When in Osnabrück locals kept asking whether I had paid a visit yet to the famous institution Schlecks. I was curious, how can an ice cream parlour be so popular? I then realized why. The concept behind Schlecks is simple in theory, but in practice it is complicated: Choose ice cream, choose ingredients, friendly person behind the counter mixes them for you and stuffs them in a waffle cone. The difficulty arises from the fact that there are over 100 added ingredients, including various chocolate bars, seasonal fruits, nuts, American candy (think nerds and reese cups), cake (cheesecake, brownie, apple pie etc) and various other exciting possibilities. I was actually glad that there was such a long queue as I got a chance to think it through. I went for strawberry and vanilla ice cream with blueberries, raspberries, cheesecake and a fruits of the forest coulis, stuffed inside a white chocolate lined waffle cup cone. This is like really fresh custom-made Ben and Jerry's ice cream. I liked the fact that there were plenty of vegan options too. This is a great idea, as is proved by its popularity amongst locals and students alike. read more