Spoiled by Old Friends

Later that same day...
My friend Jutta picked us up and brought us to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend Bernhard. Jutta and I have known each other since the fall of 1988 when we were on the same student exchange program. It never ceases to amaze me that we have remained friends for 18 years. Heather and I met Bernhard when they came for our wedding. However, when the four of us were together, we felt as though all of us had been friends for 20 years. Jutta and Bernhard are so gracious and really spoiled us. Which is even more impressive since they both had to work. They still managed to keep our days full.

A special treat was that the day we arrived was my birthday. To celebrate, Jutta and Bernhard introduced us to the Plan A/Plan B concept. The idea is to bring Curt and Heather to a local restaurant/pub that has been highly recommended, find out it is closed or full and then bring them to another that is equally as good. We did that each night. Our first plan B restaurant was a great brew pub. Bernhard was quite impressive in snagging the last available table. After finishing dinner, we went back to the apartment and to my surprise, Jutta and Bernhard emerged from the kitchen with a homemade birthday cake. Red wine and chocolate flavored. It was awesome. As was the birthday song in which my wife joined.

Curt blows out the candles, thinking, "I already got my wish...."

Plan B on the second night involved hiking up a hill to a restaurant with a beautiful view of valley outside Stuttgart only to find out it had yet to open for the season. The view was nonetheless worth the hike. That allowed us to take a scenic cross country drive to a Besen. You must remember that we were in wine-growing country. German law allows the vintners to open their homes for several weeks of the year in order to sell the previous year’s wine to make room for the incoming yield. They usually have a small menu with farm food specialties. They are often aptly named such as “the slaughter plate.” The term Besen means broom as in what you sweep your floor with. A broom is tied up above the front door or on a pole in front of the house to signify that it is open. (This one had a very friendly dog, too; a big bonus for Heather.) Again, what a great night.

The next day was Friday and Heather and I originally planned to return to Vienna. However, Jutta’s parents called her from their vacation and insisted that Heather and I stay for the weekend so they could see us. Plus, her father wanted us to stay in a place bigger than Jutta’s apartment, which he considered tiny and unsuitable for hosting. It is not.

great hosts

Remember when I said Jutta and Bernhard are amazing hosts? Some of that definitely comes from Jutta’s parents. Jutta’s father is the mayor of the small but picturesque town Murr, which is a far out suburb of Stuttgart. He is also a member of the state legislature. His graciousness makes it little wonder that he has been reelected mayor with little problem for thirty years. Jutta’s mother is the perfect hostess. She is quick with a smile, a laugh the fills the room, a cute propensity to maybe break one or two little rules, and the world’s sharpest elbows should you try paying the bill. They are my second family in Germany. I honestly cannot go visit my former family from my exchange without also going to Murr.

Upon arrival in Murr, we had what I think was a five course breakfast. Pants already tight from four days in Ottenheim got a little more snug. After that, Jutta’s father had to go fire the starting pistol to begin the local half –marathon. He would meet us that afternoon as the rest of us went to Schwäbish Hall, a beautiful city with much of its Middle Ages charm still intact. We toured for the day until the boss met us to bring us for dinner. The surprise was is that Jutta’s mother has a Mercedes convertible that is great for driving on a sunny day over the winding country roads. Heather did not pass up the opportunity to ride shotgun. As a passenger in the car behind, all I could see for the next hour was a mass of Heather’s hair blowing in the wind and an occasional glimpse of her beaming grim. Possible ideas for our future car?

from the cathedral at Schwäbish Hall

toward the cathedral (on the right)

Now, no tour of Murr is complete without the Burgermeister’s (mayor) Tour. I have received it several times but it changes each time. One gets to see picturesque vineyards, the historical church and first homes, and of course, city hall. This is the mayor’s pride and joy. But this tour was the best as he was bringing through an American architect. It was truly a treat to watch him with obvious pride show Heather the little details that went into the design. Unfortunately, the tour was cut short as we had our train back to Vienna to catch.
But one does not leave Murr empty handed. Two bottles of locally produced red wine (which is absolutely fabulous. I’m not making that up. Heather and I are trying to see if there is a way to order it off the internet), a book from the art gallery we visited, the books on the history of Murr, my birthday present, candy, and a computer printer (I don’t know where to begin so I won’t explain other than to say Jutta and Bernhard are very generous). In addition to the beautiful presents from Ottos, Heather and I headed back to Vienna with several more bags than with which we left.

Yes, we were spoiled rotten by our friends in Germany.

Good Fortune

Forward: We took the train from Offenburg to Bietigheim where we met up with the Latterells and Moores. Chris and Bibi are building an amazing house in Besigheim. It's almost done, but not ready for visitors so we stayed in the B&B next to their apartment. Brian and Tanja just had their 3rd son and we enjoyed playing with all four cousins. Colin is the master of "Sorry." (h)

As we approached midway point of week two in our travels, we really had no idea when we were headed back to Vienna. Or, for that matter, how we were getting back. Heather and I began to discuss that at a nice little Italian restaurant on Ludwigburg’s Baroque Square. The afternoon plan was to see the famous baroque castle and then meet my friend Jutta to spend a few days with her and her boyfriend Bernhard. As we were discussing all of these details, Heather noticed that her pasta dish contained little shrimp. For those of you who do not already know, Heather is deathly allergic to shrimp. I fortunately have not seen the symptoms but she and her entire family have used the term “projectile vomiting” rather liberally. Needless to say, travel schedules instantly ceased to have any importance.

