Frankfurt Christmas Chaos

23 December 2009

Christmas Chaos in Frankfurt

Today would be Anna’s last day in Germany. Across Europe, people were heading back to their hometowns by the masses. December 24th is the big day to celebrate Christmas, more important than December 25th. Anna wanted to make sure she made it home with no delays or issues for the holiday so she booked her flight out of Germany the night before mine would leave. We tried to get up as early as we could that morning, but we were still pretty tired from the previous night’s festivities. The hotel was very quiet that morning as they would also be closing down for the Christmas holidays later that day. After taking advantage of the free breakfast, we decided we’d take one last stroll around beautiful Heidelberg before leaving. At this point, we had both decided we could easily life in this town!

It was sad to see the weihnachtsmarkts almost completely gone at this point. Left in their wake, was a lot of debris littered on the ground of the beautiful plazas. Workmen were determinedly taking down Christmas lights and attaching stalls to trucks so the could be pulled off, ready for reuse next season. I brought Anna over the old bridge crossing the River Main so that she could see the views I enjoyed the previous day while running. In the ten minutes since we’d left the hotel, the rain started to turn into snow again. Heidelberg was shrouded in fog and the haze of the icy snow falling from above. We were reluctant to leave, but vowed to come back, perhaps next time in the summer months when we could better enjoy the outdoors. Before heading to catch the bus back to the train station, I stopped at my favorite place in Heidelberg, Café Gundel, and bought a bag of the most delicious and buttery Linzer Torte cookies.

We headed to the bus stop where we had been dropped off the day before which was right on one of the squares where the Christmas market had been. We were waiting for awhile and wondering if the bus was still running through the area with the big clean-up in progress. We were given a false sense of security when half a dozen Taiwanese tourists also joined us in waiting for the bus. A few minutes later, a German girl walking by stopped and informed us that the bus was not going to be stopping here today and showed us the way to the next closest stop. Anna and I were both in awe of this random act of kindness.

The train back to Frankfurt was quite full. It appeared that the Germans were all headed home for the holidays, everyone toting suitcases. The holiday rush was the same here as it was at home. Luckily the snowy freezing conditions had subsided in this part of Europe, however from what I heard, the UK was getting slammed with a lot of snow and wintery conditions. Anna and I were thankful that the weather would not delay us from making it home to celebrate the holidays with our families.

Anna’s flight was not until 2000 that night, so we had a little time to hang out in Frankfurt before she left. First we checked into my hotel, The Concorde, which was across the street from the train station and right around the corner from the hotel we had stayed in earlier. The staff was friendly, and at the check in counter they were giving out the smallest box of matches I have ever seen in my life. The sticks themselves were about 1cm long. I am not sure how one can light the match and not immediately burn one’s fingers! I will experiment at home…My room at the hotel was tiny, just enough space for a twin bed and desk, but it was modern and clean. It even came with mood lighting. A flip of a switch would change the lights from white, to orange, to blue. There was free WiFi and free breakfast in the morning; what more could a girl want?

This time we had no trouble finding our way to the Frankfurt aldstadt. We made our way to the Römerberg. We found the square in the same state as all of the plazas in Heidelberg; workers were hurrying to dismantle the weihnachtsmarkt. It seemed somewhat hasty, as if Christmas was ending two days early. I have always thought that there was something depressing about the end of the Christmas season-taking down the tree and putting it on the curb, putting away the glitz and glitter of the ornaments, watching the leaves fall off the poinsettia plant. I wasn’t ready to see the end of the Weihnachtsmarkt; I could have eaten one more bratwürst!

We visited the Kleinmarkthalle, a large indoor food market that runs on a daily basis. One can find everything from cow liver to handmade soaps, dried fruits to a wine bar, tons of fresh produce in every color spectrum of the rainbow and an array of European cheeses. We perused through the market, stopping at nearly every stand to admire their delicacies, and when available, eat their food samples: cheese, salami, prosciutto, wasabi peas, quark spreads, dried ginger. The cheese stalls seemed to be the most popular. The Germans were clearly stocking up on cheese for the upcoming holiday as today was the last shopping day before Christmas began. I had to wait in line for quite awhile to purchase some Boursault, weihnachts cheese, and French “fleur de sel” butter. You just can’t get these items in the US! I also got a loaf of pumpkin seed bread that probably weighed about 5lbs, dense with fiber.

For lunch, we found a German pub right off of the Römerberg. It was a bit touristy but we were ready to eat. Anna and I each ordered one last hefeweizen and shared a meal of wild boar with dumplings and red sauerkraut. It was now time to start slowing making our way back to the hotel and get Anna off to the airport. I was sad to part ways with my good friend, as she headed back to Sweden to celebrate the holidays with her family over glögg instead of glühwein. I knew we would see each other again as soon as time allowed. We were already brainstorming about the next trip we could take together, like bicycling through Holland, touring South East Asia, eating more pastries in Austria. So many places to see, so little time. It’s great to have a friend with who’s also afflicted with the wanderlust.

As I walked Anna to the train station, we passed the two sketchiest and creepiest looking men I’ve ever seen. They were both sitting on the stairs that lead down to the S-Bahn, or subway. One man had a leg of his trousers rolled up and was fiddling with his left leg, and the other man was sprawled out at the bottom. He clearly suffered from some kind of upper extremity nerve palsy. His hands were encrusted in some sort of brown scum, it could have been dried blood, feces, or a mixture of the two. He had the fly of his jeans zipped down and was picking at his lower abdomen. It was actually very disturbing, I was really dreading having to return past these men when I went back to the hotel. After I helped Anna buy her S-Bahn ticket and find the proper platform we hugged one last time and said our goodbyes. If it had not been broad daylight in a busy station, I would not have returned up the same stairwell as the suspicious men but it truly was the shortest route and I figured I’d be safe. They were both still there, the one was still picking at his belly…not sure if he was going after scabies, crabs, or bed bugs or just picking off the insects that he hallucinated were burrowing into his skin. He did not even notice my presence as I walked by. The second man, further up the stairs, was still examining his leg, blood was running down his calf as he pulled scabs off his skin while simultaneously lighting a cigarette with his other hand. This whole scene gave me that horrid, sick feeling deep in my bones-truly sad and disturbing human beings who had probably just shot up a nice big vial of heroin. I guess this is why the travel guide described this part of the city as “sleazy.”

