To Brau or Not to Brau, That Is the Question
Posted on October 9, 2008
Filed Under Food | 1 Comment
Posted by Sierra
Hello, and welcome to the European Restaurant Review! And here’s your host … Sierra Hieronymus!
Thank you, thank you, please hold the applause. Today’s review is Augustiner Brau in Salzburg, Austria. Don’t let the name fool you. This isn’t a dark, dank bar with a sign on the door saying “No minors allowed inside!” It’s a bright, friendly biergarten/buffet/market with tons of minors (like myself) running around on the busy days.
The street entrance on Augustiner Strasse seems normal, but you quickly descend the steps. (Optional entrance: parking lot the size of the Henry Ford Museum’s with steps leading up to the Biergarten.) The first thing to do is get something to drink. Pass the vendors with food and continue to the shelves with tons of mugs on them. Grab a mug, rinse it out at the mug washing station, and buy a drink. Hold onto the receipt, because you’re going to need to hand it to the person near the barrel(s) to get whatever you paid for: a bottle of soda, a mug full o’ beer, etc. Bonus Tip! If you’re thirsty but don’t want to pay, then merely fill a mug with water.
Next, find a place to sit. There are rooms inside, but it’s nice to sit outside, down the steps, and in the Biergarten.
NOW it’s time to get food. Start by walking by all the vendors. There’s all sorts of foods—cream horns, corn salad, meat, cheese, schnitzel, knödel, slices of radish. Take your pick of meal, order it, pay, and sit down. Enjoy it. Feel free to have dessert. May I recommend a cream horn?
Mom had half a ham hock, sauerkraut, and apfelstrudel. “It was very hammy” she most fondly recalled, “but it didn’t make me hock. The apfelstrudel had chunks of apple, and very crispy crunchy crust.” Dad had knödel with sauerkraut and nothing for dessert. “Sauerkraut was tasty but not as creamy as Volksfest’s,” he said. “The knödel had a bit of meat and fat that added some sweetness. I wouldn’t call it spicy, but it had enough spice to balance the sweetness. The shell was pleasantly doughy. Very good!” I had a schnitzel burger, corn salad, and a cream horn for dessert. “The burger had stuff on it, but the schnitzel part was good,” I said. The corn salad was corny and onion-y. The cream horn was deeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeelicious!”
When you have to leave, throw your garbage away and leave the rest on the table. Climb up the stairs and remember what a great time you’ve had.
Well, that’s all the time we have today. Log on next week for another European Restaurant Review!
What, No Chicken Dance?
Posted on October 3, 2008
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Posted by Daria
It’s around 7 on a Tuesday night. We’re at the Cannstatter Volksfest in Stuttgart, Germany, observing the mass of humanity partying in the Göckelesmaier (big roasted chicken tent) from our safe vantage point, a standup bar. Twenty-somethings from around the world (but mostly Germany) are up on the tables hoisting heavy beer steins and singing along to every song the high-energy rock band on stage throws out. Sierra and I dance to “Celebrate” and “YMCA” along with every else. We really should go but … it’s just too much fun.
We finally leave the Göckelesmaier a little after 8 and decide to check out the Schwauben Bräu tent, where earlier we had enjoyed a relatively quiet lunch. What do we find but more people dancing on the tables, only they’re forty-somethings.
The Cannstatter Volksfest bills itself as a folk festival (hence the name), so we arrived there expecting something along the lines of a state fair with exhibits, animals, and competitions. In that respect, we were disappointed, but it more than surpassed our expectations based on its other claim to fame: “the world’s second-larged Oktoberfest.”
Beer—huge liters served in heavy glass or ceramic mugs—is the festival’s raison d’être. Lager festbier and hefeweizen are the drinks of choice. Three tents hold 5,000 people apiece, while several smaller ones have room for only a couple thousand or so. Admission is free, which is good because the beer is not cheap. A liter stein, or Maß, costs 7.90 Euros, or about $11.50. Half liters, which are harder to find, are half that. On weekdays you can get a deal on beer-and-food combos at lunchtime. If beer’s not your thing, they also serve local wines and liqueurs, and dirndl-clad servers patrol the aisles with schnapps bottles for those wanting a chaser.