Time for me became of the essence. Heather told me that in the past she usually had an hour before the projectiles began to emit. We quickly paid our bill and headed to the train station for the short ride back to where we were staying. We conveniently got a seat next to the train’s bathroom. I had two thoughts going through my head: why didn’t I stop for a plastic shopping bag and how does one in German politely beg forgiveness after spewing on someone.? How do you do that in English?

Well, we had some serious good fortune (please note the clever inclusion of the title) and Heather had no reaction to the shrimp. Even better, she had no adverse reaction to her panicking husband. We’ll see if she has an adverse reaction to this post but I digress. We ended up spending a beautiful day enjoying the sun and hiking around the beautiful town of Besigheim.

a still-nervous Curt enjoys the view of Besigheim's vinyards

Afterward: I thought C should title this one, "How Heather Ruined my Birthday." We did get some vocabulary out of the deal. In German, shrimp is known not only as "shrimps," but also as "garnellen" or "krabben." I'm just glad I looked at my plate before I popped one in my mouth. (h)

Die Ferien - Teil drei

Vacation - Part Three

Our last post may not have conveyed just how much of London we took in. I won't bore you with a comprehensive list. Suffice it to say every night I thought my feet were going to fall off before we made it back to the apartment. And I didn't even make it to a yarn store! (no, I'm sorry Curt, the craft department at Liberty doesn't count even though they did have yarn.) So, you'll understand that I was especially delighted by the travel mugs of coffee Rob handed us as we climbed into his car for that ridiculously early drive to the airport. Rob's generosity set the bar really high for our next hosts - Curt's high school exchange host family.

This being our second flight with Ryan Air, we were prepared for most of the eccentricities. I was amused by the air sickness bags covered in ads and noticed that the in-flight magazine alternated each page of features (thinly veiled promotions for cool places you can get to on Ryan Air) with a full-page advertisement.

Upon arrival, we were (for once) happy not to be EU citizens. Our line for passport control was MUCH shorter than theirs. A Mexican teenager tried to sneak around me in line, but I elbowed him out of our way and then noticed he was traveling with his family of at least eight. I must be picking up some instincts from the Austrian U-bahn riders.

We were enthusiastically greeted by Curt's German host father and brother who grabbed our bags and took us on a splendid drive through the countryside. While Till kindly spoke to me in English, I was also evesdropping on the German conversations in the front seat. When I already know the story, I try to pick up vocabulary. Lucky for me, Curt was filling Eberhard in on his academic life for much of the drive.

We got even bigger hugs when we arrived in Ottenheim. I felt like family immediately and it seemed as though Curt had never left.

Der Chef, Johanna und Curt

We had a wonderful long Easter weekend and were spoiled by Johanna and her family. Everyone was very patient with my lack of German. Eberhard and I spoke broken French (I even managed a joke that got him to laugh so I count it as a big linguistic success). Johanna managed a fair amount of English. Curt and Till translated the rest. Occasionally, the translations just confirmed what I had figured out.

Till and Curt took me on a stroll through town so I could see where they'd dodged trouble in high school.

Curt und Till

Till took us across the Rhine to France's version of Super Target to buy vinegar and beer that he can't get in Munich.
We went to Freiburg and toured the beautiful "Munster" or cathedral. We also discovered that it is sister cities with Madison, WI.

Johanna made a Black Forest Cake that was to die for. She added flags from Sybille to make it extra special. See? SPOILED.

You can't start off Easter dinner without Champagne!

And lest you think we missed out on our Easter traditions, we did get chocolate bunnies and beautifully colored eggs.
On Monday morning, after another multiple course breakfast (where are the sweatpants?), Till and Eberhard drove us to the train station. It was hard enough to leave but with Johanna waving goodbye from the sidewalk until we were out of sight, it made us truly reflect on how lucky we were to be adopted by such a family.

Next stop: Besigheim

Am Billigsten Flug (the cheapest flight)??

Spring break was fast upon us and we needed to decide if and how we were going to travel. If was not really a question. A friend of a friend of Heather’s generously offered us the use of an apartment in London. There was no way we were going to turn that down and later we will write how gracious our host truly was. First things first. How to get to London? We discovered the joys and challenges of Europe’s cut-rate airlines. Our choice was RyanAir. For $50 we were able to purchase two tickets to London. That included the fuel supplement and the charges for actually checking in bags. We were starting to get an idea how they could afford to offer such cheap tickets. But we hadn’t even begun to fully understand the extent of RyanAir’s entrepreneurial spirit. There are no assigned seats so it is a cattle call from the front and back of the plane. Once you sit down you can buy a beverage or something to eat. Nothing courtesy but we didn’t mind that. After the flight attendants finished selling food and drink, they came through to sell lottery tickets. They then came through with aftershave and perfume for sale. Then they had bus and train tickets for sale. At the end of the flight there was a little time left over for anyone who wanted to discuss the possibility of buying advertising space on the overhead bins. All of this being said, I still felt as though I got better service on RyanAir than the last few times I flew Northwest Airlines.

