Auf Wiedersehen!

Well, I am now in the final hours of Germany! The past six months have been quite an experience. The good times of travels and laughter with family and friends have flown by and the challenging times seemed to last forever. Too much has happened for me to try and recap it here in one post, but overall the combination of experiences have been life changing.

So this past week...has definitely been a blur. Here is what I remember and worth mentioning...

On Wednesday, we joined some of Ryan's coworkers at the Corso Cinema International to see Pacific Rim in English. First Ryan and I took the train into Stuttgart to shop for our super touristy German steins. There is one tourist shop in the city compared to hundreds in more tourist destination cities like Munich. I am very glad that we purchased these awesome stereotypical German beer glasses though. Then we had doner kebab at a different shop downtown and I have to say that I did not enjoy it as much as when we get it at our favorite shop in Boeblingen. It was extremely spicy and the sauces just were not right. The movie was ok, definitely different than the typical movies that I enjoy. My favorite parts in the movie were when the main character Charlie Hunnam was shirtless, which was not nearly enough!

Thursday I waited for the movers to come pack our airfreight, which did not happen because the truck broke down.

Friday they did come and brought a box of candies and gummies to apologize. The box was immediately packed in my carry-on for snacking during our layover this week. The apartment feels quite empty without our extra belongings.

Friday evening we met up with friends at the Schonbuch Brauhaus in Stuttgart for dinner and drinks. Our super over-priced dessert drinks were enjoyed at Sky Beach Stuttgart. I have been wanting to go there since the weather became decent and was very excited to stand at a bar table in sand on a rooftop beach bar. They weather was perfect, the view was great and the sand between my toes was wonderful. Of course the experience begins with clumsy me stumbling on the wooden boardwalk and smacking my right foot. I didn't feel the pain at the time, but the swelling that ensued should have been a sign...After elevating and icing, the size of my foot was now returned to normal and I am trying to ignore the colorful bruises. Thankfully this is the closest we have gotten to a medical emergency since we arrived here in February. Knock-on-wood, since we are almost but not quite home yet.


Saturday was a hot day in Boeblingen with temperatures in the afternoon reaching nearly 100 degrees F. We were outside late afternoon in a paddle boat on the Oberer See for just under the maximum 30 minutes in our rented boat. That was about all our bodies could take of the heat.

Then we cooled down at the city festival Schlemmen am See. The event was much like a small "Taste of Chicago event with five days of drinking and dining on the lake with local restaurants and live music. I had the most refreshing cold bubbling apple juice ever! For dinner we had salmon cooked over an on-sit fire-pit, with delicious "wild potatoes" and a Flammkuchen. We hung out there into the early evening when the temperature cooled down and the people came out. I finally tried an Aperol Spritz while we listened to fun music and watched people eat Ox im Brot. These giant meat sandwiches looked absolutely amazing but I was beyond stuffed and just could not imagine eating one. It only I could try everything!

The next morning was Sunday and we had a double date at the pool and afterwards a BBQ with friends. Even though it stormed all morning, the sky cleared up for a few hours in the afternoon and we were able to soak in the sun at Fildorado outdoor pool. The outdoor complex is huge with volleyball courts, sand areas, grass areas, kids play area, giant trampolines, a snack bar and patio, and numerous large pools complete with an in-pool rock climbing wall, three diving boards and kiddie slides. I could have easily spent more time there this summer if I would have known it was so awesome. (And it only costs 4 Euros per adult.) I enjoyed every minute there and was sad to leave when the sky started to get dark again. Here are a few other observations at the pool:

- Everyone was super happy. All you could hear was laughter!
- There were naked or nearly naked babies running around all over.
- Very few lifeguards.
- Speedos and short shorts!
- Still no paper cups. The snack bar had plastic beer glasses with a deposit.
- The concept of privacy does not exist in the locker room...

As soon as we entered our friend's apartment, the sky ripped oven with lightening and thunder and the torrential downpour began and continued for the next 26 hours (I will get back to that a little later, keep reading.) The couple had prepared a delicious feast of watermelon, tossed salad, Swabisch potato salad, toasted bread, and just about everything you could imagine grilling; shrimp, salmon, white fish, curry chicken, steak, sausage scallops, and bacon skewers. Delicious!