I decided to take care of some last minute shopping and have a brisk walk to pass my last few hours in Germany. I found a grocery store where I bought some German yogurts and some quark cheese. Nothing rivals the European dairy products! After this, I made my way back to the main shopping street where Anna and I had gotten lost previously. My goal was to find one last delicious pastry and pick up a few more Christmas gifts. Unfortunately, most of the bakeries had already closed and all that was left open was the equivalent of a Dunkin Donuts.

The shopping promenade was absolutely filled with pedestrians. Clearly the Frankfurters were out in droves, doing their last minute shopping. Stores were filled with customers. There was even street music, it felt like a festival was taking place when really it was just the mad Christmas rush. I spent some time in one of the German department stores, Galeria Kaufhof. My goal this entire Christmas season was to avoid the hubbub of crowds and chaos at malls. I thought by doing the brunt of my shopping in Germany, I would be free of this. I found out that the Christmas season seems to bring on the same sense of panic and urgency in Germany as well as the US. Galeria Kaufhof was jam packed with shoppers scurrying up escalators, waiting in long check-out queues, and rifling through sale bins. Why does the Christmas season bring out anxiety in people across the globe? I did not stay in the store too long, for fear of losing my mind, or perhaps a hand in a fight over the last roll of wrapping paper. My time in Germany was had come to a close. It was time to return to the mood lighting of my cozy little hotel room and rest up for the long journey home in the morning.

Canoodling with Schupfnudeln

22 December 2009

Canoodling with Schupfnudeln

Tuesday morning Anna and I got up early to move on to our next destination. Before checking out of Hotel Adler in Frankfurt, I tried to book a room for my last night in Germany when I would be alone, from 23 December to 24 December. The friendly front desk employees informed me that the hotel was closed for Christmas from the 23 December to the 4 January. What a new concept! I can not fathom a hotel in the US closing over the holidays! Although inconvenient for me, how nice it is for the employees to have that time off! I’d figure out my last night of lodging some other time.

Fifteen euros and one hour later, Anna and I disembarked the train and stepped into Heidelberg. Heidelberg is in the state of Baden-Württemberg. The town is known for two different famous writers, Goethe and Mark Twain. The travel guide claimed that there is speculation that one of the reasons that Mark Twain liked Heidelberg so much was because the word Heidelberg is derived from Heidelbeerenberg which translates to “Huckleberry Hill”. Mark Twain wrote, “A Tramp Abroad” while in Heidelberg in the 1870s. Heidelberg is known to be a university town. In fact the University of Heidelberg is one of the oldest universities in Europe, founded in 1386. With good university towns comes good night Heidelberg also boasts a beautiful castle. Over all it is a colorful and well-preserved town full of baroque architecture as it was spared from the bombings during WWII. It also has the longest pedestrian zone in Europe, the Hauptstrasse, or Royal Mile, at 1600m long

Anna and I consulted the tourist office outside the train station to figure out how we were going to get to our hotel in the aldstadt of Heidelberg. The friendly woman informed us that it would be a 1 hour walk (4 km away), or a 10 minutes bus ride. She also told us we had arrived at a good time as today was the last day of the Heidelberg weihnachtsmarkt! The bus dropped us right in the middle of everything, at Universitätsplatz, right next to one of the weihnachtsmarkts. It was a bumpy ride wheeling our suitcases down the cobblestone roads, and I was now encumbered by an extra bag full of German souvenirs collected over the course of the week. Even with my forearms throbbing from dragging my heavy bags, I was not distracted from this beautiful city. Heidelberg immediately became my favorite of all the towns we’d been to all week, with Miltenberg as a close second. Miltenberg and Heidelberg are actually tough to compare as Miltenberg has the feeling of a sleepy village in the hills, and Heidelberg feels more like a small, busy city.

After checking into Hotel Zum Pfaltzgrafen, a family run hotel on a narrow, winding and hilly side street off the Hauptstrasse, we set out to explore. Looming over the old city of Heidelberg are the remains of the Heidelberg Schloss (castle). The castle has Gothic and Renaissance styles. Construction began in 1398. It was a decent hike to actually get to the castle and potentially treacherous with steep, uneven, icy cobblestone paths. It had most definitely warmed up today, probably just under 40°F, so all the snow was melting and creating an icy slushy mess. Anna and I walked through the castle gardens, which are surely more impressive in the summer months, but offer a great vantage point from which to see the city below. It felt good to climb the steep path to the top of the hill and get my heart rate up. I’d be lucky if I burned off even one glass of glühwein, but that’s okay.

Two girls in the park were taking pictures of themselves with the city below as a backdrop. I offered to take the photo for them and we chatted for a bit. One of the girls was German, but she could have fooled me as she had flawless English. The other was American but living abroad in the Czech Republic, teaching English. She had spent the year before doing the same in Turkey. I have to say I was a little jealous of the freedom of her nomadic traveling lifestyle. But I do realize that I should be thankful that I have a reliable career which can offer me employment both at home and abroad.

The view from the elevated park really was wonderful. The pictures would have been a bit better if the sun were shining though. The old city directly below us was filled with colorful buildings topped off with red-tile roofs separated from each other by narrow and winding roads. The tallest buildings in the aldstadt were the cathedrals. The river Necktar separates the city in half. It flows through the Odenwald valley, which eventually drains into the Rhine River. Various bridges arched up and spanned its breadth. The far side of the river bank was lined with large mansions, likely today run as hotels. The greater Heidelberg area was quite large and stretched out virtually as far as the eye could see. We walked through the castle grounds a bit more, at which time Anna decided to take the tour of the interior, and I opted to do some more walking around Heidelberg while we still had sunlight and perhaps go for a jog.

