floats jumped down and started twirling me in the street (sooo freaken fun!).  The floats were out of this world huge and intricate.  Most of them have political meanings, and I really wish I was informed enough to know what they mean.  

This is a lovely piece of an older woman with nipple chains straddling a canon. I desperately need to start reading il giornale to figure this one out!

Brot, Court, Katie, & I chilling on the Mediterranean Sea after the most bizarre day of our lives.  Things can't get much better than this.

On a side note: The 4 of us went to Pisa two days before.  Here are some of the results.

PS: This is so much harder than it looks, and it left us sore.