For dessert, I made a strawberry blueberry crisp with vanilla ice cream. It was supposed to be a strawberry rhubarb crisp, but I had to make a last minute change. Rhubarb has been everywhere pretty much since we arrived in Germany and I have been super excited to bake with it but had not had an opportunity to make a large dessert until now. I went to five stores on Friday and could not find Rhabarber anywhere. I tried researching the growing season here and all I could find is an article saying that Germans prefer locally grown rhubarb and choose not to import. My last minute change still produced a delicious product and used locally grown blueberries. Thank goodness blueberries are in season here now!

On Monday, it rained, all day! It literally stormed hard until 6 pm and the lightening and thunder never let up. I was busy in the kitchen beginning at 7 am. The German tradition is for employees to bring snacks and treats for their coworkers on their birthday and their last day of work. Ryan has experienced a fellow employees last day and they brought a kleines Frühstück of pretzels, danishes, etc. For Ryan's last day he asked me to bake desserts for his office of about 50 plus people. I baked the following in a very small oven. The best part is that we don't have a cookie sheet so I could only bake 12 cookies at a time on the oven drip pan lined with parchment paper.

- two 9x11 pans of brownies
- 5 dozen peanut butter cookies
- 5 dozen oatmeal craisin white chocolate chunk cookies
- about 35 oreo truffles
- 3 dinner plate sized sugar cookie fruit pizzas

Ryan and I were introduced to the construction that they began in Boeblingen that morning when I tried to drive Ryan to work. The route which should have taken 20 minutes at the most took over an hour. There were numerous lanes closed in the small city center and the route was detoured out of the way. I wanted the car though in case I needed to run to the store in the rain for any last minute baking necessities. Of course I did have to run out once and had no traffic problems going to the close Real.

After baking and cleaning all day, the plan was to meet friends for dinner in downtown Stuttgart. I left plenty early to run to the bike store to return the CO2 cartridges I purchased before heading to Ryan's office to park so we could take the train downtown together from there. Side note - of course I never got a flat once I was overly prepared for one and TSA does not let you fly with pressurized cartridges. So to give you an idea of timing, I left the house at 5 pm with the plan of catching the 5:45 pm train. Well I tried two different routes to get to the bike store and found them all to be blocked due to either construction, accidents, or flooded roads. Then I decided to forget the cartridges and I drove three different routes to try and get to Ryan's office. FAIL! Then we gave up and decided that I would just park two stops down from his office at Goldberg and we would meet on the 6:00 pm train. FAIL! There was a notice on the boards at Goldberg that the trains were not running through the woods to Vaihingen due to flooding. Ryan was able to make it one stop to downtown Boeblingen, right in the heart of the construction. Since it was pouring and he was trapped, I fought the traffic to go pick him up. Then we were together but trapped, we decide to try and head back to Goldberg to see if there are any changes or if we can take the bus...And two of the routes are closed so we have no choice but to drive to Vaihingen...but there is no where to park there and take the train into Stuttgart and the Autobahn is so overly congested because of the rain and the trains being out of service that traffic is not moving at all. After fighting the traffic for nearly another hour, we decide to give up and head home...But now the road to access our neighborhood is closed so we have to go way out of the way to get home. We finally made it home a little after 8 pm for our last dinner at our Boeblingen apartment.

We polished off the last three beers remaining in our refrigerator on Monday. One from Belgium, one from Copenhagen and a local one from Boeblingen. That pretty much encompasses our  beer travels from the past six months. Unfortunately our freezer burnt pizza, icey frozen mixed vegetables, and super fatty American style frozen chicken wings did not complement the delicious beer, but I was very happy to not be on the road.

Tuesday on the other hand was a great day. The American style baked goods and desserts were a big hit at Ryan's office and everything was eaten. I was able to take the train into Stuttgart in the morning to change our address at the bank and do some last minute gift shopping. Then I met up with the American ladies I have been spending time with the last few weeks for lunch, people watching in the park, shopping, and wine.