After we split ways, with plans to meet back at the hotel later, I wandered back through Heidelberg towards the hotel. I passed through two of the weihnachtsmarkts, one of which had an ice skating rink. I stood for awhile, watching the smiling faces of the German children whiz by on precariously balanced skates. If they were to fall by chance, they would be quite well protected in their puffy full body snow suits. Next I walked through the weihnachtsmarkt located outside of one of the large cathedrals. The townspeople were crowded around the glühwein stalls, imbibing as much of the hot wine as they could on this last day of the Christmas markets. I spotted a couple walking down the main street in town who from a block away I could label immediately as Americans. In fact, I would put gamble that I could probably even guess which state they were from too. Both were wearing cowboy hats, one had a long leather coat on, the other had black leather chaps, I think there was some leather fringe too, but that could be my imagination running away now. They had to be Texans with a look like that and as they got closer, I could hear their southern drawl and watched as they guzzled down their glühwein. I really wonder what some people are thinking! My motto when traveling has always been to try my hardest to fit in with my surroundings and respect the norms of the country I am visiting. I believe that standing out as a foreigner will most likely only bring negative attention towards oneself, like stereotyping, pick-pocketing, and a bevy of aggressive men trying to sell knock-off designer sunglasses. Americans have a reputation worldwide for being loud, obnoxious, and very ethnocentric. I want to at least set a good example for my country. These cowboys pretty much hit up every American stereotype seen in pop culture and frankly I was embarrassed that we were compatriots. I could have been wrong, maybe these leather-clad southerners were worldly and cultured with a passport full of foreign stamps, or diplomats in Halloween costumes, but I doubt it!

I was excited to be able to take a run. I had been nursing a running injury in my groin for the past two weeks aggravated further by daily intense yoga classes back home. Over the course of the week in Germany, I had noticed the tightness and pain in my groin finally dissipating. I probably just needed a rest from strenuous activity, but I think the constant slow walking we did had helped to loosen it up. It was great running weather too, not too cold but a nice temperature to keep one from sweating too much. I have to admit, within the first minute of running, I could feel the pain in my groin, but I thought, “To hell with it!! I have been living off of powdered sugar waffles and deep fried potato pancakes all week, I need some exercise!” I quickly learned that the main shopping promenade was not the best spot for running as one had to continually dodge Japanese tourists toting cameras with absurdly long lenses, German couples window shopping hand-in-hand, and mothers pushing bundled up babies in prams. I headed for the river and ran along the banks of the Main, crossing over and back on two different bridges and really just snaking my way through the old city of Heidelberg. Running is a great way to scout out a new city. I should have been doing this every day—damn you, pulled groin muscle! I did not pass another runner during my 30 minute jog which was quite surprising! Even in my small suburban town at home, I am sure to pass at least half a dozen runners when I go out. But clearly the Germans are a much thinner and healthier nation than our own. I do not know the statistics, but the average European citizen certainly leads a less sedentary lifestyle. Most people walk when they need to go out and do things like food shopping or mailing letters. A large percentage of people use bikes to get around as well, especially in Scandinavia, Germany and the Netherlands. It’s a shame our American lifestyle is not more conducive to these habits.

Anna informed me that I was too smelly to go out on the town after my run, so I took a quick shower and we went back outside to make the most of the last few minutes of sunlight. We stopped at the weihnachtsmarkt where I promptly ordered a waffeln, immediately negating any of the positive benefits I had obtained from running. You only life once, isn’t that what they say? Anna and I spent the next few hours stopping into the busy shops to finish up our Christmas shopping, perusing through the weihnachtsmarkts. We decided to forgo glühwein this time and tried some heiss honigwein (hot honey wine) from one of the honey vendors. At one of the food stalls, we noticed everyone eating the same snack, it was a dish called Schupfnudeln mit specksauerkraut. It was a delicious combination of handmade potato noodles like a spaetzle with sauerkraut containing tiny little bits of ham. This dish is unique to the Baden- Württemberg state. I might have to try to recreate this one at home, maybe just so I have an excuse to say “schupfnudeln” over and over again!

We decided to have a late dinner at a small pub we found on a quiet side street near the river. I enjoyed a tall glass of the local hefeweizen and Anna and I shared sauerbraten with spatzle and the German version of mac ’n cheese: spatzle baked au gratin style. They were both delicious. The pub was reminiscent of a British pub, a cozy place with wooden tiles, antiquities hanging on the walls, a laidback environment where one could spend the whole night unbothered.

Back out in the streets of Heidelberg after dinner, the crowds were still out in full force, drinking up all the last drops of glühwein, clearly already starting their holiday. Sadly, the weihnachtsmarkts were already being deconstructed! But this meant that at one stand, everything was 50% off! It seemed that all of the university students were out in full force, walking through the dark streets, arms around each other in chains, speaking in the elevated volume of intoxicated voices. We followed a group of them into a crowded bar with loud pop music. The bar was certainly breaking fire codes by allowing so many people inside. I actually do not think I have ever been into a bar this crowded. I was surprised that my feet still touched the ground with how tightly squeezed in I was! After much pushing and crowd surfing, we actually ended up with a great seat at the end of the bar, perfect for people watching. I ordered us some more hefeweizen, but accidentally said the German word for “three” instead of “two.” Oops!! The barmaid luckily did not make us pay for the third, later on it was eventually served to someone else. They like recycling here! Anna and I enjoyed watching the bar full of very drunk Germans! It was quite the party scene for a Tuesday night. The bar antics are the same in Germany as anywhere else! Everyone generally was very friendly, even though we could not understand a word they said, smiling and nodding goes a long way! Anna and I did not enjoy the fact that smoking in bars is still allowed in Germany. It seemed that literally every last person had a cigarette in their hand. We realized how lucky we were to live in places where this disgusting habit was banned. I was actually surprised they had not yet outlawed it in liberal Germany, for god sakes, even France had done away with smoking in public! Anna and I both felt compelled to take showers immediately upon returning to the hotel that night. My jacket still smells two days later, but that’s okay, Heidelberg, I still love you.

Making Music in Frankfurt

21 December 2009

Making Music in Frankfurt

Monday morning, still in Nürnberg, we slept in a bit and had a leisurely morning. The view outside of our hotel room window was of the train station and the old city. The sun had still not risen and brightened the sky yet at 0730, but the city was bustling. Hoards of people were getting on and off of buses and trolleys, filing in and out of the train station; the Germans were back to work, clearly not slowed down from all of the glühwein drinking the night before.

