Day 5 in Germany

Day 5 was a little overcast to start with and then turned into a full fledged downpour by the end of the day (quite common). We took the kids and their cousin Nalani downtown in the morning and went shopping. There were lots of fruit stands everywhere and yummy smells of food cooking. We found a cute little pet store that the kids enjoyed and we bought them a very traditional Bavarian lunch. The Waerstlamo Man is the guy that sells brats on buns in the street corners in Hof, Germany. They are just as popular as our taco stands are here except you have to have a special license to sell them which is hard to get and there can only be so many people that have them. Manuel says that they make bank in sales. The brats are really long and skinny and the buns are really small and hard. It's similar to a hotdog but the taste  is far better. Though mustard and ketchup are the only choice of toppings - it's still a tummy snack!

Manuel and I spent a little more and went around the corner to a Turkish fast food place to get a "Doner" sandwich. These are very popular in Germany and the Middle East. I can see why. They are similar in flavor to a Greek Gyro. The bread is like Cibatta bread, with the lamb meat (same kind as on a gyro), garlic sauce (like tzatziki sauce) lettuce, tomatoes and thinly sliced pickled red onions. It's the size of a small child. We crave these like crazy in America because we only can have them when we are Germany. I think I"m going to try and make one and I'll post it on the food blog. Best sandwich ever!!

After lunch we took the kids to get Gelato. They always make the ice cream so artistic over there, it's so pretty to look at and tastes good! My favorite is the spaghetti eis. It's ice cream that looks like spaghetti. They make it in other pastas too.

We bought all the girls a makeup purse and they had fun getting their girly on.

Later that evening we went to the annual city festival the "Volksfest". We went on almost every ride and enjoyed some yummy carnival food and then we got rained out. So we decided we'd come back later in the week when we knew it would be sunny.

Check out the yummy German carnival food below. I was in heaven! You have to watch the videos at the bottom to get that extra effect.

Downtown Hof

Look at all this fresh fruit!

A cage of bunnies outside the pet store

A model of the city downtown

Here's where we are - in front of the cathedral There's the cathedral in the background

Here's the Waerstlamo guy

It's fatter than a banana!

Cousin Nalani

Checkout Gabe's compared to Paisley's

The skinnier ones come with two

He takes after his mom

Playing on the moving water ball

The Turkish Doner sandwich (to die for!)

Me and my niece Nalani How is a kid to decide?

There's the spaghetti eis Check out the ice cream menu - it's 10 pages

It's a bumblebee with a stinger!

A clown - his face got eaten

Manuel always gets kiwi

Paisley and Nalani

The Volksfest

This fun house was so fun we did it several times

There were at least 12 of these stands at the festival. Those gingerbread cookie hearts hanging, are very popular and traditional. You wear them like a necklace and they have fun messages on them.

There were several fast food fish stands. Look closely and you'll see two large deep fried fish in the background. The cook fish several different ways.

Oh yeah baby! This is what I look forward to every time I go to Germany. We only have one place that I'm aware of in Utah that sells these. A place in Salt Lake. These are better than American french fries. They are super crispy and the insides melt on your tongue. They are light and airy like cotton candy. They come with several different dipping sauces like aoli, curry, garlic, BBQ, curry mango, spicy Asian, and several others. I ordered a classic red and white! They squirt mayo on one half and ketchup on the other. The mayo is different than ours. It's not as thick and fattening. It's runny and has a different flavor that's addicting. They wrap it in a paper cone with a tiny fork. Americans are the only ones who eat fries and pizza with their fingers. Did I use the fork? Of course not! If you don't have anything on your fingers to lick then why bother?

The beer garden section with a live band playing. We took refuge from the storm.

A pink candy apple!

A red candy apple!

Sugar roasted hazelnuts

A fried fish sandwich with tarter sauce. The entire fish (even the tail) - somehow with the bones. It was amazingly good!

These are so yummy. I forgot what they are called but they are like licorice with a filling inside. Some are sour. Looking rather bored on what he calls the "boring ride"

This is that game where you swing the hammer. The kids each one cool prizes.

Oma passing out candy ropes

We always had fresh cherries. They are in abundance in Germany. I always order cherry juice when we go out to dinner - it's as common as coke.

Paisley got this cute Playmobil set from Oma for her birthday. Playmobil is similar to legos and are very popular in Europe. They have Playmobil land just like Legoland. They are growing in popularity in the U.S.