I took the train home for the last time and was very tempted for some reason to shout  before my stop "I am an American and I have been trying to fit in here for the past six months and it is really hard!" I restrained myself and instead just exited and walked to our favorite Doner shop to meet Ryan for dinner. We enjoyed our doner and the last walk home. I will not miss walking up 50 or so stairs everyday to get home!

Now for 24 hours in a plane or airport to get home and begin our lives back in the US. I will definitely continue cycling and even registered for a bicycle repair and maintenance class at a local bike store. Hopefully I will perfect my brewing skills and enjoy craft beer from all over the US. Maybe I will even continue blogging as long as I continue exploring. Every day can be an adventure!

Radfahren, Laugfen und Wandern!

This past week has flown by and the countdown is now 10 days until USA!

RADFAHREN

On Tuesday I biked the Stuttgart Radel-Thon. The route is 79 km around the city of Stuttgart. Here is a great link to the map for your reference. I started my route by riding to the Goldberg train station here in Boeblingen to take the train through the woods to Rohr where the route begins. The website advertised the route to be paved and some gravel. In reality, the path is crushed stone, giant rocks, some smooth pavement, road, dirt paths in the woods, and crappy pavement covered in dirt, leaves, and rocks. I was instantly irritated and my brand new tires were not happy. So it was slow going and I had to watch for the signs since the route weaved in the cities and woods. I got lost twice because the trees and bushes were overgrown and blocked the signs.

I convinced myself that my efforts were worthwhile since I really wanted to finish the route. The nice part was that I saw a lot of the area. My favorite part was around Bad Canstatt, and not just because the path was paved, but the view was also spectacular. Here are some pictures from this wine area...










After being four hours into the ride and stuck in the woods going uphill around Gerlingen on a deep gravel path, I called it quits and rode down towards the city center on the road to catch the train back to Boeblingen at Schwabstrasse. I was smart enough to bring plenty of water, GU packets, and snacks to keep me going while I rode, but not smart enough to get off the path when it became unfit for a road bike (which was immediately). Now I can say that I almost finished the Stuttgart Radel-Thon!

LAUFEN

*Disclaimer - I am very grateful to the soldiers that serve and make many sacrifices for the US and I mean no offense. These statements are just my opinion.

So I have been going for jogging/walking/running exercises during the day to be active. There are wonderful paths behind our apartment in the woods on both sides of Panzerstrasse. The American base Panzer Kaserne also happens to be located in these woods. The base is surrounded by fences, barbed wire, trees, and giant signs that say to STAY AWAY so I have always kept a distance. Well last week I was running in the woods, listening to music, and in the zone when I dropped to the ground because I felt like I was being shot at. The gunfire was loud and echoing through the trees. I literally jumped out of my skin in fear for my life. I soon realized that I was near the Panzer shooting range and the soldiers were practicing. I have heard gunfire from our apartment in the residential community on numerous occasions but until recently, I was not usually around during working hours of week days. I understand that target practice is necessary and I would prefer if American soldiers knew how to shoot but I honestly have a problem with a gun range being so close to the community. Germans (and Americans not involved in the military) should be able to enjoy the serenity of the forest near their home without the BANG of guns. The noise is too loud and quite unsettling. I did some more research on the public's opinions and here is what I found:

- Here is an article from June 2012 that highlights how upset the community is. I am glad to hear that the base doesn't shoot on weekends and German public holidays.
- It says here that the Panzer Kaserne has an outdoor shooting range and an indoor firing range.
- I had trouble finding articles in English but would be interested in finding out what our neighbors think of the noise if we were staying here longer.

SINDELFINGEN

The city of Sindelfingen next to Boeblingen had a Great Festival Weekend Saturday and Sunday that we checked out on Saturday. We biked there and locked our bikes at the biergarten at Sommerhofenpark to walk around the park. There were three stations at the park with tents, booths, and presentations. Each station was from a time period when what is now Sindelfingen was occupied by others. Most of the displays were completed by school children of varying ages that have been studying the time periods. It was all put together very well! The city is celebrating 750 years of existence, I believe. We were able to understand and learn quite a bit even though most of it was in German. I have become an expert at looking at pictures, paying attention to body language, and listening for the few words that I do know.

