On June 8th, 2013, The Wife and I went to the Herrenhäuser Gärten here in Hannover, Germany, to see the 23rd International Firework Competition (Internationalen Feuerwerkswettbewerb). Each month of the summer features pyrotechnics set to music by a different European country. The June show was performed by the French fireworks team (Team Frankreich), and I gotta tell you, it was French as hell.
We were joined at the show by our wonderful friend from North Rhine-Westphalia, whom we shall refer to as “Legs for Days.” Legs for Days is a pretty German woman who is so tall she must squat every time we take a group picture lest she appear flanked by inebriated Oompa-Loompas.
Before the fireworks began, The Wife, Legs for Days and I walked around and checked out the different beer tents and concession stands. Among the crowd were French actors wearing these crazy-ass Alice in Wonderland type costumes, many of which involved stilts, props and various other accoutrement designed specifically to give you nightmares.
Here is a video I recorded of the French circus freaks in action (Warning: mild swearing involved):
Once we’d loaded our subconscious minds with enough creepy imagery to fuel our night terrors for the year, we took our seats and waited for the fireworks show to begin. Last year, The Wife and I saw the Croatian team’s performance, which was wild; a non-stop display of explosions and music, with lots of energy and not a moment of lull. This year, the French team held true to what you might expect of a people who think high art is pointing a video camera at a weeping clown at the beach while he steps on a robin’s egg or something. The fireworks display was very pretty and the music was lovely, but it was sparse. I got the feeling the French were taking a ‘less is more’ sort of approach to the whole affair.
I am an American, and to me, firework displays should be huge. Grand. Larger than life, and so rife with concussive reports and blinding lights my ears bleed and the eyeballs are burned from my very skull. Firework are rock and roll, goddammit, and these Frenchmen tried to class it up with an acoustic performance.
Check it out, but please note — these are the most interesting moments; the rest of the show reminded me I have the attention span of a fruit fly.
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Oh God, My Wife Is German. 
Hmmm, yeah I’d have to agree with you that fireworks and rock-music are a better combination.
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Totally. :)
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Awesome! International fireworks competition—who knew? We were blown away by the 4th of July firework display here in NYC last year. Not so much by the display, but rather, having just returned to the States from three years in Cyprus, that the City had just blown the equivalent of Cyprus’s GDP in 10 minutes.
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Haw haw! Nice.
Glad you had fun in the Big Apple!!
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Yes, but can you still hear? (As you commented…) What?!
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Just barely. :)
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I agree with you, they need to be GRAND! This, although lovely does not give you that WOW factor. LOL on the bleeding ears and burnt eyeballs. :)
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I totally agree. Glad you liked the post, Brichhousechick! Have a great day!
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I’m with you there on fireworks; I also like big, ginormous, ear-splitting, tibs of firewirks—wimpiness for the birds! ~ :-)
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Me too! Right on, Sugar Bee.
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“Tons of fireworks” is what I meant. Damn auto speller on the iPhone here ((rolling my eyes))
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Totally knew what you meant. Have a great day and thanks for the comments!
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I watched these fireworks from the top of a friend’s student accommodation nearby, and I must say I agree with you – nothing really ‘happened’ during the fireworks. The GB ones last year were a lot more lively!
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Haw haw! That’s awesome, Dan!
By the way, I looked for that salon you mentioned on Marienstraße, but couldn’t find it because I forgot the name and there are like 5 salons right before the Aegidientorplatz. :)
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CutClub! :D
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Ohhhh. Alright, next time. And I’ll tell ’em American Dan sent me. :)
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Haha, well they don’t know me personally – I’ve had a different hairdresser every time! And it would be British Dan anyway! :P
Continue writing brilliant posts anyway – I enjoy reading! :)
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Oh, this is freaking brilliant – as an Aussie that grew up in Berlin, I had a great time reading your stuff! Thanks for giving me a good laugh.
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Awesome! Glad you like out blog, Lisa! Always a pleasure to read comments like yours.
Have a wonderful day.
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Thanks for this blog post. It’s great and it made me giggle – once more!!! :-)
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