Food includes everything German you can imagine—wursts, schnitzels, spätzle, the best sauerkraut I’ve ever eaten. Service is lightning quick thanks to the hundreds of waitstaff, many of whom wear traditional costumes (which will run you more than $200 at an outside vendor). How can they carry a half-dozen of those steins, when I can barely lift one?
Outside the beer tents are more amusement rides than I’ve ever seen in one place, including any Six Flags. They look cooler and more dangerous, too. There are smaller wine tents, more demure and cafe-like, and hundreds of food vendors serving walking-around fare like heart-shaped gingerbread cookies laced with icing, half-meter bratwurst in bread, hunks of raw coconut (which float around in an aquarium-type contraption), and even our old friend, the Rothenburger schneeballen. You can also get walk-around beer, wine, etc. The one folky area, the Almhüttendorf, features additional vendors and food sellers, only they’re in traditional-looking wooden buildings. The one craft we see being demonstrated is chainsaw sculpting, and this by a guy from the United States. We had beers in a round bar here, where an oompah band played polkas and dirges and members of the crowd could play strange percussion instruments if they so desired. That was around 5; when we stopped by the area for a final round of snacks around 8:30 the place was a ghost town.
Sierra had as much fun as we had. There’s an Oktoberfest song with lyrics that sound like “Sierra, Sierra da da da”; we have no idea what it really says but we heard it several times. And a clown gave her a lollipop, then when he saw her again an hour or so later, he took the lollipop out of her mouth and put it in his and strolled away! (Then he gave her another one.)
Stan said he wants to go to Munich’s Oktoberfest now for comparison purposes, but I don’t think we’ll get there on this trip. One day of delightful, decadent excess at a time is enough.
Ooh, La La!
Posted on October 3, 2008
Filed Under Call us tourists | 1 Comment
Posted by Sierra
Paris is a dream city. Everyone says so. Everyone dreams of going there someday. But few people who dream of heading to Paris actually head there. If you, the reader, are one of these people, here’s a little overview so you can get an idea of what’s there. I’ll start with orientation.
Paris (pronounced Paree by the sophisticated locals and visitors) is divided into two banks—a Left Bank and a Right Bank. The Left is south of the Seine River, the Right is north. There are also two islands: Ile de la Cité and Ile de la St. Louis. Paris is also divided into 20 arrondissments (districts). These curl around like an escargot (snail).
And now for the monuments, museums, and other Paree attractions:
LEFT BANK
Tour Eiffel: 7th arrondissment. Better known as the Eiffel Tower, the Tour Eiffel is THE Paris attraction. I’ve never seen a Paris T-shirt without it. We took the elevator up to the top at night, when the Tour was a blueish-purple that looked like ultraviolet light on white. Part of the top shows you where the different attractions are (such as Notre Dame, the Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre), as well as how far away different cities are. The rest of the top is out in the open, where you can admire how beautiful Paris is.
Les Egouts de Paris: 7th. The sewers of Paris are famous, especially from Victor Hugo’s Les Miserables. There is a sewer museum with different machinery and some sewer history. When we were there I remember thinking, “I hope this smell doesn’t stay on our clothes!”
Musée D’Orsay: 7th. The Orsay, located in an old train station, houses lots of 19th and early 20th century art. Its collection includes Olympia (Manet), Self-Portrait at Saint Remy (Van Gogh), and The Gates of Hell (Rodin). I liked the art, especially The Gates of Hell, because it shows lots of mini-sculptures that Rodin later created in full size, such as The Thinker.
