Lost in Germany: The Lancia Musa and Me

Ok, so I cannot lie, when traffic moves there is nothing more fun than cruising down the Autobahn going 180km/hr. Even in a Lancia Musa.
What is a Lancia Musa you might ask? Perhaps the crappiest most unaerodynamic vehicle I have ever had the good fortune to hop behind the wheel of. Honestly, this thing uses over 14 liters of gas per 100km when you're going 80. Awful.

But still fun to drive the Autobahn even with a less than spectacular car. I am super tempted to find a really nice car, like say a Porsche or an Audi A8 or (this one's for you Dad) one of the new Maserati coupes to take out for a spin for a day. You know, see what it's really like to drive these roads in an actual car.

Now however I am sitting in a 20km traffic jam only 100km from Frankfurt. Whoever said driving the Autobahn is always a speed adventure has clearly never driven thru Germany on a holiday weekend. Here's hoping we make it home by midnight, which would make a supposedly 4. 5 hour drive into an 8+ hour drive . . .

Lost in Germany: Beautiful Berlin

Well, we managed to see a fair amount of Berlin in what really amounted to a long day and a half in the city.

In no particular order, here's a quick rundown on things I think are 'must sees' in the city:

Reichstag
The Reichstag building is the home of the German Parliament and offers a beautiful view over the city and the government quarter. From here you can actually see the top of Gehry's building in the nearby Pariser Platz and well as take in the expansive green of the Tiergarten that extends through the city.


Checkpoint Charlie
For those who haven't been before, I definitely recommend seeing Checkpoint Charlie. There's nothing real left there now that the Wall has been taken down, but the collection of posters around the sight detailing the history of the wall is fascinating and I definitely would recommend stopping by Cafe Adler which actually is the only original piece left from the pre-Fall days.

Unter den Linden
A lovely boulevard to walk along on your way to the Brandenburger Tor. It was named for the Linden trees that line the pedestrian pathway.

Bebel Platz
Located along Unter den Linden, Bebel Platz is probably most well-known for being the site of the infamous Nazi book burning.

Humboldt Universität
Berlin's oldest university, located along Unter den Linden. It was from Humbolt University's library that the Nazi youth took some 20,000 books and burned them on the Bebel Platz.

Brandenburger Tor and Pariser Platz
Definitely one of the most recognizable symbols of Germany, the Brandenburger Tor was builtin 1791 and modelled on the entrance to the Acropolis in Athens. The Tor sustained heavy damage during World War II and was restored in the 1950s. After the Berlin Wall was erected in 1961, the Brandenburg Gate was inaccessible to the citizens of both Germanys and was ultimately regarded as the symbol of Cold War divisions.

Pariser Platz sits in front of the Tor and is home to an inordinate number of banks including the Deutsche Bank Frank Gehry Building.

Tiergarten
A fantastic garden spread through the center of the city, the Tiergarten reminds me a bit of Central Park, but it seems much bigger. In one of the meadows is a grouping of 7 large stones, part of an artistic installation called the Global Stone Project.

Schloss Charlottenburg
Schloss Charlottenburg was the summer home of the German ruling family. They have the most spectacular gardens there and even though it's a bit further out of the city, I highly recommend visiting. The palace itself is absolutely beautiful.

Nikolaikirche
Berlin's oldest church is located quite near to the Berliner Dom and also the Museumsinsel. Apparently, there's also quite a nice exhibit inside, but we didn't have time to see it.

Museumsinsel
A UNESCO World Heritage site, a host of museums are housed on this tiny island in the city as well as the Berliner Dom. We didn't bother heading inside of any of the museums, instead we camped out along the river and basked in the sun enjoying prosecco and apfelstrüdel. Very tasty.

Berliner Dom
A really gorgeous Gothic church. After climbing up a significant number of steps, you are rewarded with a wonderful view out over the city of Berlin. Definitely worth the hike to the top. That and there is a great exhibit with the scale models they used for reconstruction purposes while they repaired the damage caused by a firebomb during WWII.

Gendarmenmarkt
Considered one of Europe's most beautiful city squares, you can enjoy the view the Deutscher Dom, the Fransösicher Dom and the Konzerthaus.