After meandering around downtown Sindelfingen looking at booths, vendors, and historical displays, we biked back to our favorite local brewhouse, Schonbuch Brauhaus. We spent the later afternoon and early evening on the patio drinking hefeweizen, pils, radler, and their brand new pale ale. Yes, they definitely have an American style pale ale and check out the label. It is relatively dark in color for a pale ale and pretty weak on an IBU scale, but an excellent first attempt for a German brewery.

WANDERN

On Sunday, we hiked! Baden-Baden is a short one hour drive away and offers plenty of hiking in the Black Forest. We started on the 60 km Schwarzwaldhochstrasse, or Black Forest High Road in the late morning and stopped right away to do a short hike. We followed the Panoramaweg to the Geroldsau Waterfall. The path is mostly gravel and an easy 1.5-2 km round hike to a small waterfall. I really enjoyed being in the woods and walking along the stream.

Then we drove on the windy uphill road again to stop at a scenic overlook to eat our sandwiches. After a quick lunch in the sun, we continued to a large trail-head with parking possibly near Buhlertal. All of the trail-heads are labeled and the parking lots have plenty of maps with signs. We chose a 4 km hiking path and started in the correct direction. Unfortunately we somehow got off the path in the woods and ended up not completing the round route. The path was a much harder hike through the woods and around giant rocks and just about as wide as a deer path, but quite enjoyable. The viewpoints were gorgeous and very scenic! It we had more time, I could easily spend all day doing some of the longer hikes in the area.

Im Auto, aus dem Auto...

So after a quick exploration of Vienna, we took off again to go back through Salzburg, Austria and then Munich, Germany. All is one day! The drive to Salzburg was only a few hours and very scenic. We stopped in the very little town of Fuschl am See East of Salburg. The view (pictured above) was great and although we really wanted to hike, there were not ideal paths there. Instead we got out to walk around the Southeast part of the lake on the paved paths. It would be a great place to eat lunch on the lake, stay in a cute hotel, and stroll around the small village, but we were not interested in those things at this time.

We continued the short drive to Salzburg and parked in a more industrial area. We walked along the river, around the university, and through the park to take in the views. For lunch we picked up sausages from a street vendor. It was a relaxing few hours. In hindsight I should have dragged Ryan to the Sound of Music shooting locations. "The hills are alive..." I do love that movie!


Then we were back in the car. We drove the last few hours to Munich, Germany. We went to our hotel right away and snagged a free parking spot on the street. After getting settled we strolled down the street and were surprised to find a ton of activity downtown. We happened to arrive on the last day of the Christopher Street Day week in Munich. CSD is the Pride Week for gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender. The highlight of the week was the parade the day before but there was still booths, bars, and live music on Sunday. We enjoyed a few beers while listening to live music on the Marienplatz with the crowd.


For dinner, we dined at the Hofbrauhaus in the large beer hall. We sat near a window though since it was very hot and humid inside and there was not any seating in the biergarten. The atmosphere is great! You sit and enjoy 1 L mugs of beer, listening to live traditional music, watching servers run around with large trays of food, being hassled by employees selling ginormous pretzels, feasting on Bavarian specialties, and enjoying great conversation. However, the place is pretty touristy.

After dinner we strolled around the city center and happened to come across a small wine garten/festival/booth, and a Jewish music celebration. Munich was just an amazing place for activity and I loved all of it. Today, in Germany, people are able to come together and celebrate differences. The world of today is far beyond the past. The world is filled with amazing and wonderful people with differing views, religions, races, sexual orientation, etc. and we can come together and celebrate. Life is good.