RIGHT BANK
Montmartre: 18th. This neighborhood is THE Parisian neighborhood, meaning if you go to one neighborhood, go to this one. Hilly, but serving very good crepes (thin pancakes), Montmartre has the Basilique Sacre Couer (Sacred Heart Basilica). It is picturesque and provides an excellent view of the right bank. Like I said, Montmartre has good crepes.
A GOOD WALK TO THE LOUVRE
Start at the Arc de Triomphe (Triumphant Arch). You can walk or take the Metro there. It’s in the 8th. Built by Napoleon to commemorate his many victories, the Arc has four arches on it. We didn’t go up, but there’s supposed to be a great view from up there. In my opinion, the Arc looks best at night, when it seems to glow all by itself in the center of its 12-rue (street) etoile (star) AKA scary roundabout.
Walk down Avenue Champs-Elysée (Pronounced Shonze Elly say). This shop-adorned avenue is quite wide and popular. It was used for parades and used to be lined with gardens instead of stores.
At the end of the avenue is the Place de la Concorde. It first had a statue of Louis XV. During the French Revolution it had a guillotine. It now has an obelisk from the pasha of Egypt.
The Place de la Concorde connects with the Louvre, the largest museum in the Western world, the largest palace in Europe, and the largest building in Paris. It has three wings—Denon, Sully, and Richelieu. All the wings have their entrances under the large glass pyramid by I. M. Pei. Some famous artworks in the Louvre are:
*La Jocunde (The Mona Lisa)
*Venus de Milo
*The Raft of the Medusa
*The Marriage at Cana
My favorite part was a section called “History of the Louvre,” which had models of the Louvre in the past, and a section called “The Medieval Moats,” which showed you the medieval moats. The two combined gave me a good idea of the Louvre in the past.
OTHER THINGS
Notre Dame: Ile de la Cité. This cathedral was made famous by another Victor Hugo book- The Hunchback of Notre Dame. (You may have seen the Disney movie.) The gargoyles are funny, the rose windows are luminous, and the flying buttresses have a funny name. The view from the top is tres bien. Mom and I climbed the winding staircases, and I counted the following:
* 74 steps get you to the gift shop
* 229 steps get you to the big view
* 354 steps get you to the big tower
Those 354 steps (plus we had to come down) gave Mom and me our daily step exercise.
Metropolitain: The Metro runs all over Paris and proves helpful to the tired walker. Of the 141 originals, only 17 of the original Metropolitain signs remain. New York’s MOMA had one, as does the Orsay. They are quite Art Nouveau-y with curved iron and unusually shaped lights. I myself only know one word to describe these signs: Awesome.
So there’s my attraction-by-attraction Paris overview. Doesn’t it make you want to visit Paris? It sure makes me want to go back there!
The REAL Hop Museum
Posted on September 30, 2008
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Posted by Sierra
Does anyone reading this remember the post I wrote way back at the beginning of the trip entitled, “The Hop Museum”? (If not, you can read it.) I wrote about a museum in Toppenish, Washington, “City of Murals.” This museum called itself a “Hop Museum.” Ha! Compare it to the one in Poperinge, Belgium, and you’ll see that Toppenish should have stuck to murals.
We went to the museum during Hopfeesten, a hop festival where there’s a hop parade and people dress up like hops. We headed to the museum (which, I might add, had a nicely decorated one-day cafe outside), paid, received our audio guides, and climbed to the 3rd floor (4th in the US of A), where we were told the tour began.
What was it like? Awesome. Besides having some information panels, there was commentary on a wide variety of subjects, from how hops are grown to the history of hops to the different uses for hops.
Fact: Saint Arnold is considered a beer saint because he cured the pest disease using beer.
Fact: The building that is now the hop museum used to be the municipal scales.
Fact: A guy used to ride a horse backwards and had a stone attached to the back. The stone weighed 83 kilograms.
On each floor there is a “hop quiz” that I took that tests you on what you learned on each floor. There are two levels- child and adult. I aced both levels on every floor, and on the last floor it said I was now an “Official Hop Inspector.”
