4th of July: Hot Dog Madness!

I spent the very hot 4th of July at the I.F.O.C.E. (Nathan's International July Fourth Hot Dog Eating Contest) with my Spanish roommates. It takes place at Coney Island, and is a mix of gluttonous madness and patriotic gibberish. The champion Johnny Chesnut (the most American name you will find after Jack Smith) won by eating 54 Hot Dogs in 10 minutes. Former champion Kobayashi was arrested in front of my eyes and dragged off by the police because he entered the stage without permission – he had refused to sign a contract that would have forced him to give away the exclusive rights to Nathan’s. After the contest (thank god nobody threw up on stage) which I only watched by looking at a big screen because of the massive amount of people, and after silently saying “me” after the moderator screamed the question “Who doesn’t think the USA isn’t the greatest nation in the world?!” we had a Hot Dog by Nathan’s which was surprisingly yummy.

After that, I met up with Melissa and her boyfriend Chuck to watch “”Conan the Barbarian” at my place (which we refrigerated with my AC), and after drinking Austrian Schnaps and eating Sushi we watched the fireworks at the Hudson River from the roof. Beautiful

A man in a robot suit in Coney Island - it had about 34 degrees celsius.


Antonio, my roomate and me - deliberately trying to protect myself from the sun.
The Hot Dog contest. The world record was 86 Hot Dogs in 10 minutes.
People masses.
More people masses.
Looong lines for the Hot Dogs.
My roomates enjoying what they stood in line for for half an hour in the direct sun.
Hot Dog.
Fireworks at the Hudson River. This beautiful picture was taken by Chuck Lau. Check out his website.