Anna and I stopped at a café for a quick breakfast. I, again, had trouble deciding which delectable looking pastry or bread item I would try this morning. I settled on a croissant filled with nutella, and Anna had a wheat bagel with chive cream cheese and arugula…we ended up sharing both. We only had a few hours left in Nürnberg before we would board the 1200 train back to Frankfurt. We focused on the last few shopping items we needed like boxes of lebkuchen, decorative gingerbread hearts, more hot apfelstrudel, and a few other souvenirs.

There were additional stalls on the streets around the main platz. They were selling fresh fruits, veggies, cheese, spices, teas, meats and other food items. It was lovely to still have a market even in the dead of winter. The crowd at the market had also changed today. It was overrun with groups of schoolchildren. My guess was that they had bused them in from nearby towns, as a field trip, to see the market and shop for their families. After drinking our last Heidelbeer, hands full of heavy bags, we headed back to the hotel and ultimately for the train back to Frankfurt.

We felt like old pros when we arrived back in Frankfurt around 1400 and navigated to back to Hotel Adler effortlessly. After unloading, we started to make our way to the Römerberg, the old city, to visit the Frankfurt Weihnachtsmarkt. We walked through a very corporate area in the way with lots of skyscrapers, perhaps part of the Frankfurt financial district; Frankfurt is the finance capital of Germany. Next we came up on the Opera House and this opened up to a promenade lined with shops and restaurants. Anna and I re-consulted the map to verify the route to the aldstadt, and then continued on. Frankfurt had a bustling big city feel. It was not as quaintly European as the other places we’d visited. The stores were mainstream global companies like Diesel, Benetton, The Body Shop.

Another ten minutes later we came to a large square with a busy subway stop and a mall and high rise buildings all around. Looking at the map again, we realized we had walked completely in the opposite direction! It was very confusing to navigate this city. The streets were not laid out in a grid system and in this shopping area, everything looked the same. I was feeling quite hypoglycemic at this point, and suggested we stop for a quick lunch. We found a deli-style café which had all kinds of cured meats, salads, soups and so on. I got a delicious sandwich with chive cream cheese and lox on pretzel bread. We tried some lebkuchen mouse…it seems that at this time of year, you can find pretty much anything with the gingerbread or glühwein flavor.

Now with some food to fuel our brains, we were able to use our internal compass to guide us back in the direction of the aldstadt. When we found a street called Kornmarkt, we knew we were on the right track. This brought us to Römerberg; we found that all of the plazas in the old town were jam-packed with Weihnachtsmartkts. First order of business: taste the Frankfurt glühwein, then find something sugary to eat. I smelled chocolate and turned around to see a stall making chocolate covered popcorn. The odor was too good to resist so I bought a bag, and immediately became addicted. It is one of those snacks you simply can not stop eating one you start. Anna had to physically remove the bag from my hands…what else are friends for? Nearly five minutes later, I found a stall selling these miniature waffeln. The waffles were about the size of a quarter and some had kirsche (cherries) inside. I opted for the plain type with a light sprinkling of puderzucker on top. They were awesome!

As we continued to walk through the very crowded Frankfurt weihnachtsmarkt, Anna asked me if I would like another mug of glühwein. I said, “Anna, my stomach hurts. I think I am done with glühwein and sweets.” Anna stopped dead in her tracks and said, “Wait! What did you just say? I need to record this!” Finally, after eating my way through Germany, living on sugar and sausage, I had made myself feel sick. The bratwurst and potato pancakes no longer made my mouth water.

The focus shifted from food to shopping and site-seeing. I picked up a few more Christmas gifts, still determined to fill that duffle bag for my dad. The market seemed a lot more overwhelming than even the huge Nürnberg market-must be the city mentality that made people so much pushier and more aggressive. Or perhaps they had stronger glühwein here? We stepped inside a small cathedral for a respite from the crowds and listened to some organ music while we re-vascularized our fingers and toes. We took a stroll across one of the bridges spanning the River Main. This gave us a good view of the Frankfurt skyline and the bright weihnachtsmarkts below. Frankfurt has a very modern skyline for a European city. As we took pictures, we were repeatedly harassed by a man playing an accordion and trying to get money from us.

It had started to snow again and we were getting cold. Today is the winter solstice, and officially the shortest day of the year—not much sunlight today to warm the body. We ducked into the large Frankfurter Dom, a structure that had been looming over us all day as we meandered through Römerberg. The cathedral was very simple inside and seemed quite modern for Europe. Anna and I started to wonder if perhaps the church had been rebuilt after WWII bombings, as many structures in Germany had. Our travel guide actually told us that this was the original Gothic building. The main tower had been started in the 15th century but finished in the 1800s. The best part about the church was the vent on the floor spewing out hot air. I stood over that for quite some time!!

Anna and I both felt we had had enough of the Weihnachtsmarkt for now, as unbelievable as that was! We headed back towards the hotel with plans to find a restaurant on the way. A large and very busy buchhandlung, or bookstore, caught our eye as we made our way down the promenade. It was four stories, open in the middle with bright red leather couches for reading, and a great selection of books. I do not think I have ever seen a bookstore as crowded as this in my life…it was either the rush for last minute Christmas gifts, or the Germans just really like reading books.

Anna and I ended up in pregnancy book section. We both got a kick out flipping through these books. The first one we looked at was rather racy. There were a pair of naked breasts on every other page. Now of course it is important for an expectant mother to understand the changes her body will go through in pregnancy, but there were more breast pictures than were necessary. Now don’t misunderstand me…I have no problem with nudity, in fact I think we are far too prude regarding nudity in the US, but that’s another discussion for another time. It really was interesting to see how the German’s approached the subject of pregnancy: with topless women and instructions on the best sex positions during pregnancy. Anna said that even Scandinavia would be more conservative in these matters! My favorite thing of all was learning all of the German vocabulary pertaining to pregnancy. If I were an arzt, or doctor, in Germany, I would be a specialist in: Schwangerschaft, Geburt und Wochenbettn (translation: Pregnancy, Childbirth, and Puerperium); also known as a Geburtshelferin & Frauenheilkundler (OB/GYN). I’m sorry, but the German terms sound so much cooler than the English ones! Breast milk is brustmilch or muttermilch. Placenta is mutterkuchen (which I believe would literally translate to ‘mother cookie’). Umbilical cord is nabelschnur. Amniotic fluid is fruchtwasser (literal translation of ‘fruit water’). Meconium is kindspech. A uterus is a gebärmutter, and a cervix a gebärmutterhals. I think it would be awesome if expectant woman in the US would refer to themselves as “schwanger” instead of pregnant!