Kaiser Wilhelm Memorial Church
Just a very cool looking church in the middle of Breitscheidplatz, also where I had enjoyed a tasty plate of Berlin's contribution to fastfood, Currywurst. Now keep in mind that currywurst is basically, hot dogs covered in warm ketchup and doused with curry powder. Strange but still tasty, check out this "authentic" recipe here.

Lost in Germany: Neuschwanstein aka Sleeping Beauty's Castle

So post-Nick's morning ski we headed off again back to Frankfurt, but we made a small detour to see the original inspiration for Walt Disney's Sleeping Beauty Castle, Neuschwanstein. The castle is nestled in a tiny town in Germany and was actually built in the mid-1800s by Ludwig II, King of Bavaria. He was a little bit nuts but quite beloved by the people in his kingdom.

I have to say, the castle itself does actually look like something out of a storybook, but then again that seems to have been Ludwig's idea. He had a very pure idea of what a King should be surrounded by and he had a love of the Middle Ages and the courtly ideals they supposedly upheld. So the crazy thing about the castle is that even though it looks like it should have been constructed in the middle ages it actually has all of these hidden 'modern' amenities like hot air central heating, running water on every floor and even an telephone system! Ultimately the guy became a complete recluse and was declaired insane by the Bavarian government, deposed and then the day after he was interned at the Bern palace, he died in a mysterious drowning incident along with the psychiatrist who had declared him insane. Very strange. . .

Anyway, Nick and I arrived too late to actually get into the castle, but after napping in the car on the way there I had built up a lovely store of energy, so I dragged Nick on a very brisk walk up around the back way along a hilly path to a bridge overlooking the castle. It was a beautiful view and definitely worth detouring for on the way home.

And here's a moment of small world wonder. As we were hiking up to look at the castle from afar, I was chatting with Nick about winter skiing and riding snowmobiles on Lake Sunapee in New Hampshire. Something I always loved doing when I would go up to my friend's lake house during the winter. So low and behold, we round the bend and there in front of me are to boys, probably about 12 and 14 wearing, I kid you not, Mt. Sunapee Ski Team 2008 jackets. Seriously. Is that crazy or what?

The best part was when I asked them if they were from NH and told them I used to ski up there, they said they were in Europe to ski in Austria. In St. Anton of all places, just where I was last week. Strange small world it is, no?

Lost in Germany: Zugspitze, the highest peak in Germany (and Austria)

So after our fantastic week of skiing and lounging in St. Anton, I convinced Nick to hop back in the car and take another weekend trip with me, this time to Garmisch-Partenkirchen a small town close to the Austrian border that is also the home of a glacier covered mountain called the Zugspitze.

So the Zugzpitze is Germany's highest mountain. Actually, I think it might also be the highest peak in Austria as well. It's almost 3,000 meters (10,000 ft) high and it actually offers skiing all year round which is pretty cool. We arrived, took the gondola up the mountain and then Nick realized that he could actually step back into his home country! Just by walking through a hallway and out onto the other side he could arrive in Austria.

After snapping the requisite pictures from Germany's (and Austria's) highest point, we headed off to ski. Unfortunately I had managed to rent absolutely crap equipment, mostly the ski boots which had a disturbing habit of having the lining slide around every time I tried to set the edge on my skis. So being uncomfortable with the crappy equipment I decided to call it an early day and called it quits before lunch. But Nick had a blast and I got to sit outside and enjoy the sunshine. Probably better for me anyway, I still can't quite sit down properly after my snowboarding experiment in St. Anton. No need to damage myself more this weekend.

So, random facts about the Zugspitze:

• You can get to the top in three ways: Cogwheel train, Climbing or Cable Car
• From the top you can see 4-countries: Germany, Austria, Switzerland and Italy
  
• You can cross directly into Austria/Tyrol from the top of the mountain
• The highest chapel in Germany is located on the peak
  

Lost in Germany: Nürnberg Weihnachtsmarkt and a Walled City

Another weekend exploring Germany, oh how I love it.

This weekend my dad was here so after a great day and a half wandering around Frankfurt we hopped the train to see another city, Nürnberg with a small side trip to Rothenberg ob der Tauber. Seeing as it’s now the height of the Christmas season I didn’t feel like I could live in Germany and not see the most famous Weihnachtsmarkt in the whole country. Besides, it’s a city with a wonderfully rich history and I knew that would appeal to my dad.