All in all, there was stuff to do there that we all liked. Dad liked being able to listen to stuff and take notes, Mom liked learning new things, and I liked the tests. So that’s why I call it “The REAL Hop Museum.” THE END
Beer, Chocolate and Cheese (Oh, My!)
Posted on September 22, 2008
Filed Under Call us tourists | 1 Comment
By Reporter Sierra
Ah, Brussels. What other city has a statue of a peeing boy? What other city has so many examples of Victor Horta’s work? What other city has a structure that is a magnified atom? The answer is: none.
However, Brussels (also known as Bruxelles in French and Brussel in Flemish) isn’t all smelly, old statues, and buildings. There are also breweries and lots and lots of other beer places (thumbs up from Dad), cheese, chocolate, crepes, and waffles (four thumbs up from Sierra), and museums (thumbs up from Mom). But enough about those.
Now, allow me to introduce the star of the show … Manneken Pis! This statue of a peeing boy is small, only about 2 feet tall. But this little statue has an interesting, not-so-secret origin. Two, in fact, though neither one is proved to be true. The first is that the son of a duke was caught relieving himself against a tree during a war. Everyone laughed, ending the war, and thus a statue was put up to honor him. The second story is that a regular boy peed over a wall during another war.
Our co-star tonight is … The Atomium! This structure (pictured at the top) is an atom magnified 165 billion times. It was built for the 1958 World’s Fair. Six of the nine spheres are accessible, and five of the nine spheres have two floors. The middle sphere has a snack bar. Four spheres are exhibit halls and a children’s party room. The top sphere houses a restaurant as well as a panoramic view. It is also the only sphere accessible by elevator (except the bottom sphere, where you get on the elevator). The elevator was the fastest in 1958, at 5 meters per second.
Another cast member is the Centre Belge de la Bande Dessinée, also known as the Museum of Comic Strip Art! It features exhibits about much-loved characters such as Tintin and the Smurfs. Located in a building designed by Victor Horta (”The Father of Art Nouveau”), the museum has no problem telling you loudly, “I was designed by Victor Horta, the Father of Art Nouveau!”
In the role of the Musée Instrumental is … the Marvelous Musée Instrumental! Displaying more than 3,300 instruments, the Musée is a must-see for all music lovers who happen to be in Brussels. What’s more, wireless headphones allow you to listen to an instrument by standing in front of it!
The Museum of Belgian Brewers is small, but the admission fee includes a glass of beer. (”Hooray!” say Mom and Dad. “More beer!”) The Museum consists of basically one room, in which there is a loooooooooooooooong movie about beer in Belgium and a few information panels.
Some of these characters can be visited by doing an Official Brussels Walking Tour. To visit the rest, well, you just have to get off the extra-beaten path.
Well, that concludes today’s post. Log on next time for yet another post by the one, the only … Reporter Sierra!
Beware of Big Gray Men
Posted on September 15, 2008
Filed Under Adventures | 1 Comment
Posted by Daria
So we’re walking around Brussels, on our way to see the Manneken Pis, a tiny statue of a peeing boy that is the city’s most famous tourist attraction. Two large gray statues loom up ahead on our right.
“Look,” says Sierra, “there’s van Gogh.” (Yes, she knows who van Gogh is.) “I think it’s a man.”
We walk a little closer, and quick as a flash, a statue lunges at us and claps its hands.
We both fly a mile in the air and shriek. He grabs my hand and motions for Sierra, coerces us into posing for a picture. Asks where we’re from, I say, “New Mexico.” He says, “Barack Obama.”
He requests (demands) money, we give him some, he gives us a postcard featuring himself and the other “van Gogh mime.” The other guy has hardly moved all this time, just glanced over once. We walk away, laughing, and vow to be more careful about approaching statues on the street.
We’re still rattled an hour later. One of our new travel mottos is “Watch out for van Gogh!”
