This weekend we went to Bad Homburg, a suburb/village of Frankfurt, for its annual town fair. The festival ran the length of the downtown zone – almost 1.5 miles – and was a lot like a church or city festival back home – fair food, carnie rides, small vendors, lots of beer, etc. All very traditionally German in style, which should not have surprised me, but it did!! I always thought our German festivals back home were more a caricature of the real thing, but nope, they keep things pretty German around here!
We played more carnival games than we ever would have played at home (no one wins! it’s too expensive!). This is not a PC comment, but it’s true: they were run entirely by Romanian gypsies, and I really wanted to take some pictures to share here, but then I thought, naw, I really don’t want to mess with the gypsies!! This archery pop-the-balloon game was a highlight as it featured real bows and real arrows:
Nice job, Rowan! 
The food was also a big hit! Our favorite stand featured salmon stretched on planks, being grilled over an open flame for all to see – super generous portions, too:
Cara found a new favorite ride and won her first festival prize ever, throwing softballs at a tower of cans:
German swing rides have zero safety measures – and thus can get a lot closer to the town buildings 
Cara won this dolphin at the can tower game
Bad Homburg is a pretty old town – incorporated in 782 (a three digit year(!)) so we were excited to come across this ‘witch’s tower’ (Hexenturm) – only to discover it was erected in 1905 – rebuilt from the original one that dated from the 1400’s – a reminder of the horrors of the witch trials of that age.
Rowan was maybe not too impressed with the witch’s tower 
The kids are hoping for more festivals like this one as we roll through fall 🙂
Newmans in a New Land 