A few blocks away, Anna and I found a simple German pub at which to eat dinner. It was nice to have a break from the greasy Christmas market food. The server recommended some of the local beers to us. Germany has some 5,000 different beers so it is very regionalized. Way back in Bavaria in 1516, a beer purity law was passed called Reinheitsgebot. It dictated that breweries were only allowed to use four ingredients when making beer: yeast, hops, malt and water. This law actually stayed in effect until 1987 when the EU said it decreased competitiveness, but a great deal of the breweries still stand by this rule of purity. For dinner, Anna and I shared a weiner schnitzel (had to try this at least once in Germany!) and a cheese dish that is special to the Frankfurt area. It’s called “Handkåse mit musik” which translates to “Hand Cheese with Music.” You are probably wondering what music could have to do with cheese? Is the cheese served by a little man in lederhosen playing an accordion? Maybe an “oom-pa-pa” band playing instruments made out of cheese? I will just quote my Lonely Planet travel guide because they explained the cheese best, “…a name you could only hear in Germany. It describes a round cheese marinated in oil and vinegar with onions, served with bread and butter and no fork. As you might imagine, this potent mixture tends to give one a healthy dose of wind—the release of which, ladies and gentleman, is the ‘music’ part.” If I take nothing else from my experience in Germany, I will at least have a few new and awesome words and phrases in my vocabulary. As we settle into our hotel room tonight, I think Anna is in the toiletten making music, and I am looking up any women’s health related word I can think of on an English-German dictionary. Another wunderbar night in Germany! Gut nacht!!

Nürnburg Christkindlesmarkt: An ode to Heidelbeer

20 December 2009

Nürnburg Christkindlesmarkt: An ode to Heidelbeer

After fueling up in our Frankfurt hotel on Sunday morning, we rushed over to the train station to catch the 0820 train to Nuremberg (aka Nürnberg in Germany). The train ended up being 20 minutes late; we were finding that tardiness was the norm with the Deutsche Bahn. I found this quite surprising as the German’s have a worldwide reputation for efficiency. I think England has prompter trains!

Our morning train to Nürnberg was on the ICE train (Intercity Express) again so we settled into a seat with a table. The cute petite German woman across from us had a music book by Handel and she was quietly humming the notes to the songs, obviously some kind of musician or singer. The ride to Nürnberg from Frankfurt was two hours long and very beautiful. The rolling hills of the German countryside were covered in snow. We traveled through forests of pine and deciduous trees also painted white. There were lots of small villages along the way, tucked into mountain valleys. Each town with at least one pointy church steeple, and full of angular colorful snow capped houses. Smoke was snaking ever so gracefully out of the red chimneys. One could imagine the German families inside their cozy houses, enjoying a lazy Sunday morning on the last advent of the Christmas season. Drinking kaffe in front of the fire, waking up children dressed in one piece pajamas with the non-slip foot-bottoms, perhaps there were even some stocking caps involved in this fantasy but I doubt anyone actually wears those anymore!

The only annoyance for our journey came from the children at the table next to us. Their parents had set them in front of their portable DVD player and with the volume up high, they enjoyed a children’s movie while we traveled. I thought Americans were the only ones who used movies and TV to baby-sit their children. I guess I am OK with that if it keeps the kinds from screaming and carrying-on, but at least use headphones so the rest of us do not have to hear the cacophony of shrill voices from the children’s’ video. Well I guess there are inconsiderate people everywhere in the world, not just in America!

Arriving in Nürnberg that morning, we had no trouble finding our hotel. Right across from the main station, there it was: Le Méridien Grand Hotel Nürnberg. Yes, Anna and I were living the high live in Nürnberg! Actually the night before, when we went to secure a hotel in Nürnberg, we were shocked to see that Le Méridién was in our price range! Normally this hotel line costs a minimum of $250 per night. We got a room in Frankfurt for €90. Could we have found a cheaper place? Sure, that was certainly an option, but we decided it would be a little gift to ourselves, spoil ourselves a bit. The rest of the week we could stay in the sleazy Frankfurt red light district!

In the lobby of Le Méridien, there was a gigantic light-up gingerbread house. Our room was not available yet, so we dropped our baggage off and headed across the street to cross under the old city wall and enter the aldstadt of Nürnberg. The city of Nürnberg has the most famous weihnachtsmarkt which they call Christkindlesmarkt; it is the largerst one in Germany. As you can imagine, with this kind of notoriety, the town was bustling with tourists on the last weekend before Christmas. Christkindlesmarkt is located in the main square of the old town; it is lined with buildings which look like they are made out of gingerbread themselves, and some tall imposing churches. The market stalls spill out of this platz into the nearby streets and bridges. There is also a separate area called Kinder Weinachtsmarkt where they still serve alcoholic glühwein but also have some amusement park type rides.

We took our time strolling up and down the rows and rows of stalls. With temperatures again in the 20s, one of the first stops we made was for the glühwein stall! Besides the typical mulled red wine, there is a local specialty called Heidelbeer. Heidelbeer is a mulled hot blueberry wine that is a little less sweet than the glühwein but equally as intoxicating. Nürnberg is also known for its local variety of gingerbread cookies called lebkuchen. Then there is the Elisen lebkuchen in which the cookies are made from ground almonds. These cookies may be glazed in sugar, covered with chocolate, shaped into Santa Klaus and iced in frosting. These cookies can be found at dozens of stalls throughout the market and this was the first treat we sampled. It was very chewy and dense, and had a citrus undertone. I barely made it three feet before I saw another stall selling an array of sweets. For €0.40 I was able to buy a wafer stick with layers of vanilla and strawberry cream between each wafer. Now that dessert was out of the way, we could focus on lunch! I made a beeline for the first würst stand I saw and ordered a Nürnberger würst sandwich. Nürnberger würst are small finger sized sausages; they sort of look like breakfast sausages. They serve three of them on a roll and then you can cover it with mustard and ketchup. Anna and I wolfed a sandwich down together.