After a relatively quick and easy train trip, we arrived in Nürnberg to a grey a drizzly day. Not that the weather could possible stop us from exploring almost immediately. So we picked up a spare umbrella and headed off into the city. First stop: food. A great little find of a restaurant on Dürer Strasse, which actually led us to realize that Albrecht Dürer lived in Nürnberg and his house was just down the street. I being the uneducated girl that I am didn’t realize who Dürer actually was until my dad explained to me that he was one of the most highly respected European painters (insert more historical info here). With that bit of knowledge in hand, we toured through his family home listening to the headsets which gamely attempted to further inform my knowledge of the subject.

Once we trundled back out to the street fully educated, we headed up to the main castle in Nürnberg where we found ourselves on another tour, but this time it was live and in German. I guess it was a great opportunity to apply my recently acquired linguistic schools. Although I followed bits and pieces our guide really caught my attention when he took us into the well which was over 300 meters deep and had been dug over a more than xx year period. It took more than 10 seconds for water poured from a pitcher to reach the bottom of the well. Incredible.

The night was spent wandering through the Christmas market, and we did actually walk down every single aisle in the square where I found several of my heart’s desires: Nürnberg sausages and gingerbread. Yum.

After an early night, we got up the next day and wandered through the city a bit more. It was wonderful having everything to ourselves for a few hours. I love the feeling of a city asleep, there’s something so intimate about being privy to that. We didn’t linger too long though before we hopped on the train to Rothenberg ob der Tauber.

Another very old city, Rothenberg is a medieval walled city, in some ways very similar to Nürnberg but just a bit smaller. Probably the highlight for my dad and I was exploring the Lutheran church in the center of the city. All my dad could keep muttering was how hard it was to believe that it was a Lutheran church and not a Catholic one. Now I don't know that much about what distinguishes one Christian place of worship from another branch, but even I could tell this was an extraordinarily ornate Lutheran church. Beautiful for sure, but ornate. And in fact, somewhat contradictory to the principles of what Luther himself had preached, a move away from the conspicuous wealth and consumption of Catholicism.

Anyhow, it was a great little stop although we didn't linger long. Soon enough we hopped back on the train to head to Frankfurt. It's been great having my dad here for a few days. I think sometimes it's easy to get caught up in the daily grind and neglect to see how fast time is actually passing you by. I'm really grateful that we have this time together.

Nazis and Anti-Nazis

So last weekend, there was another round of protests in Frankfurt.

Three groups carried out demonstrations on Saturday:

The Nationaldemokratische Partei Deustschlands, with 2,000 people demonstrating, marched through the neighborhood where my office is located. This is the right-wing, neo-Fascist party here in Germany (aka neo-Nazis). They marched against Islamism in Germany and the construction of a new mosque that the Hazrat-Fatima community wants to build in Hausen (another nearby neighborhood).

At the same time, an alliance of religious communities and citizen groups, the Römerbergbündnis, carried out a counter-demonstration in the same area. And a radical activist group called ANTIFA (anti-Fascists who can probably be described as anarchists) also marched against the right-wing protesters.

As far as I know there was no violence, then again it's hard for me to tell since I can't really read the newspapers yet. Everything was pretty quiet in my neighborhood and in the city center. There's always some concern that the protests will end up around the European Central Bank seeing as it is such a strong symbol for capitalism within Europe.

It's so interesting to see how Germany struggles with protests of this sort. On the one hand, it is illegal to give a Nazi style salute. On the other they stand by freedom of speech and even though many of the Germans I've come to know in the last nine months abhor the idea of neo-Nazis they still allow them to protest. That's freedom of speech if I've ever seen it. In some ways they have more freedom than we do in American now. There have been so many rules enacted, so much surveillance permitted that nowadays if you have anything to say against the government you truly have to be careful. I guess so much of it seemed ok when the legislation was going through because we were all a bit shell-shocked after 9/11, but it has to stop at some point. Freedom of Speech is one of the critical tenants that America is built on after all. . .

Oktoberfest 2007: Day 2

OK, I think we were all a bit in need of a calmer start to the day, and possibly some recovery from all of the beer we consumed last night. Thank heavens our reservation for the tent tonight isn't actually until the night.