Where We’re Staying
Posted on September 15, 2008
Filed Under Call us tourists | 2 Comments
Posted by Daria
During this trip we’re staying in a variety of accommodations—apartments, bed & breakfasts, small and large hotels, and hostels. They have one thing in common: They’re either cheap or as cheap as we could find in a particular area. Cheap in the heart of Brussels isn’t the same as cheap in the forests of Luxembourg or cheap in an extortionate tourist town.
One option is youth hostels. These are buildings with dormitory-style rooms, shared bathrooms, and communal entertainment and dining rooms. They were originally created for older high school and college kids who are backpacking around, but over the years many have added family rooms to appeal to people with kids. The price includes breakfast, a small Continental buffet with European standards like deli meat, different breads, chocolate spread, jams, cereal and coffee or milk.
We cut back on our hostel plans after discovering that in countries such as Switzerland and France, they cost more than hotels if you’re paying for three people. (”Under 12 free” is not universal.) And many of those in large cities get horrible reviews on hostel review websites.
Germany and Luxembourg have nice, inexpensive ones, however, so we chose three. The horror stories (just kidding, sort of) follow.
Rothenburg (Germany). Located in a great old building (at top), a former mill. Pros: Right in the center of town, view of old buildings and red roofs, sink and shower in room, men’s and women’s toilets very close by, tomatoes at breakfast, lots of hooks in room. Good, cheap beer and wine for sale by the bottle. Cons: Tiny pillows, light in women’s toilet “went strobe,” room curtain hung down so it was in the way of the sink. Ceiling was slanted, leading to bumps on heads. About $80 per night.
Ulm (Germany). Located in a modern college-type dorm in a suburban area of Ulm, a city that was heavily bombed during World War II but still has a gigantic cathedral. Pros: Modern, lots of entertainment options, many showers and toilets in communal rooms, strong shower, humongous sink room (”sink heaven,” Sierra called it), cool laser beam door lock, useful shelf by window. Cons: Shared changing area (although the women’s had one private shower with its own changing area), noisy kids in the hall at 1 a.m., two reading lights didn’t work. About $70 per night.
Hollenfels (Luxembourg). Located in a tiny town next to a beautiful old chateau in a former chateau building (see below). Pros: Large room with four double bunks for the three of us (so plenty of extra bedding), fitted sheets, very quiet, freshly made strawberry-rhubarb tart at breakfast one morning, cool retro hair dryers in shower rooms. Cons: Co-ed bathrooms (although the showers were single-sex), bathrooms a ways away, showers in the basement, showers that shut off every 12 seconds, no hot water in sinks, room not that clean, no reading lights. About $60 per night.
Ha-Ha, Holland
Posted on September 15, 2008
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Posted by Sierra
Comments Courtesy of Sierra
“Come to Holland, and have an Amsterdam good time!” Mom says commercials for Holland (aka the Netherlands) used to say this way back when she was a kid. Well, commercials may not say that anymore, but you can still say “Ha-ha!” to Holland and have an Amster-dam good time.
According to The Slow Travelers Guidebook, Holland has many interesting attractions, such as:
* Amsterdam (pictured above), in which there are several points of interest (see below). “I Heart Amsterdam!”
* Leiden, which is like a mini-Amsterdam. “Historic, but looks a little too much like Amsterdam for me.”
* Gouda, “Home of Gouda Cheese,” jokes the Curds ‘n’ Whey reporter. In fact, big rounds of cheese hang above the streets, a scent of gouda is all around the town, and you can’t walk two feet without tripping over a gouda cheese shop. “Heaven. Enough said.”
* Katwijk, a wonderfully quaint little seaside town. The Slow Travelers stayed in a very luxurious apartment, which was part of the Nicoletten Apartmenten. “Great big apartment, the seashore is pretty.”
* Giethoorn (Goat Horn), which is a quaint little town with a large network of canals. “Cool, especially the fact that the town centre is only accessible by boat, foot, or bike.”
