Weekend Afternoons

Like typical Germans, on Sunday afternoon we took the bus to a Strassenfest, a street party.  Sponsored by local government or business, these festivals spread over several blocks and feature food, drink, games, and trinket boothes. I had seen the colorful banners with children announcing "Frankfurter Opernspiele" so I assumed this festival would be kid focused.  We grabbed our umbrellas and headed to the Alte Oper, the Strassenfest location.

Picture Rehoboth's Funland rides dropped in front of the Capitol. They set the rides up next to the Alte Opera, a concert hall built in 1880, bombed in 1944 and later rebuilt. We learned a different person runs each set of rides after we bought 10 euro worth of tickets that were only good for three rides.  Owen and Emily jumped onto the bikes before the ride had even stopped.  It started raining, but we are learning to not let a few drops deter our fun.

The fair offered a mix of rides and art stations.  The kids painted huge canvases that we could take home.

Owen and Emily loved this slide where they went down in a carton.  Each kid then carried her carton back up to give it to the next person in line.  This ride provided an opprtunity to improve my listening skills as the parents spoke German around me.

We sat through a rainstorm, and enjoyed a bratworst and crepes with nutella.

After the storm passed, we walked down to the Main River and encountered a second street festival.  This one had huge rides, including a ferriswheel and several rollercoasters.  Owen refused the ferriswheel so Emily rode twice - once with each of us.  We finished the day passing through an Italian fair filled with mouth watering aromas.  Not a bad way to spend a Sunday afternoon.