So instead we have spent the day wandering through Munich. Top on the list was a surf spot (yes I know, I didn't believe it either) in a park that TJ wanted to to and check out. And sure enough, there it was, a bunch of guys and a girl or two in wetsuits surfing in a river. I guess what happened was that a log got lodged in the river one day and someone figured out that it was surfable. So now they've actually secured it under the water with cables so that it is always present. It was pretty unbelievable but cool to watch.

After a very leisurely afternoon, we headed back to the hotel to get back into our now, very unattractive smelling clothes (amazing how beer can permeate fabric, really amazing) and piled back downstairs or round two of the Oktoberfest madness.

Once again, the pictures tell the story so much better than I possibly can. But suffice to say it was another night of crazy drinking and dancing and singing. The tent we were in was a bit more exclusive than the Hoffbrau tent from last night, a bit more civilized but so much fun. And the food was unbelievable. If I were ever to go back to Oktoberfest, this is where I would want to have a reservation. Much more fun in some ways than the first day.

Of course, no Oktoberfest night would be complete without at least a brief stop at the carnival rides, unfortunately this time we managed to drink until all of the rides had closed. So instead part of the group went off to the arcade, I guess that's what I'd call it, where apparently Marc, my fearless and oh so talented brother, schooled the rest of the boys in how to play hoops. Talk about family pride.

Anyway, all in all a pretty amazing Oktoberfest. I don't think we could have had a more wonderful group of people to hang out with for this trip. Hopefully Vienna will be just as much fun (albeit with slightly less alcohol), and even more so, I'm very seriously hoping that this cold that is threatening me doesn't actually turn into anything. At least I have the train ride to sleep on. . .

Oktoberfest 2007: Day 1

First day of the fest.

After a whirlwind of activity yesterday that involved Marc arriving at 7am, a train ride to Munich and a frenzy of dirndl and lederhosen shopping, we were all decked out in our fancy (and still clean) new clothes.It was time to head off to the Hoffbrau tent for our first day of Oktoberfest madness. I could try to explain exactly what happened on this day, but truly I think that the pictures do a much better job of demonstrating what happened during our experience beginning with the enormous beer steins (yes they really are bigger than your head). Everyone's excitement was practically palpable as we strolled through the streets of Munich on our way to find our tent.

Probably the best part was as we walked down to the festival, people stopped to take pictures of us in our outfits. I guess we were quite a sight, all 10 of us in full German traditional clothing. I have to say, we did look pretty fantastic. But again, the pictures are perfect evidence of it all.

Birgit was once again our fabulous guide in getting us to the right place at the right time to actually begin drinking beer our of glasses bigger than my head. And yes I will have to say that again because it is true, I have never seen anything like this in my life. Not even in Wisconsin where I think they take beer as seriously as the Germans do.

After a full 12, yes 12 (!!!!), hours of drinking, some of us decided maybe it was time to head home, but about half of our group decided that the smart thing to do was to head out to the carnival rides. So off we went, all 10 of us, ok 9 because we lost Ben somewhere along the way. But there we were, heading up into one of those crazy rides that whips you up to the top of a very, very tall pole and then drops you down in sudden bursts making you think, well god knows what you're supposed to think. Honestly after three or four steins of beer (more than you think after 12 hours of drinking), I could barely feel a thing so it seemed like the most ridiculous ride ever. But hey! I was game.

After our brief jaunt on the rides, Marc and I decided we were ready to head home, so off we went with most of the group although we did leave Jeff, his sister and brother-in-law, and TJ behind. I have a feeling there are going to be some pretty funny pictures that come out of that decision.

I can't believe there's another full day of drinking after this day. I think my dirndl is going to be slightly worse for the wear as well. . .

Oktoberfest 2007: Kick-off in Frankfurt

Well, yesterday people heading down to Munich for Oktoberfest this weekend started to arrive in Frankfurt. Actually, we're now only missing my fantastic brother, Marc, who gets in on Saturday at 6am (yikes!!) and the illustrious Kent Middleton, Creative Director extraordinaire who will be meeting us down South.

It should be a pretty fantastic crew T.J. and his wife Melissa, Jeff Cantalupo and his girlfriend Leigh Ann (who just made the big move over to Spain to join him!), Jeff's sister and her husband, Birgit, Marc and I. It's a heavy Leo Burnett crowd, but so much fun.