Ryan and I spent Monday morning:
- window shopping at the Tesla dealership. Keep dreaming honey!
- eating pretzels and soup in the Viktualienmarkt
- shopping for lederhosen at Tracht & Mehr
- hanging out at the Marienhof park
- checking out over-priced crap at tourist shops

And then we drove back to Boeblingen to run to the grocery store, do some laundry, and just veg.

I hope to be biking and exploring this week! Only 2 weeks and 2 days left here in Germany!

Wien in 36 Stunden!

Friday we left in the morning to drive 7 hours to Vienna, Austria. The first 4 hours consisted of me behind the wheel cursing the road numerous times. The speed limit would go from unlimited to 100 to 80 to 60 to 80 to 60 all within 1 km and then there would be a camera over the road and the construction zone would begin and I would be driving in a lane 2 m wide next to a semi and the process would repeat. After we entered Austria, the speed was consistently 130 km/hr and Ryan had the privilege of driving.

We arrived at our hotel Best Western Kagran late afternoon. It is definitely the cheapest and best value hotel room we have stayed in so far in Europe. Our room is massive compared to other European rooms. After stretching our legs from the long car ride and getting settled in our room, we headed our on the U-Bahn to the Naschmarkt for a snack. We walked down the long stretch of food vendors passing many of the same delicious items: Chinese food, hummus, olives, cheese filled dates and figs, candy and dried fruit, tourist souvenirs, and restaurants. The vendors were very multicultural and aggressively calling to you and handing out snacks to taste. I caved and tried a falafel. It was delicious and I was happily swindeled into buying 8 pieces of falafel, a cheese filled date, some delicious hummus, and baklava (which they spell baklawa). Then we walked down the road to enjoy our snacks with little teeny tiny forks in a grass yard behind a building. We explored the area around the tourist info center. Side note: I have tried to find the tourist info center in nearly every city we have visited and honestly the only really helpful ones were in Lund, Sweden and Berlin, Germany I think. Many of the tourist info centers just have a few brochures and a place to buy tickets, and are not worth the visit, but that is just my opinion. I have found the hotel consierges, and the internet to be more helpful when trip planning.

Then we took the train on a quest to find a Deutsche Bank ATM. There were two listed on Google in a concentrated area but neither exist any longer so we failed. We gave up and headed towards the Danube Tower (pictured to the right) where we had a dinner reservation at 9 pm. We walked through a massive business complex and apartment building to a cute park with great green grass and unique artistic gardens. People were playing frisbee, soccer, volleyball, and tennis with picnic blankets set up all over. We sat and watched people bungee jump from the tower for awhile, then went up the elevator to the top of the tower. I wore a short summer dress which was dumb because the viewing platform at the top of the tower was cold and very windy. The tower was built in 1964, is 252 meters above city level and has a cafe and rotating restaurant inside. Ryan and I enjoyed our first and probably only coursed meal in Europe complete with appetizer plate, aperitif, soup, main entree, and dessert. We chose different things off the set menu of course so that we could try as much as possible and thoroughly enjoyed every bite! The city was also quite pretty at night from the tower.

Side note: one of the stations we were in downtown had signage on the walls with digital displays increasing numbers. We could not read all of them because they were in German, but some said things like; Number of schnitzel eaten in Austria since the beginning of the year. Some amounts were in days and some in Euros. What a fun idea!

So the free breakfast in our hotel is pretty simple and consists of coffee, juice, and tea, a banana, 2 slices of bread, 4 rolls, sausage sticks, butter, jam, and meat spread including chicken and cow liver spread. After eating what we could, avoiding the spreads, we headed downtown to the Sigmund-Freud Park to meet for a free walking tour. Side note: we encountered the view pictured to the left while we were walking. Zoom in on the picture if you can. I think it is hilarious.