* The Anne Frank House in Amsterdam. Now a museum, it shows you the secret entrance to the “Het Achterhuis,” or “The House Behind,” as well as the house itself and the office building the House Behind is attached to. “Very, very moving, almost as moving as the book.”
* The Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Housing The Milkmaid, The Night Watch, and other famous paintings, the Rijksmuseum is a work of art itself, being located in a small castle. “I liked it, the paintings were amazing, especially The Night Watch. The building is just as cool.”
* The tram, which is an excellent way to get around Amsterdam, as well as an excellent way to get to Amsterdam from nearby towns.” Moves very softly and quickly. The tracks it runs on are all over the place!”
* The Valk (Falcon) Windmill in Leiden. Inside there is a museum, as well as many ladder-like stairs that take you near the top. “Those steps take some getting used to.”
* 19 windmills along a canal in Kinderdijk. These were declared a World Heritage Site in 1997. “It rained most of the time we were there.”
So you see, there’s more to the Netherlands than just windmills and wooden shoes. And whether you’re gobbling cheese in Gouda, browsing paintings in Amsterdam, or brushing up on your Dutch, you’re sure to have a good time!
What’s the windmill saying?
Posted on September 12, 2008
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“Ik ben op het werk.”
At least that’s how we think you’d say “I’m at work” in Dutch.
Today we visited Kinderdijk, which has the largest concentration of windmills remaining in The Netherlands (there used to be 10,000 in the country; now there are 950).
We learned that how the blades are set sends a signal. “Korte rust” (when the blades are straight up and down and straight across) is working position. An “X” means “lange rust” or resting position. When the bottom blade is angled to the left it means “vreugde” (celebration), while to the right would be “rouw” (mourning).
That concludes your Dutch lesson for the day.
Fried Dough by Another Name …
Posted on September 10, 2008
Filed Under Food | 1 Comment
Posted by Daria
Throughout the world, wherever you travel, chances are you’ll come across a local specialty that’s a variation of fried dough. Call them doughnuts, beignets, sopaipillas, buñuelos, won tons, churros, elephant ears, zeppoles, whatever, someone takes a hunk of dough, drops it in fat, and fries it up. And it usually tastes really good.
Rothenburg has its own version of fried dough, called the schneeballen. That’s German for snowball, and the original schneeballen is made of strips of dough formed into a ball and coated in powdered sugar, which gives them a snowy character. The local legends say that schneeballen are around 150 years old and were originally made for special occasions.
Sierra’s eye was drawn to schneeballen from the moment we first spotted them on one of Rothenburg’s quaint and charming medieval streets. Every five shops or so, we’d run across a backerei, denoted by a pretzel sign hanging over the door, with snowballs in the window. They come in a variety of flavors beyond the original, including cinnamon, nut, chocolate, and coconut. Some are filled with nougat or marzipan or another flavored filling. They come in a variety of sizes, but the standard one is about the size of a fast-pitch softball.
Finally, late one afternoon, Sierra got to try one. After much deliberation over which backerei to visit and which kind to have, she selected a schokoballen—dark chocolate filling, chocolate icing. I went with an original. We got them from one of the outlets belonging to Diller’s, which claims to have invented them and has even named its hotel the Diller Schneeballentraume (snowball dream). There are numerous Diller’s Schneeballen shops and even a small truck that sells them off-premise.
In Sierra’s words, “It was like somebody took this snowy bread and dipped it in chocolate fondue.” Well, OK. I thought the icing tasted like the icing on a chocolate eclair. The dough was like the dough for the Polish cookies chrusciki, only thicker and not as delicate. According to one sign we saw, the dough is made with a lot of egg yolks, just like chrusciki, and prune liqueur, but we couldn’t taste anything pruney.
When we got to Dinkelsbuhl the next day, what did we see but more schneeballen. However, they were referred to as “the Rothenburg specialty,” so maybe they really are that local. If we find them elsewhere, we’ll let you know.
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