Visiting the Queen

I realized today it has been over 2 weeks since our last post.  This is because we have had our first guests – my mom and dad.  And we have spent the last week visiting England and Ireland with them. 

This post is focused on three days in England, mainly because I haven’t gone through the Ireland photos.  I think we took a combined 1,500 photos on this trip between the 4 of us.  I wrangled the England side down to my favorite 300, which I will post for you here.  Just kidding – I’ll keep it to just a fraction of that.

And without further ado, here is a photo commentary tour through England with us!

We started our trip in London, and since we only had the day there we set out right away for a lunch of fish and chips.  Since everyone but my dad has been to London before, we deferred to him to choose the itinerary for the afternoon.  He went with the Tower of London.  We saw the crown jewels, the multiple towers, and Dad pretended to be a member of the Royal Guard.  And my mom and I made a friend.

We also were very close to the Tower Bridge.  Here we are when the weather was briefly nice, and here is the bridge again during the thunderstorm.

Our last stop before dark was Big Ben and the Houses of Parliament.

The next morning, we picked up our rental car and Noah braved driving the wrong other side.  We took off towards Leeds Castle, where birds like to pose.

And so do the people.

The castle was as beautiful as I remembered, and the storms held off until we were ready to go.  Very considerate, England.  

We also spotted a white peacock.  And for about 30 seconds, I had my mother convinced that the pigeons were peahens. 

We spent the evening in Salisbury, famous for their cathedral.  

The next morning we met with our wonderful tour guide, Pat, who took us out for a very educational tour of the various henges in the area.  I had no idea there was so much more than just Stonehenge, and it was amazing to learn things about the area.  We started out at Woodhenge.

The next stop was Stonehenge, but we started across the road first.  Here we hung out with the sheep and learned about the various henges in this field – I know I had no idea about all of this when I went to Stonehenge after high school! And side note – there were so many fields of canola growing, and for just a few weeks a year they bloom yellow flowers before harvesting.  I think both Mom and I were a bit obsessed.   

Noah also loved laying down in the field of sheep shit to try to get the shot.  He is the real photographer – the only one who got dirty taking photos.

Sadly, this is as close as we got to Stonehenge.

Just kidding. 

But one thing we did that was pretty awesome is we walked along the Avenue up towards the stones, which is how archaeologists think the people did it thousands of years ago.

Next stop – Bath, England.  Naturally we stopped and toured the Roman Baths.

Next door to the Baths is Bath Abbey.  We toured the inside – the ceiling was magnificent.  

After dinner we headed to Bristol, where we would catch our flight to Ireland in the morning.  Next post – Ireland!

Passau!

One of the benefits of living in Bavaria (as compared to some other German states) is Bavaria has 13 public holidays. For comparison, Berlin only has 9. However one main difference between Germany and the US is that here, if a holiday lands on the weekend, too bad for the employee. And lucky employer. As an example: in the US, if July 4^th falls on a Sunday, we are used to getting July 5^th off. That would not be the case here, and not just because July 4^th isn’t celebrated outside of the US. The good news for Noah and me – 2012 is considered a year for the employees. Only 1 of the 13 holidays lands on a weekend, and it was New Years – when we were still back in the States. And 2013 is the same story – 12 out of the 13 holidays land on a weekday. Hoorah!

This past weekend was our first extended weekend thanks to these ‘extra’ holidays – both Friday and Monday were public holidays. Noah and I took this opportunity to finally get out of Munich for more than the day. We took the dogs, hopped on a train, and headed northeast 2 hours to Passau. Passau is a small Bavarian city that is located where the rivers Inn and Ilz meet the Danube. (Go ahead – click on the photos – then you can see them full screen!)



Best photo we took of the rivers meeting. In better lighting, you can really see the difference of the colors.

We picked Passau randomly – we opened up our ‘Munich and the Bavarian Alps’ guidebook we brought with us, and flipped through the pages and found the small entry for Passau. We really had very few expectations for our weekend getaway. We were in for a treat – the city (or the area we stayed) is actually a really beautiful medieval-ish place, bordered by the Danube and Inn rivers. You could walk from the south bank to the north bank (is that correct terminology?) in about 6 minutes. And the city itself is full of interesting cobblestone passageways that curve in all directions. Most of these ‘streets’ wouldn’t fit a car – perfect for us and the pups.

3 examples of the narrow 'streets'.  Just in case one wasn't enough.

Well almost perfect. The one downside – it was very hard to find grass! The whole town was paved in the cobblestones. While it gave the place a really neat look, it wasn’t good for our dogs. We had to go to the tip of the city where the 2 rivers meet to find a small park for the dogs to do their business. The other downside was the weather wasn’t idea. It was grey clouds and light rain most of the trip. But we didn’t let that get in our way - all four of us still had a great time. It just means our photos aren’t as great. And since we brought the SLR bag and lenses, but no camera, we wouldn’t have had the right equipment to capture the city on a beautiful day anyways.

Me and the pups in our raincoats 

Now for some photos and a ‘tour’ of the city!

Passauer Rathaus. Translation is not what you think - it means Town Hall.

Spazierweg on the river Inn

Tons of interesting old doors around the city

One of the narrow passageways we took, and we ended up at the river

Panorama of Passau from across the Danube

Proof we were both there

The Veste Oberhaus. It was quite a hike up to get here. The photo on the right is what it would have been like if the weather was cooperating. Sadly, the photo on the left is the real one.

Hiking around the Veste Oberhaus. It was really awesome - you could just wander the grounds on your own.