We decided then, with our Heidelbeer in hand, that we would make loop around the stalls of the market to scope out what we would later buy. I was beginning to see that all of the weihnachtsmarkts sold basically the same items: ornaments, wooden carvings, gingerbread, sugared nuts, marzipan, woolen winter accessories, beeswax items, würst, and glühwein were the staples. One of the unique items in Nürnberg were the prune men. There were little men and women figurines made out of prunes, figs and nuts—a decoration and high fiber snack in one!

After spending a good hour outside at the markt, we were both freezing again with throbbing toes! The Heidelbeer was helping, but we would need a much more continuous infusion to really stay warm. Anna and I decided we’d take a stroll back to our fancy hotel and see if our room had been cleaned and was ready. We had to wait in the lobby a bit longer, but soon enough we were up in our luxurious room. It was small, but such is standard in Europe, but nicely decorated with a marble bathroom complete with the towel heaters, feather bedding, and even an iPhone docking station to charge the phone and play music. The first order of business was to warm up the feet. Anna drew up a hot bath, and we soaked our feet in the steamy water until they were red and prune-like.

We had to pry ourselves away from the cozy comfortable posh room. When we re-emerged from the hotel, we headed for St Jakobs kirche to hear the Musical Company of Nürnberg perform some Christmas songs. I can’t say I was overly impressed with the vocal quality of the singers, but it was entertaining and it kept us warm for thirty minutes. Most of the songs were sung in English, and they did what I gathered to be a Bible reading of the Christmas story in German. I only know this because I heard things like “Bethlehem,” “kinder Christ” and “Kaiser Augustus.” We left after the performance of a song called “Here Comes Suzy Snowflake.” Does this song exist in the US? Because I had never heard it before. A girl came out all dressed in white with a platinum wig on and very nervously did her song and dance. Anna and I looked at each other with the same expression of displeasure, and decided we’d rather go back out to the cold than hear any more terribly off-key singing. It was festive while it lasted, at least.

Sitting down for that long made my a little sleepy, but overall I felt I had combated jetlag much more quickly than when I normally travel to Europe--must have to do with the constant sleep deprivation at home. We made a pit stop for milchkaffe and heiss schokolade (café au lait and hot chocolate). While in the café, we watched the Germany news where they were interviewing Americans in Washington DC about the big snowstorm that had just hit the east coast. They were also discussing the extremely cold and snowy conditions all over Europe. The Eurostar train (from London to Paris) was shut down, flights were grounded out of Frankfurt, people were freezing to death in Poland and the Ukraine. It seemed we were having a cold front all over the northern hemisphere.

Warmed up and energized from caffeine, we were back with the masses at Christkindlesmarkt. It seemed like the whole town of Nürnberg was out at the markt along with tons of tourists who mainly seemed to be American, French and Japanese. We arrived just in time to watch a brass band performance of Christmas songs which was lovely. We drank our Heidelbeer and glühwein as we strolled around the snowy market to the sound of live Christmas music. I followed my nose to the source of lovely odors of cinnamon and pastries. There was a stall that was actually baking cookies and pastries right at the market. I couldn’t decide which one I wanted, so I ordered one butter cookie (which was very similar to shortbread) and one apple and walnut strudel. They were both still warm from the oven, not too sweet, and equally delicious.

We kept the hot glühwein and Heidelbeer flowing as we wandering around the markt that evening. It was what the locals were doing so why not? Plus it truly did keep me warm, especially now with the sun down and the snow falling more vigorously. As soon as hot wine was out of my system, I felt my toes turn icy. All of the glühwein stalls were crowded, but we noticed some were even more popular with drunk people outside of them chanting football songs. These were the feuerzangenbowle stalls; translation is “fire-tongs-punch.” This is the extra strong version of glühwein which involves over-proof rum light on fire. Of course we enjoyed a mug of this type. Halfway through the glass, I felt like I shouldn’t be picking up fragile wooden figurines anymore with my tipsy and clumsy hands.

Anna and I continued to meander around the market all night, drinking glühwein and Heidelbeer, eating bratwurst and sauerkraut, pretzel sandwiches with camembert, wafflen mitte apfelmus. We browsed through rows upon rows of Christmas crafts for sale, purchasing some gifts along the way. I have to say that the German’s were quite well behaved, even with glühwein running through everyone’s veins, the crowds were calm, no one was pushing or puking or creating drama. We were all covered in a frosting of snow, and no one seemed to mind that either.

When we finally had had enough glühwein and bratwurst for a lifetime, we headed back to our hotel room. A little tipsy on the wine, we took advantage of the iPod docking station and speakers and had a little dance party. I showed Anna how we do the booty shake in the US. She still has some hip-loosening up to do, but she was getting the hang of it. We contemplated using the hotel sauna, but decided instead to head to bed early. Nürnberg is a city full of history with castles, old churches and WWII nazi history. Did we learn about any of that? No…we drank glühwein and I am ok with that!

How I nearly lost my toes in Aschaffenburg

19 December 2009

How I nearly lost my toes in Aschaffenburg

Anna and I slept in a little bit on Saturday morning. We had a leisurely breakfast in our hotel lobby. I had to try a little bit of everything: rye bread with soft cheese, chocolate muesli with milk, whole wheat roll with pepper cheese, butter & black currant jam and of course, some German yogurt. Europe has the best dairy products! Anna and I made our way to the Hauptbahnhof for a 1000 train to Miltenberg, a small pretty town I had read about that is just over the Hesse border into Bavaria. There was a bit of a rush and confusion as we tried to figure out how to use the automated ticket kiosks at the station while surrounded by loads of other rushed travelers. No where near as chaotic as Newark airport, but clearly the holiday travel season does not bring out the best in any of us. When we finally did get our tickets, we saw that we would have to make a train transfer in the town of Aschaffenburg. Anna said, “That is supposed to be a nice town! Shall we stop there too?” “Let’s do it!” I said. And just like that, we changed our plans. This is why I love traveling without a specific itinerary. It is so much more fun to plan as you go!