Here are the highlights from our 3 hour, 8 km tour:

- Universities in Austria are completely free. There are so many students in many classes that there are not enough seats so students take notes sitting on the ground.
- Vienna Rathaus (City Hall) was built at the time when buildings could not be taller than the nearest church so the architect built it just 1 meter shorter than the nearest church...and then added a large statue on top to make it taller than the church.
- The Music Film Festival was currently going on at the Rathaus platz which is supposedly the busiest platz in Austria.
- Many of the buildings in Vienna are made to look old but are actually relatively new.
- Austrian Parliament building is built in the Greek style to demonstrate democracy and has a large statue of the Greek God of intelligence in front. When Austrians are upset with decisions made by Parliament, they joke that the Greek God is looking away from Parliament because there is not any intelligence inside the building.
- Sisi lived a rather sad life and was stabbed to death through the heart.
- Vienna city center used to be surrounded by a wall. There is now a road there that runs where the wall used to be around the old city center.
- Austrians love their sweets too! Manner wafers, introduced in 1898 by the confectionery dynasty founded by Josef Manner are pretty tasty.
- Our tour guide was very informative and at the end of the tour told us that he was an aspiring photographer and had postcards made of a picture he took of Vienna at night. He gave each of us a postcard as a gift and asked that he like his page on Facebook because if he gets 1,000 likes then a shop owner will sell his postcard. (Search Timariuveo to "like" his page).

After the tour we stopped for a quick lunch at Cafe Europe. Our sandwich and salad were decent but the service was slow and I feel like our server was particularly rude because we did not speak German fluently. After our trip to Copenhagen I learned the importance of taking a break to rest and refuel after a 3 hour walking tour.

We arrived at the Spanish Riding School in Vienna just in time to pick up our reserved tickets for a guided tour in English. The school trains Lipizzan stallions and riders to to perform. Usually the stables house 72 horses but most of the horses are on holiday in pasture this time of year and the performances are on hold until August. The best Lipizzan stallions arrive at the school in Vienna at age 4 to begin training and then performing at age 12 and have two rights...the right to take a 2 month holiday annually in pastures and the right to retire at age 25. The indoor winter arena is pictured to the right. I learned a lot about the horses, riders, and school and would have loved to see a performance.

Then we walked around the shopping area on Mariahilfe Strasse and took a street car to the Salm Haus Brauerei and Restaurant. Side note: I was really happy on the old street car. I have a thing for trolleys and street cars. Anyway, we were directed to join a table with an older couple on the patio and were soon joined by another older couple. We quickly found out that both couples were from Frankfurt, Germany and here on holiday, arriving by bus. They spoke to us in German and some English when we both looked very confused and we enjoyed a few hours of conversation about Germany, beer, English, Harley motorcycles, and Bosch. I thoroughly enjoyed the food and practiced German while having great conversation with nice people.

After dinner we strolled through the Belvedere Gardens. Belvedere is an Italian word that literally translates to "beautiful sight". The view of the building and gardens with fountains and statues is beautiful. And then we had ice cream for dessert at the largest ice cream parlor we have visited in Europe, Zanoni.

Then we rested after a long day in Vienna!

Side note and "lightbulb moment": So Vienna in German is Wien. So Wiener Schnitzel means "Viennese Schnitzel" or schnitzel from Vienna. It is the national dish of Austria, duh!

Nur einen Monat bleibt...

French dinner night...

From my little Best Alsatian Recipes cookbook, I made Fish Stew. The stew was cooked with Riesling and we happily paired it for dinner with the rest of the bottle of Riesling and a second bottle of Pinot Gris from Vin D' Alsace Robert Blanck. I had a fun time shopping for fresh fish at the Real earlier in the week, learning the German words for the fish I wanted. The recipe calls for tench, pike, pike perch, lake perch, trout, and eel. I was only able to find pike and pike perch I think, but the stew still turned out all right. It almost looked like the picture in my cookbook. I was most proud of the white roux that I made for the sauce  and the homemade croutons to put on top.

Last week I spent some time with my fellow American ladies here. We spent one day of sunshine at the Stadtstrand in Bad Cannstatt. This is a patch of sand on the river known as the town beach where one can enjoy a refreshing drink and grilled burger while lounging in an uncomfortable chair. The dirty sand felt great on my feet since this is the closest I have been to a beach in over a year. The burger was delicious though and very close to an American patty. We were optimistic about the chairs but the design is just not comfortable.