Last night we went to a restaurant in Frankfurt called Silk. It's one of the molecular gastronomy crowd/avant garde food movement crowd. Obviously inspired by Ferran Adria, it's a good addition to my dining experiences in my long running quest to finally make it to El Bulli. . .

Here are the courses as best I remember them (this is definitely not all of them):

Olive -Olive Juice trapped in a soft casing to look like and Olive (very similar to a dish offered at El Bulli last year)
Salmon in a Cone - A thin wonton wrapper like cone filled with
Risotto
Pear and Goat Cheese - Pear Juice Shooter with Caviar, goat cheese and candied walnut
Breakfast Egg - Slow poached egg at 60C for 6 hours, gnocchi, Parmesan foam
Lobster
Chicken with mushrooms
Brownie withe Pine Tree Sprout Foam - pine tree foam, pomegranate compote, brownie and quark
Apple Tart
Silk Lollipop - Spun Cotton Candy wrapped around a chilled fruit cake (which I think may have been mango?)

A Ball in Baden Baden and Waltz as a Contact Sport

So somehow or another I found myself attending a Grand Ball this past weekend in Baden Baden, Germany. Granted I've always enjoyed getting dressed up and looking pretty, but definitely nothing quite as formal as this. The black tie events in Chicago, while fancy don't usually involve an entire weekend of activities like fashion shows and clubbing . . . .

However, assisted in the fashion department by my team of advisers (thank you Andrea, Ilham and Birgit!!), I pulled myself together and found myself on the road Friday afternoon to Baden Baden ready to do anything but go out clubbing. . . .


. . . .which thank god we did not end up doing. Bless the boy for letting me having a quiet night. Seriously. I was so much happier the next day after a good night's sleep, we spent Saturday just wandering through the streets of Baden Baden which for those who don't know anything about it is this old spa town that was founded by the Romans and has a famous mineral spring that feeds a spa called Friedrichsbad. It also has a casino which is said to rival the one in Monte-Carlo as the best in Europe. The casino is actually where the ball itself was held.

There was a medieval street festival taking place in the town that was actually pretty cool. A group of woodworking apprentices were doing a demonstration. Nick explained to me that the clothes they were wearing are actually a traditional uniform for apprentices and as part of their training they make their way through the countryside seeking out master woodworkers to learn from. But for a few years they don't earn any money. Apparently the clothing is just the visible mark of the apprentice in this particular trade and sometimes you'll see them hitch hiking along the road.

So the ball. Oh the ball, was lovely. Nick claims it didn't even come close to comparing to the Viennese balls he goes to every year, but I thought it was pretty lovely (well at least until it devolved into something similar to prom at the end of the night, only with more expensive jewelry and clothes and a lot more alcohol). But the night was wonderful, I loved the opening waltz! Everyone in their beautiful clothes gliding and twirling around the dance floor to the strains of the Sleeping Beauty Waltz from Tchaikovsky. And believe it or not, somehow Nick managed to teach me to waltz while we were waltzing. I think it's because the Viennese come out of the womb waltzing, but that's besides the point. Somehow he managed to teach me to waltz while we actually moved across the dance floor. Now I know, I know that waltz is supposed to be the easiest of the partner dances to learn, unfortunately I never learned them (thank you for that mom and dad). So this is all new to me.

Before we got to the ball, Nick warned me that waltzing is actually a contact sport. To which I replied, well of course it's a contact sport! There are two people dancing, they have to touch each other. He laughed and said, no, think contact sport in relation to say, rugby. Well, I certainly wasn't completely convinced of this idea, but lo an behold, there we are dancing (on a relatively crowded dance floor) and all of a sudden I see this guy tumble over! And then some woman stepped on my foot and it just kept going. I couldn't believe it! Ballroom dancing really is a full body contact sport.

There go my romantic notions of classic ballroom dance as a gorgeously graceful give and take between two people whirling around the floor in some strange throwback to an elegant time in Europe when society would come together for an evening of sociability in the most gorgeous ballrooms in the world.

Anyway, the ball was lovely. We had a really nice time, but as I said before, Nick claims this didn't even compare to the balls in Vienna. And he's already promised me a true Viennese ball experience in January. So I guess I'll just have to wait and see how it truly does compare.