We got to take an ICE train to Aschaffenburg. The ICE trains are the fancy long distance trains in Germany. They have wood paneling inside, recessed lighting, automatic sliding glass doors, and fancy dining cars. The 45 minute ride went quite fast and we were leaving the comfort of the warm train before we knew it. It felt at least 10 degrees colder in Aschaffenburg than it had in Franfurt. Anna and I were both freezing within the first few minutes even with our long down-stuffed coats, hats, hoods and gloves. We stopped in a small grocery store and bought two pairs of stockings for an extra layer of warmth on our feet and legs. We went to the first place we could find to use a bathroom and change, and that happened to be the town library. It was actually a lovely library sunny inside with glass walls, where many of the townsfolk were sitting and reading books and newspapers, children drawing or looking at Christmas books. The locals were stopping through with groceries in hand as they were clearly making their way back home.

We felt more confident braving the cold now with our extra layer. Right outside of the library was the Weihnachtsmakt as well as some other sites. We took a stroll over to the town schloss (castle) called Johannisburg Schloss, built in the Renaissance period and used as the summer house of the Mainz archbishops. Everything was especially beautiful with a dusting of snow on it. Right outside the moat of the castle was a Saturday morning market which I assume is likely running year round regardless of the presence of the Weihnachtsmarkt. Each stand was actually inside a tent to keep the sellers some what warmer but I would have to assume they were freezing nonetheless. It reminded me of the farmer’s markets I frequent at home. At this market one could buy fruit, vegetables (most of which were local), regional cheese, cured meats and dried sausages, and fresh pastries and sweets. There was a table of organische produce, another one just with a pile of garlic, local honey and beeswax, another selling loads of different root vegetables (I felt at home among the parsnips and turnips.) I would have loved to have bought and tried many of these fine foods, but I figured the cheese and meat purchasing had better wait until later in the week closer to my departure for home.

We meandered around the cute narrow cobblestone streets, taking in the sights of the colorful homes, many with the timber beams, and all decorated ever so quaintly with Christmas adornments. The locals were out buying food for the weekend. It seemed every couple had their reusable shopping basket full of bread, eggs, cheese, and produce. In the US, we are just catching onto the “green” movement by shopping local and toting our items in reusable bags. They’ve been doing this in Europe since forever. Everyone was also sharply dressed with their angular colorful glasses, bright scarves, wool coats, felted caps. The children had colorful pompom topped hats, some were even wearing full body snow suits. I was honestly a little jealous; I wished I had a full body suit to keep me warm that day.

It started to become painful to walk around after awhile. I spotted an outdoors store called Jack Wolfskin and went immediately inside. They were selling all kinds of things for the Alpine lifestyle. I picked up some thick warm hiking socks and even though they were a bit pricey, I was desperate for podiatric warmth. I put them on right in the store and then we went back into the cold. I think it must have been about 25°F but it was damp and windy and thus felt much, much colder. As we learned the day before, the best solution for the cold was a hot mug of glühwein! Anna and I shared a cup and further upped our sugar intake by ordering not one but two waffles (or wafflen)…one was covered with Nutella and powdered sugar, the other wafflen mitte apfelmus (applesauce) and a cinnamon sugar mix. Despite the hot wine and food, we were still terribly cold and my toes were painfully throbbing at this point. I think this may have been the coldest my feet had ever gotten, even worse than when skiing or snowboarding. So back to the warm library we went, where I stripped off my shoes and top layer socks and placed my feet on the radiator. The toe defrosting process was actually more painful than the freezing process but I felt so much better after warming up.

We went out for one more loop around the weihnachtsmarkt. We browsed through stalls filled with gingerbread cookies painted with decorative frosting, fruit breads speckled with nuts and seeds, bratwurst glistening with grease, delicate handmade Christmas tree ornaments, sparkly metallic glass ball decorations, freshly made crêpes, star shaped lanterns, woolen hats and socks, and crystalline sugared nuts—and that is just naming a few. Every stall was filled and decorated in excess. Before we took the next train out of Aschaffenburg, I had to try one more greasy treat. There were a few stands carefully deep frying potato pancakes, or reibekuchen. The potatoes had been very finely ground and mixed with some herbs. The reibekuchen could be served with sour cream or apfelmus; I opted for the apfelmus. It was dripping with grease but it sure tasted good!

Another 45 minute train ride and we were further into the state of Bavaria to visit a village called Miltenberg. Miltenberg is located on the Lahn River and still has some of its medieval buildings. The outskirts of the town were quite sleepy on this Sunday afternoon. The streets had not even been plowed from yesterday’s snow so everything was pristinely white. Before crossing the bridge to the aldstadt of Miltenberg, we admired it from afar. Every rooftop was painted white and had a smoking chimney. There were some large houses, castle-like, up on the hillside. The skyline was speckled with timbered houses and church spires. After a quick walk over the bridge, we were strolling down the main street in Miltenberg. It was also well decorated with lights and Christmas greetings strung across the buildings. Every store front had colorful decorations. It was very picturesque to look down the lane and see the cobblestone road twist through town lined closely by the colorful historic buildings.

We stopped at a café which was almost entirely pink on the interior. I had a cappuccino and Anna ordered some tea. Choosing just one dessert to sample was the real challenge! This country is a dangerous place for a person with a sweet tooth. The glass display case had apfelstruedel, appenkeller cake, petit fours, frosted cakes in all flavors, cinnamon rolls, all kinds of fruit crumble cakes, chocolates and so on. I think my pancreas just released a little insulin from remembering this array! I had a wonderful apple crumble cake and Anna tried a petit four with a sugar Christmas tree on top.