Our three two dogs

Another shot of the Veste Oberhaus, in case you didn't know what it looked like already

Me being 'artsy' - shot of Passau

An overexposed shot of the family - Rita hates being picked up. The next shot taken was her flailing crazily (not posted).

Cute little houses on the river Inn

One last panorama of Passau. Hopefully we make it back when the weather is nice, though that will probably be just a day trip.

Let’s Go to Rewe

How would you pronounce Rewe?  Rewe is our favorite grocery store down the street, and it could be one of the most difficult German words for Americans to pronounce.   At a first glance, you might think it is ‘Roooh’, ‘Ree-vee’, ‘Ree-wee’, ‘Revi’ (this last one was us).  However once you learn that ‘W’ is pronounced like a ‘V’ and an ‘E’ is pronounced more like an ‘A’ in English, it gets a bit easier – ‘Ray-vuh’.

Anyhow, I think we are long overdue for a blog about food so today I am blogging about the grocery store.  My first attempt to blog about food turned into a four part narrative before I realized my scope was way too big.  This time we are only going to the grocery store….to the REWE!

A typical grocery store here has essentially the same offerings as an American one.  The produce, dairy, grains, and meats are the same for the most part.  Although we feel like professional shoppers now, it took us a few weeks to get there.  Our first few trips to the grocery store had us wandering the aisles aimlessly, and even when we thought we found what we wanted, we could never be sure.  We could only half translate the labels, if that.

Also, we were kind of expecting things to be different.  In light of all the similarities, there are some noticeable differences.  For one, there is more diversity in the meat section, or at least in the sausage category.  Also there is significantly less processed food – that stuff in the ‘middle’ of an American grocery store. 

Prices per unit tend seem to be about the same, except that the mass of a given item is usually less.  Perhaps this is one reason people here are not nearly as fat?  For instance, a box of cereal is only about 3 or 4 servings and a quart (liter) of milk is as big as they come.  This is probably the secondary motivation behind our adoption the European custom of going to the grocery store every other day (the first is the size of our tiny fridge and freezer).  Luckily there are 5 grocery stores within a 10 minute walk from our apartment; two of which are a Rewe.  ;)

A normal apple... small pasta sauce

Considering the similarities, it is pretty easy to cook the same things we always have.  We still have our Taco Tuesdays and often serve a quick stir-fry over Jasmine rice.  However to Julie’s dismay, cilantro (known as koriander here) is impossible to get at the local grocery stores – you must go to a large specialty department store.

Although we love to try new things, and often do, it is nice to be able to make a quick comfort meal after those long days at work.  Of course there are a few ‘American’ grocery items we find ourselves longing for.  Some of these items exist here, but they just don’t taste quite ‘right’:  steak, tortillas, corn bread, corn, chocolate syrup, Lipton chicken noodle soup (great for fighting colds), cake icing, and microwave popcorn.  Thankfully we can always find avocados so life can carry out without too much worry.  And steak made the list because the one time I cooked it here, Julie said it tasted like dog food.  Now I know there must be something special about Texas beef because certainly my culinary skills result in food better tasting than dog food.  

One of the 'European' foods we have adopted.... ; )

 

So what about those crazy Bavarians in their Lederhosen, what do they eat?  Here are some staples that make up food here in Bavaria: sausage, fresh sliced meats and cheese, fresh breads (usually very dense, whole grain/rye flavors), sausage, sliced sausage, spaetzle (egg noodles with cheese or other topping), knödel (bread or potato like dumpling, but better), sauerkraut, sausage, field greens, potatoes, different variations of pork roasts, schnitzel, mustard, did I mention sausage?, pretzels……and BEER. 

It is a lot of meat and potatoes, but I am often surprised at how different, special, and unique the flavors can be.  We have had some absolutely terrific ‘meat and potato’ dishes that I completely underestimated.  Some variation of these food staples pretty much makes up all menus at a Bavarian restaurant, although there are probably some things missing considering we are still learning ourselves.  But that is for another blog post.

Our little corner of Germany

As I lost the television tonight to the UEFA Champions League match (Bayern vs. some lesser team), I figured I would take the time to write about our little neighborhood. And for the record – Thursday night the television is all mine. That is when Germany’s Next Top Model with Heidi Klum is on.

As the winter turns into spring and the sun stays out later, Noah and I have been exploring our little neck of the woods even more so. While we aren’t in the heart of Munich city center (though it is just a 10 min train ride from our station / or 3.5 miles from our front door), we do live in an area that strikes a perfect balance with a few popular tourist places as well as charming residential and park areas.

In prior posts we have mentioned our neighbor, Schloss Nymphenburg (a 5 minute walk NW). We are still waiting for their welcome wagon to show up at our door with a key to the castle. Five minutes to our SE, we run into Hirschgarten. This is where Munich’s THE WORLD’s largest biergarten is, with seating for over 8,000 people. It is also a large park, with an area where deer and other deer-like creatures live.

A photo of Nymphenburg because I don't have one of Hirschgarten

We find ourselves in the park often when the weather is nice. It is a good place to let the dogs off the leash and watch them run around. The other weekend we even took our own lunch and the puppies to the biergarten. For those of you not familiar with the biergarten process, you can typically bring your own food but you must buy a drink from them.

So future guests to our Wohnung (or ‘casa’ for folks more familiar with Spanish), while we don’t live across the street from Marienplatz, our little corner of Munich is still pretty bitchin’. And with that, I’ll leave you with a few pictures of the area we live in.

Our backyard

Down the street



Around the corner

 

Nymphenburg park

Amalienburg

Großer See in Nymphenburg park

Löwe