Another day we shopped downtown and then had dinner and cake again at the Grand Cafe Planie. I enjoyed a German style Caesar salad and black forest cake.

It was a different experience celebrating American Independence Day from Germany. I did nothing American that day! An American family I met on the train told me that the base here in Vaihingen would be shooting off fireworks but we did not go see them and the base behind out apartment did not light any. It was a normal day of work here for Ryan and we did not visit with the other American trainees here in the evening either. I can say that my national identity as an American has changed with my experiences here in Europe. By repeatedly acknowledging my nationality as an American when asked where I am from and identifying cultural differences between European countries and the US, I have developed a much stronger subjective sense of belonging to the US. I am an open-minded, people loving, adventurous individual, and an American at heart.

I did get out to two different bike stores for tubes, tires, a C02 inflator and cartridges. After spending some time giving my bike some much needed TLC, I am ready to ride. My plan is to get out as much as possible before July 25th when the movers come to pack up our air-freight. I want to ride the 80 km Radel-Thon around Stuttgart, bike West again, and take the S1 train to the end at Kirchheim unter Teck and then bike home.

I was able to get out for a shorter ride on Monday, heading down the long way towards Herrenberg and then coming back up. It ended up being a 32 mile ride that took me nearly 3 hours because I got turned around in Herrenberg and Holtzgerlingen. The route is nice though with a decent climb, a few rolling hills, and safer roads. I made have to ride it a few times to become familiar so that I do not have to consult my phone frequently and get lost in the urban areas.

Since I have had the opportunity to put together a casual bachelorette party for an American that I have been spending time with who is marrying a German this week, I figure I would share the German tradition.

In Germany, a future bride has a Junggesellinnenabschied or "Hen Party". It is thrown and attended by the bride's closest friends and occurs at venues similar to the American tradition including restaurants, bars, and clubs. The biggest difference is that in Germany, the bride wears an obnoxious costume such as a barnyard animal, and has to either sell items from a Bauchladen or perform tasks for money. The Bauchladen is a box worn around the neck that falls to the waist and holds as assortment of condoms, liquor and other items that the bride must sell to men throughout the evening. The proceeds are invested in drinks for the bride and her closest friends that are all wearing matching outfits. One Friday evening, we saw a group out for a Junggesellinnenabschied in Stuttgart. The bride was in a drindl and she was in the street armed with paper towels and glass cleaner, tasked with cleaning the windows of men for money. Her loyal friends were helping and cheering her on.

Although I would love the opportunity to participate in a German Hen Party, I put together a casual evening of dinner, drinks, gifts, and baked goods with the bride's sister at a bar in Tubingen. We went to a college bar Saints and Scholars in Tubingen and hung out there in black dresses with the bride-to-be in white to celebrate.

Ryan and I have a long weekend ahead of us in Vienna, Salzburg, and Munich!

Ich bin wieder in Frankreich.

So a few quick adventure stories and beer recommendations...

I forgot to share about my epic bicycle failure last week. It was a nice hot summer day and I left for a bike ride around 10 am with the goal of being back by 2 pm before the sun peaks here. The afternoon is usually the warmest part of the day. I was ready to go with an apple, a few packets of GU, 2 bottles of cold water, my phone and flat tire repair necessities. I set off North and road towards Weil der Stadt (feel free to Google that location if you are really interested), and then West towards Calw. The ride was absolutely perfect on roads with decent shoulders where I was not scared for my life, through farm fields, small towns, and the foothills of Southwestern Germany. Absolutely Perfect! Then I ran out of water, realized that I was in the middle of nowhere where nobody spoke any English, couldn't find a bakery or restaurant to fill up, and got a flat tire. After cursing I confidently changed the tube on the side of the road (outside the very small town of Sulz, Northwest of Herrenberg), and cursed again when I realized that I could not pump up the tube all the way with my hand pump because I have no upper body strength (especially after being in Germany for five months without a gym or handweights other than filled bottles of water). I stupidly laid the wheel on its side and gave one last pump with all my strength...and broke the valve stem right off.