Sunday after the post-ball brunch, we spent the day lazing in the waters of the Friedrichsbad, one of several thermal spas in Baden Baden. There were 17 stages to progress through that included everything from sauna to steam room to a series of hot and cold water pools. Certainly an experience to be had while in Europe especially given how strong the thermal spa culture is in Germany. But if you decide to go just be prepared that is sans bathing suits and co-ed. But really wonderful, for only 29€, it's hard to beat three hours at this spa.

If you happen to be in the area of Baden Baden, I highly recommend that you stop by for the day, it's a beautiful (if expensive) little town near part of the German wine country. Just be warned, the nouveau Russian rich are everywhere.

You can find lots of information here on the Baden Baden tourism site, but for the record, here are my highlights:

Baden Baden Kurhaus - Site of many cultural and formal events, it's also surrounded by some lovely gardens

Casino - As mentioned before, it's said to rival Monte Carlo, just remember that men need to wear a jacket and tie to gamble there.

Thermal Spas - I went to Friedrichsbad, but there are several other wonderful spas in the city including Caracalla.

Churches/Cathedrals - Of course there are several lovely churches that can be seen in the city, the one we stopped to see was the Stiftskirche which can be seen after a somewhat strenuous climb up to the Marktplatz.

Museumsufer Fest

This is the biggest and last of the Frankfurt Summer Street festivals. And it's completely unlike any street festival I've ever actually seen. In Chicago, people walk around drinking beer from plastic cups in baseball caps and shorts, it's really only a group of 20-somethings and 30-somethings heading out to get drunk for the afternoon (or often although you can do lots of other fun things too), somehow it seems kind of dirty and crowded and overwhelming . . . In Frankfurt, people walk around in such an orderly fashion drinking wine and beer out of actual glasses (glass glasses! no plastic cups here, folks!). Old couples, young couples, couples with kids, teenagers in summer romances, you name it they're here and they're here until the early hours of the morning. No one bats an eye at little kids wandering around because everyone is so well behaved.

Music is playing in the gardens behind the museums but if you make your way down to the riverside you find stages with club music and dancers (scantily dressed dancers) going until the earliest hours of the morning. It's great. Somehow civilized and yet like a club all at once.

My friend Francesca took me out to the festival and we spent an hour or two wandering around the booths, I managed to get a wooden ring stuck on my finger (for a full 30 minutes mind you, the guy used both oil and dish soap to get the thing off my hand). It was great. Really gorgeous jewelry and decorations from Columbia to South Africa (some of it was the usual tourist junk, but there were some amazing finds if you spent enough time looking).

It makes me sad that I didn't make it out to more of the festivals this summer, but there's always next year!

Say "No!" to Nazis

So last month there was a Nazi/Anti-Nazi rally in Frankfurt. I admit I didn't actually get to see any of the marching, but little signs of the event were scattered throughout the city afterwards on streets and buildings.

I find it really interesting how how the Germans I know react to this particular history chapter. Some of them respond by just not knowing that much about it, others just refuse to talk about it besides a really brief acknowledgment. It's interesting. Anyway, a friend of mine encouraged me to stay away even though I wanted to go and get some photos of it, as he said, "If you're close enough to get pictures, you're close enough to get into trouble." I thought he meant with the Nazis, but he actually meant the anti-Nazis. I asked him why and he said it was just the difference between anarchists (the anti-Nazis) and communists (the Nazis). The anarchists would always cause more trouble . . . .

Chickens on Parade

Ah weekends in Frankfurt, when all the Chickens come out to play.

I'm looking for good chicken quotes, jokes, insights to put with this picture . . . so if you've got 'em, share 'em here.

Andrea Does Frankfurt

So last weekend my fantastic friend, Andrea, jetsetter that she is, flew in from Cairo for a weekend in Frankfurt before heading back to Lausanne for work.

It poured rain the entire weekend, but still we had a fantastic time. Hours of conversation over wonderful bottles of wine sitting on the balcony while the rain came down as the night turned into early morning the next day.

We even made it out to the Rheingau on Saturday to do some wine tasting with my friends John and Nicole. It was so beautiful, the sun actually came out for a while and we walked through the vineyards on our way to taste some wines. We went to this amazing overlook that had a breathtaking view of the Rhein River. I think it was a former manor or something. It was beautiful and all in yellow with a terrace for people to sit down and look out over the view.

