Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/08/21
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]>Fashing, or Carnival, starts officially at the 11 day of the 11 month >at 11 >O’clock Er, no. Sorry Horst, but the various Fasching Fests that various towns and cities in Germany celebrate are all in the early spring and far predate any observance of the Armistice, which is the time you mention. Germans, by the way, aren’t given to celebrating their own world war defeats, strange as it might seem from a Commonwealth perspective :) . Anyway, if you want to see Fasching, the best one I have seen is the Rosemontag parade in Mainz and it shows the difference between Fasching and other Fests in that the revellers traditionally dress up. The costumes can be quite inventive but I was always amazed that they often took no account of the typically chilly weather at that time of year. Thankfully, I was lucky enough to be able to view the parade from inside a warm government building (the building housing the office of the Minister President of the state of Rheinland Pfalz, to be exact.) The downside of this arrangement was that I was working and so couldn’t sample the beer. Speaking of which, I agree that the better Belgian beers (especially the Trappiste ones) are wonderful and with the exception of Stella Artois or Jupiler, they are generally better than the German ones - but I liked the Czech brews even better. A good British Ale isn’t bad either (try Adnams Broadside, for one) and for my money I have yet to sample an American microbrewed beer that has even come close, though they are getting better. One exception to the quality of German beer is Eichbaum, which is brewed in Mannheim. It is horrible and most American beers are better. Prost! Simon Stevens Camera Craftsman (703) 548-7548 http://www.camera-craftsman.com