After cursing yet again and having a minor temper tantrum in the privacy of the middle of nowhere, I thought out my options....I could sit there and pout, go to the car repair shop down the road and ask for help (in German), Google the number for a cab and eat the cost to take me and my bike to the train station in Herrenberg (and try to give the driver directions in German, HA), or call Ryan and hope that he has nothing better to do than pick me up. He left work, biked back to our apartment, and drove 35 minutes to come and get me. So now I have some learning and shopping to do for tubes, new tires, and a CO2 inflator.

Also, I tried beers recommended by the employee at La Cave a Bulles in Paris the other night. The Page 24 A La Rhubarbe was decent. Not quite as tart as I was hoping for, but an interesting flavor. The beer is made with rhubarb juice and was more mildly tangy. Check out this blog for a better description.

And the Amiral Benson from La Brasserie du Mont Saleve was great. An awesome beer with a full mouth feel labeled as an American IPA. This is the beer accompanied by the matching glass, a popular wine glass style in France.

On Sunday, I was back in France. We left early in the morning to drive East past Strasbourg, France to Marlenheim, where the Route des Vins, or Wine Road begins. Strasbourg and the Wine Road are located in the Alsace region of France, known for their white wines and cuisine. The name "Alsace" means "foreign domain" in Old High German. Today the people speak French, although it is a French-German dialect known as Alsatian, and German.  We made our way South on the wine road through the vineyards, towns, and foothills, stopping to take pictures until we arrived in Obernai. We parked just outside of town to stop at a winery/cellar that was open. Since it was Sunday, I was not sure what would be open so I was very excited to find one.

We entered the Vin D' Alsace Robert Blanck shop in the front of the building right after a French speaking couple and the employee there did not speak any English or German. After a few moments of confusion she offered that we join the other couple for a cellar tour and tasting. We followed them downstairs and through the cellar doors to listen to a tour in French. Although we were not able to understand much, the French cellar experience was awesome. The barrels are massive, about 12 feet tall, giant oval Oak barrels. They are numbered at the top by ornately decorated wooden leaves and have wooden carvings of images or words. The oldest barrel was from the early 1700's and the family name and decor was in cement at the back of the cellar from the late 1600's. We did not take any pictures because we were not sure how to ask if it was ok and we did not want to look even more like silly tourists, but here is an image of the barrels from the internet.

After a quick tasting of 4 wines, including late harvest Gewurztraminer (sweet like ice wine), we purchased three bottles that were around 7 Euro each. This is just about double the cost of cheap wine at Aldi but inexpensive compared to wine from vineyards in California, and the tour and tasting were free. She gave us information on the wines in a pamphlet in German, since we speak enough of that to get by.
*Side note - The Riesling in Alsace is always dry, not sweet.


Then we walked into the town of Obernai and Ryan was nervous because we passed closed restaurants and shops and walked along deserted streets. We were hungry and nervous that we would not find something open. And then we turned the corner and the streets opened up to a very busy city center with tons of restaurants with patios pouring out into the streets, people laughing and children playing, and tourist shops with trinkets for sale. We had no problem finding a restaurant but we did notice that prices are higher there than in Germany. We both had ethnic dishes and I found an Alsace cookbook, so be prepared for French night this week.



After an awesome lunch, small and quick compared to the typical French 3 hour lunch, and first dessert of black forest cake, we drove the short distance to Strasbourg. After parking we:
- stopped at the bike event going on to watch people do tricks on bikes and listen to live music
- walked around the historic La Petite-France of canals and medieval buildings. In the Middle Ages, these were tanning houses and slaughter houses.
- watched the water level change for canoes and a tour boat in a lock
- climbed the 300 or so stairs to the top of the Notre Dame Cathedral, definitely an interesting gothic cathedral.
- sat on a bench by the river
- enjoyed our second dessert, French glace or ice cream from a local shop. I had strawberry mint flavor that tasted like real mint leaves, not fake mint extract. It was delicious!

I would definitely visit this area of France again and maybe continue down the wine road to Colmar if given the opportunity.