After that we stopped in Kiedrich for dinner and they had the most beautiful rose garden along the river. This is probably one of my favorite places in the Rheingau that I've been to so far, although I still prefer the wines that Doug and I bought at the Kloster Eberbach to anything else I've tasted so far.

We spent Sunday tooling around Frankfurt, the first time I'd really had a chance to actually check out my neighborhood. Of course it was raining so we didn't walk around for too long, but we did manage to find a cute little restaurant to eat lunch in called Lokal Bahnhof. So yummy, I once again found my favorite German comfort food, kase spaetzle. Mmm German macaroni and cheese.

It was a great weekend. I can't wait to travel with Andrea again but we'll have to do it soon, we don't have too much time left before she moves back to the States in July.

Sights around the City

Ever since I arrived in Frankfurt in March, I have tried to carry my camera around with me so I could capture some of the things you see when you're just new to a city. The things that once you've been there for a while start to blend into the background and simply become the place that you live.

These are a few of the images that really caught my attention in the first few weeks and months.

Flohmarkt

So every Saturday just a few blocks from where I live, there is a 10 story flea market that springs up along the river. You can find almost anything you might possibly want in this flea market, from bicycles to lamps to socks to rifle scopes . . . . and I'm not kidding about that last one. But in all honesty, I wouldn't say that it is that much different from a flea market back in the states, but what is interesting is how the styles of selling differ.

On one of my first weekends in Frankfurt I actually found my kitchen table here. It's the base of an old iron sewing machine so it's incredibly heavy, but very cool looking. I made one of my friends, Jon, help me carry it the 10 blocks back to my apartment. He at 6'4" and me at 5'4" made quite the sight hauling this thing down the street. And the thing must have weighed 200 lbs. Insane, but I was just so glad to have a place to sit down and eat something while I waited for my furniture to arrive.

So back to the market, there are both Turkish and German sellers at this market and each has a distinctly different style of selling, the Germans tend to be much quieter, much less ostentatious in how they sell. The Turks on the other hand are out there, in your face, shouting following you down the sidewalk, always selling, selling, selling. They've really carried so much of their selling style from home into Germany. It's interesting.

The relationship between the Turks and the Germans is quite tense and has been for a while. As I understand things, back in the 50s and 60s Germany relaxed many of its immigration laws because it had a very low rate of unemployment and needed workers to come into the country to fill low-paying, labor jobs. The Turks moved very quickly into Germany because there was a lot of opportunity for them. Unfortunately, as unemployment rates went up over the years, none of the Turks left Germany, so a real sense of resentment started growing among the Germans about how many Turkish there were in Germany, and they were taking all of these jobs, and actual Germans were unemployed. . . . you get the picture. Basically there is quite a lot of racism directed against the Turkish who are living in Germany. It doesn't seem to be quite so obvious from what I've seen, but I have heard that there are quite a lot of problems. Particularly from the more disenfranchised young German men.

There are definitely some interesting similarities between racial tensions against recent immigrants in America and the current situation in Germany. Particularly in regards to how quite a few people see Mexican immigrants as taking away job opportunities domestically. The problem with that view, from what I see, is that most native born Americans don't want to do the work that recent immigrants are willing to do. As far as I can tell, the same situation also seems to exist here in Germany. It's an interesting point of similarity between our two countries.

Bike Polo Anyone?

So one day not too long ago, I was walking around the city, trying to find new places (and a cup of coffee). As I walked by the old stock exchange, in addition to the usual punk kid skate boarders, I saw this group of people on bikes riding slowly in circles with big sticks. It took me a minute to figure out what they were doing, but turns out they were playing polo on bikes!

The things you see in this city sometimes.

Wining in the Rheingau

So last Tuesday, my friend Doug (see the lovely picture to the right) and I took our Feiertag (holiday) and went to the Rheingau to sip Rieslings and see the sites.

It was beautiful and I have to say the landscape quite resembled Wisconsin. Doug and I both think that's why there were so many German settlers who moved to the area when they immigrated. It reminded them of home.