Our friend Rob was waiting for us at the airport appropriately clad in a Minnesota Vikings t-shirt. Despite my disappointment that he was not also wearing the horns and braids, he did really stick out in a crowd of a couple hundred people. You really start to get a feeling as to the tackiness of the Vikings’ paraphernalia. But I digress. Now I referred to Rob as our friend. I had never met this man before the trip and Heather had met him for a few hours once. By the end of our stay, we would probably do anything for Rob. Not only did he pick us up at the airport (a minimum of 30 minutes drive), he also dropped us off the last day at 4:30 in the morning. Rob then set us up in the apartment he was in the process of selling. We were told it was on the Thames but we didn’t quite grasp that it was right on the Thames. Our balcony was basically 20 feet from the water.

the view from the apartment balcony, at high tide

Rob is the definition of the Renaissance Man. He gave us a tour of London with his version of British history, which I must say is much better than any regular tour guide. Over lunch we however were really treated to Rob’s talent. The conversation ranged from biochemistry, real estate, business consulting, world trade, mystery novels, and the merits of Asian cooking (we were eating Thai food). It turns out Rob does a little computer consulting in between writing novels and consulting books. We are currently reading two of his novels. But I pledge not to give away the ending.

Sorry for no photo here.
We don't know how to make great photos of friend/tourguides anonymous without just ruining the picture.

We should probably mention London. This city is big, intimate, intense, polite, dirty, refined, expensive, quaint, etc . . . We absolutely loved it, despite not being able to eat at a restaurant for under $60. To be a tourist in London is to almost experience cerebral paralysis. Every single block was host to some major event of world history. One has to prioritize the few sites they may manage to see in four days. Heather explained that to me after helping me regain my composure when at Westminster Abbey I broke into hysterics, curled up into the fetal position and screamed repeatedly: “Figgy Pudding, Figgy Pudding, I won’t leave until I get some!!”

one of 100 photos we took of Westminster Abbey

That was embarrassing. So, we hurriedly went to the Millenium Eye, the London ferris wheel to get the view of the city. And hide amongst the tourists every bit as obnoxious as ourselves. In any event, we really want to go back.

See? H is a cheesy tourist. But everyone in our pod was really happy we bought the guide and were willing to share and C is learning it's not so bad to be the one with the map.

this isn't even near the top

Next, we leave for Germany.

Die Ferien - Teil Eins

Vacation - Part One

April has been vacation month for us. I know it won't last quite through the month as Curt has started reading for some upcoming exams, but it's close to a whole month "off."

We started spring break right here in our district of Vienna. For Christmas, Curt's mom gave us VIP tickets to dinner and a concert at Schloss Schönbrunn's Orangerie. So, on April 1, we got dressed up and took our usual green line of the U-bahn (U4) just a few stops. We were early, so we wandered around the Easter Market for a bit. I think Curt had a hard time resisting the treats, but we knew a good dinner was waiting for us.

Dinner was served in the Residenz Cafe. We started with a glass of sekt while we perused the wine list.

The meal started with "Gravad - Räucherlachsterrine auf Dillpesto"

(Smoked and graved salmon paté on dill-pesto)

Our main course was "Putenfilet im Kohnblatt auf Paprikaschaum dazu gegrillte Rispentomaten und Herzoginnenerdäpfel."

(Turkey-hen Fillet colbert on paprikafoam, with grilled cherry tomatoes and pommes duchesse)

For dessert: Schokoladetörtchen aus Landtmann's feiner Patisserie auf Fruchtspiegel.

(Chocolate tartlet from Landtmann's finest Patisserie on fruit mirror)

After dinner, we strolled around the grounds of the Schloss for a few minutes and then found our way to the Orangerie. As VIP's, we were directed to the front row. I was a little afraid of dozing off in front of the musicians, but they kept me awake with an excellent concert (and a little on-stage joking around). We couldn't take photos during the performance, but here's the hall so you can see where we were.

There was a small orchestra and we got a sampling of operatic arias and ballet thrown in for good measure. I have to admit, the male dancer was nowhere near star caliber, but everyone else put on a really nice show. I enjoyed the fact that the last encore was a tune called, "The Mother-in-law Gallop." How fitting for an evening provided by MKBY.

And, since you occasionally ask for photos of us, here we are enjoying more champagne during intermission:

Next up: an early morning excursion to the Bratislava airport, a full flight to London, and a new currency to convert....

Tschüß!

(edited 17.04 to correct my poor German vocabulary in the title and a typo caught by Curt - the singing was of arias, not areas)