ARD journalist Tina Hassel becomes a hobbyhorse knight

Your best carnival anecdote takes place in Washington. Tina Hassel lived there with her family as head of the ARD studio. There was an employee at the German embassy who celebrated legendary carnival parties at his home – and at some point the Hassel couple were also invited. “We hadn’t saved the address quite correctly,” reports Hassel, and so she and her husband went into the entrance in full costume, where there was absolutely nothing to suggest that a legendary carnival party was taking place there. When they rang the bell, a woman opened the door – and looked horrified and completely dumbfounded at this strange couple: “I will never forget that look; “They must have thought that aliens had landed,” says Hassel.