If your afraid of clowns, don’t go to Germany's carnival capital, Cologne

BERLIN, Feb 1 (Reuters Life!) - Germany's carnival capital, Cologne, has announced a steep rise in fines against urinating in public before this year's festivities that doubles the size of the country's fourth-largest city to over two million.

A spokeswoman for the Cologne municipal authorities, bracing for 1.3 million revelers at Europe's biggest carnival parade, said the fine would be nearly tripled to 35 euros to prevent a repeat of last year's mess when 500 were caught in the act.

"Even though women drink just about as much as the men, they wait their turn in line at the portable toilets while men just go anywhere," she said ahead of the annual carnival celebrations in mid-February.