One thing which is great about living here again in the same building where I grew up is the huge square next to it. As I wrote before that there are several times a year some events such as fairs or even traveling circuses. Last time I visited a circus here was over 15 years ago and just last September we missed Europes biggest travelling circus as my wife and Nathan were in China and I had to deal with other things. This week once again a circus visited my hometown and we finally had the opportunity to go there together as my wife never had been to one and of course neither did Nathan.
This circus was not the biggest which had visited this town thus far but also not the smallest. So far I have seen really small ones here where the tent could hold perhaps less than a hundred people and really big ones with a capacity of 4500 people! As you can see there are huge differences when it comes to these kind of events. Some circuses have a lot of animals in their performances and do not have any at all. Now I don’t want to go into any discussion about how the animals have to suffer in order to learn the tricks for the performances but especially as a young child a circus is something magical. I still have fond memories when a circus did a march through the city center with various animals such as elephants and giraffes. Of course this is forbidden these days but it left an impression in my memories which I will never forget.
When we planned to go to the circus performance we were not sure in the beginning whether Nathan would like it or could sit still for roughly two hours. But all our worries were for naught as he was so amazed by everything that he didn’t want to leave at all in the end. As the circus is one of the smaller ones they had only few people performing and all of them had several acts. For example the “announcer” was also playing his part as a clown and as a fire breather. Besides performances by the artists there were also some with animals such as Camels and various horses. In between they also had a short break in which children could ride those animals. The overall theme of this circus was “Frozen” (the Walt Disney movie). Right after entering the tent the kids were greeted by Kristoff the Snowman and during several performances the artists were dressed up as characters from that movie. The clown also did a great job by involving some people from the audience to do some things in the circus ring. Even though the program is rather slim compared to the bigger circuses it is still entertaining and a change from the everyday life.
All in all I must say that I enjoyed it a lot and also Nathans enthusiasm was really great. I hope there will be some big circus coming here again in the next years as we just missed last September the biggest traveling circus in Europe (Circus Krone). Anyways I am glad that we went there and now I am just hoping that Nathan didn’t learn anything stupid from the fire breather and starts eating up some lit candles….
P.S. The quality of the pictures is rather low as they were all taken with a mobile phone
Have you visited a traveling circus before?
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This is interesting! I haven’t been to a circus my whole life! I would love to go but how and where..🤔
Usually they travel to each city/ town with some big square for them to put up the tent. I actually think each town got such square or field to allow such things. I guess you should just google for your city with circus/ zirkus
So I googled it and there’s one in Wiesbaden, about 40min away from my place. Yay! I hope I can go..The theme is Chinatown (pretty interesting)! I think it will be a big circus show.🤗🤗🤗
Just checked it out, Sarassani is a big name when it comes to circus performances. In case you go I reall ydo believe it will be enjoyable 🙂
Yes! Just in time too because it will start next week upto end of March. Still have enough time to purchase tickets..that is if husband approves🤔
I have never been to a circus but from the look on Nathan’s picture, I think I am missing out.
I think the Frozen theme is pretty good because that movie is/was so popular and most young people can relate to it. And maybe it is good that Nathan got to see a circus of a smaller scale first because he will be more amazed with a bigger one in the future!
I actually never watched frozen…but then again I believe that I don’t belong to the target audience 🙂
Let’s see when next time a circus will show up here
As a child growing up in the tropics, I was fortunate enough to experience live performances in a number of circus. These were done on a small affairs. I remembered the play acting where four kids of similar age (three siblings and I) reenacted the roles not once but usually six times over till the laughter fizzled out. It was that good.
Sounds wonderful. I remember doing similar on a small scale in my early childhood with many friends from the neighbourhood.
Now I am just hoping that some bigger circus will come here in the next few years
From the photos it did look like a bit of a show, and you got quite a good view there. The snowman there looks creepy even from a distance… On that note, I have never been a fan of circuses especially clowns because I find them creepy and scary. I am one of those people who will get as far away as clowns as possible 😀
Yeah the snowman is a bit creepy but the kids loved him. Imagine being in a performance with 5-6 clowns…thankfully I am not afraid of them so I enjoyed these acts each time 🙂
I think if there were clowns dancing around the snowman, that will be a nightmare for me 🙂 I’d be happy to sit at the back or have a tall person block my view.
Hahaha, Nathan looks totally fascinated!!
I think I went to a circus when I was very small but I don’t remember anything! I will bring my kids when I have the chance (and when I have kids hahaha).
Indeed Nathan looks very concentrated in that picture.
I had the luck that we got the square right next to our building and thus I could go to circuses fairly often
Oh yes, when I was a child, circus was something magical. I still remember a very fascinating performance with an acrobat, who was on a swing far up in the air, yelling “oj oj oj”. My sister and I continued yelling “oj oj oj” for days after:) PS: Cirkus Krone almost sounds Danish?
The acrobats are always my favorit part, not so much the animals.
Cirkus Krone is a German one, the founder was born somewhere in Mid-Germany somewhen over 150 years ago and his grandfather was some magician who was supposedly mostly in the USA back in theday
Circuses are magical, especially when you are a kid. I always wanted to side an elephant.
But I think they are soon to be a thing of the past, at least here in the US. There’s just too much cruelty and too little oversight for the animals.
Now human acrobat circuses, like Cirque d’ Soleil, those are gaining popularity. And I’m cool with that.
Also in Germany it seems that animals in a circus will be a thing of the past. As you mentioned with human acrobats, it is certainly gaining also here. For example there is one circus which as the Chinese National Circus as a guest for a month now (
I love circuses with people in them only (no animals at all) but it was lovely to see little Nathan’s face in your photo..he clearly enjoyed himself and that is lovely.
He just couldn’t look away from the performance at all for the two hours 🙂
Thank You for this interesting post. Photos were beautiful. Last time when I visited to circus, I was child.
My mother was infinland only once in a circus and it was sirkus sariola back in the days
Sirkus Sariola is active yet today, if I remember correct.
Really, didn’t think they would be. Back then (1950s) they had still monkeys, elephants and all kinds of animals which were so strange and exotic for little kids and anyone from the countryside of kauhajoki
Yes, I did enjoy the circus…as probably an early teenager. Glad you could go with Nathan.
Does China have travelling circuses these days?
I have no clue. So far I know only two stationary circuses in themeparks and my wife has never heard of traveling ones before
I suspect China might be different because over the decades, the govn’t had stronger grip on movement of their locals. But as you might know, China has a long strong tradition on impressive acrobatics and gymnastics, some of it deriving/incorporating martial arts movements. Did you know the Hong Kong action movie star, Jackie Chan, has formal acrobatic training as a boy/teen in China? He was sent away on home for several years. That’s why he used to do some of the stunts in movies.
I read about Jackie Chan (as I was a huge fan of him during my childhood). About the Chinese acrobatics and gymnastics, I really would love to see them myself and there is even the Chinese National Circus in Germany right now but we have no time to go there, too much business to do for my wife and me 😦
I think the circus must be one of the most wonderful places on earth for a young child. I can’t wait to take Naia to one…though I’ll make sure there are no animals involved. Not just because of how they are treated, but also because I think sometimes they can go crazy and attack the audience. 😦 I’ve been to Cirque du Soleil 3 or 4 times, and it is beyond amazing – like a circus for adults. 😀
Here in Germany they try get new laws to forbid animals as well in circuses but it is very complicated here to get that through. This is also because the really big circuses actually do take good care of their animals and don’t do any crazy trick training unlike some of the smaller circuses which do most training abroad…