Schützenfest #1

The Hannover Schützenfest, or Marksmens' Festival, ended last week. Actually it was almost 9 days ago now. Schützenfest is an annual festival held in many towns all over Germany. It seems to be the main summertime festival in Hannover. This year, I went twice to check it out. It's a lot like a county fair or a student event at Rose except with more Germans, more beer, fewer hotdogs, and less of that big climbing wall that comes in behind Speed on the back of a truck.

The main attractions at the festival for me are always (1) a different place to walk around in public relaxing, chatting, and drinking beers with friends, (2) shooting- and dart-style carnival games, (3) beer tents, and (4) crepes and Schmalzkuchen, which are little balls of doughnutty-type confection in a paper cone completely and totally covered in powdered sugar. I learned on Sunday that it is impossible to share a cone of Schmalzkuchen with someone without both parties covering the front of their shirts and/or pants with powdered sugar. (Just expect it.)