This was my first time driving in Germany on the Autobahn and I can't lie, driving the Autobahn is everything you could imagine and more. The speed and the fun of driving a fast German car is a combination that practically guarantees very fun driving. Granted I have to do this in kilometers, but I was going an easy 140km and was being passed by people who were going at least 200km and probably even fast than that. Fun and slightly terrifying all at once. I do have to say that German drivers really are impressive. Apparently they have to take a very expensive course here in order to receive their license and then they have an incredibly long probationary period where their license can be taken away for any tiny infraction. On a side note, I should be receiving my have an Illinois driver's license I am able to drive 10 ton trucks in German driver's license sometime in the next few weeks. How fun is that? And because I the United Kingdom. I don't know about you, but as much faith as I have in my driving abilities the thought of me behind a truck that size on the left hand side of the road is a touch frightening. . . .

Back on track again, Doug and I started out on Tuesday morning from the agency and hopped right onto the Autobahn to a town called Eltville. It was a really pretty town, in some ways exactly how I would have pictured a little German town along the Rhein River. We stopped to poke around a bit, but in order to do that I had to park the car. Can I just tell you that I don't know if I will ever understand how Germans know where they can and cannot park on the street? As far as I can tell they just put their car on a sidewalk wherever there happens to be some space. But beyond that I have yet to figure out what signs or street markings actually indicate that a person can park there without getting a ticket.

After finding parking we wandered around Eltville for a little while and found this really beautiful church right in the center. Actually it was a little complex of church buildings. Very cool stuff inside, all open to the public for no charge. The funny thing was that right up next to the alter I found this sign, obviously made in Sunday school class or something like that:






Such a random little class project , Shabbat Shalom in what is obviously a church.

Anyhow, we left the church and were on our way back to the car and out of Eltville when we noticed a sign for a Flohmarkt that was taking place just outside of the town with music and food and stuff like that. We decided to drive up since it looked like it was little ways away. But once we saw the crowds and the random stuff people were carrying away from the Flohmarkt, we decided to forgo the Flohmarkt in favor of a historic monastery called the Kloster Eberbach. My German teacher Petra had told me about this particular stop on the route we were planning to follow. It is one of her favorite places and by great luck, also has rather lovely Rieslings to sample and purchase as well.

The Kloster Eberbach was incredibly impressive. Beyond the history, the buildings and main chapel were really pretty breathtaking. So breathtaking in fact, that part of the movie "The Name of the Rose" was filmed on the premises within the main chapel. The acoustics within the space were unbelievable. I could stand in one corner and whisper to Doug and he could hear me as if I was standing right next to him.

Check out these pictures of the chapel:

This is the original main chapel, also where they filmed some of the "Name of the Rose". They actually still have a set piece from the film in the chapel today.


This here was originally the dormitory for the full monks. Any laymen who were dedicated to Christ but hadn't taken full vows slept elsewhere in order to keep the monks from being disturbed.






This is the view from the dormitory window down into the courtyard.

Once we had worked our way through the main religious buildings we got to the really interesting part, the wine presses and wine cellar. I've never seen wine presses like these before, they were really quite large and they had some wonderful detail on them. The presses themselves had a number assigned to it, but neither Doug nor I could quite figure it out how it was ordered.

The wine presses at Kloster Eberbach.

Detail from the wine presses.

The wine bike. OK, so I don't actually know what this is, but it looks like something one would pedal around after pressing wine all day long.

The wine casks.

And of course after seeing the casks we had to go and sample some of the wines from Kloster Eberbach, which were delicious. I had no idea how different Rieslings could taste from one vintage to another. We each went home with at least a case of wine if not a little more. And head home is what we did after checking out the Kloster Eberbach. On the way home we managed to somehow get lost when we were only about five minutes from the agency. I'll tell you something, you really start to understand how much you're picking up a language when you have to ask for directions in it. Somehow Doug and I managed to ask for directions in German and then actually follow them when they were given to us in German. Not too bad for new German learners.

So, Happy Ascension Day!

And of course, this wouldn't be complete without a last few pictures that I just couldn't quite fit in next to all the text:

The Door of St. Michaelskapelle.

A very cool old gravestone. Not sure why there's a Skull and Crossbones on it.

Dragon Adornment in the small chapel at St. Michaelskapelle.

Very cool little building nestled above the road by Kloster Eberbach.


The grounds at Kloster Eberbach.
Kloster Eberbach main chapel.
A small door in the Dormitory at Kloster Eberbach.

The wine cellar at Kloster Eberbach.