Before we got too cozy inside the café and slipped into a sugar coma, we went back outdoors to face the elements and explore the Miltenberg Weihnachtsmarkt. It was a much smaller market than any of the ones we had seen earlier but all of the staples were still there: glühwein, bratwurst, wooden figurines, glass balls, candied nuts, and marzipan. The marzipan stands were quite amusing…it seems the German’s have gotten a bit carried away in designing and shaping their marzipan. I have been accustomed to seeing marzipan in the shapes of various fruits, but here they had gotten more creative. There were marzipan shaped like curry bratwurst, eggs and bacon, potatoes, asparagus, and then there was the x-rated section with breasts, penises in different sizes and shapes, lips, and even two pigs caught in sexual rapture…forever preserved in almond paste.

After doing a good bit of shopping, we saw an enticing little street that ventured up a steep hill towards the woods beyond. We could just make out an arched doorway ahead that appeared to go through the gatehouse of the old city walls. We gingerly walked up the hill, the cobblestone slippery with ice and snowy slush. Once we passed through the arched doorway in the gates, we were in the silence of the German forest. It was a beautiful scene, every tree branch covered with snow. We passed a couple hiking through with walking sticks. The small trail brought us to a wider street which was the home to some of the big castle-like houses we had seen from across the river. From this viewpoint, we could look down on the lovely village of Miltenberg snuggled between medieval walls and the river Lahn, blanketed in snow. It was right out of a children’s story book. A picture could not capture this beauty and serenity.

With the sun down now, and the mercury dropping in the thermometer, it was time to find a cozy restaurant for dinner. We passed one on the main street with a sign outside advertising schnitzel. It seemed like as good of an option as any! We sat down inside, and the woman brought us the “English” menu translation. I was a bit confused considering the menu was only written in two languages: Italian and German. Anna and I most definitely do not look Italian! What was going on here? In further inspection of the menu, we came to the conclusion we were in an Italian restaurant not a German one! I did not come to cute little Miltenberg village to eat Veal Scallopini! I wanted würst, schnitzel, spaetzle, sauerkraut! We whispered at the table, conspiring as to how we could cordially ditch this restaurant for another. What could we tell the kind woman who showed us to our seat? “I must rush back to the weihnachtsmarkt before it closes! I simply MUST have those marzipan breasts to bring back to the US!” or “I just heard a yell from the street below!! Sounds like a woman in labor! Doctor Kate to the rescue!” or perhaps Anna could run hysterically to the bathroom at which time I could explain that too much glühwein had done a number on her bowels. In the end, it was just easier to get up and say, “Sorry, but we have to go!”

Down the street we found a lovely spot to eat, called Hotel Reisen. It had a medieval feel inside, with little dining nooks resembling a cavern. Now we could finally enjoy some German cuisine!! First things first, we ordered some Faust bier which is locally made. So local, in fact, that earlier that day we had walked past the brewery on the Miltenberg main street. For food, we ordered the following: Weißwürst münchner art mit sußen send und brezel (weisswurst munich style in a broth with mustard and a pretzel), Hausgemachter frankischer kochkase mit zweibeln, schwarzviertlerbrot und butter (house-made cheese with caraway seeds and onions served with bread and butter), and finally Bayerischer schweinebraten mit rotkraut und knodel (Bavarian style pork with red cabbage and dumplings). I really wanted to try the dinkelnudeln (spelt noodles) just because they were so fun to say, but maybe next time! I thought the food was delicious. I was most excited about the weisswurst as I love eating those at home. I find the veal sausage much lighter and easier to digest.

It was about 1930 when we finished dinner and time to start making the two hour journey back to Frankfurt. We walked over the bridge one last time, stopping for short moment to admire the town of Milltenberg at night with its golden glow. On our way to the train station, an electric sign told us that the temperature was -11°C which I believe is about 5°F. With the wind and dampness, it the temperature was truly lower than this too. No wonder our toes have been like little ice cubes in our shoes! But I have to admit, most of the time I was enjoying my surroundings so much that I did not notice the cold!

Confession: I am a glühwein addict

18 December 2009

Confession: I am a glühwein addict

For the first time ever in my life, I slept for virtually an entire plane ride. I guess I can thank residency for depriving me of enough sleep that even I, the lightest sleeper ever, the “Princess and the Pea” (as my dad has called me), was able to sleep on an airplane! I woke up only for meals and to reposition numb and tingling limbs. I arrived in Frankfurt at 0945 and for once, did not feel like a complete zombie. Anna, my good friend from Sweden, was still in the air en route from Stockholm. I found €15 in my wallet from this spring and made my way directly to a café for a caffeine infusion. After spraying my dirty smelly body with some Duty Free perfume, I was ready to start the day!

Anna arrived right on schedule. We were about to spend our third vacation together in 2009 after earlier visits this year in London and Sweden. As we struggled to figure out how to get to the train to downtown Frankfurt, Anna found a friendly American named Bart from Tennessee to help us out. He entertained us with stories about his travels around Europe and how he rented an Audi to drive 180 mph on the Autobahn. About fifteen minutes later we were at Frankfurt Hauptbanhof and navigating our way to the hotel. We had heard it was in quite a sleazy area. We quickly verified this was true as we walked pass numerous sex shops, doner kebab houses, and strip clubs, one of which was advertising “American tabledances.” I was a little curious what that meant…

We found Hotel Adler quite easily. We were greeted by a friendly German girl who spoke flawless English. The room was simple but clean and more than adequate for €70 per night including breakfast and free wifi! I was happy to be able to change into some new clothes, being sure to bundle up for the damp German winter weather. Anna and I decided we would have a visit with an old friend on our first day in Germany. Frida was another one of our classmates when we lived in England. Frida and Anna had actually gone to the same university in Sweden and of course had been able to see each other much more frequently than Anna and I. Frida moved to Germany four years ago to undertake a PhD in some kind of physics in the town of Giessen, about 45 minutes outside Frankfurt. She has settled down with a nice German man named Alex, and just three weeks ago they had a baby girl, Elise! Anna and I simply could not come all the way to Frankfurt and not see Frida and her new baby.

Frida lives quite close to a historic and beautiful university town called Marburg. The old town of Marburg is filled with half-timbered houses and historic sites. I read it described as, “an unspoilt, spire-dominated, castle-crowned Gothic/Renaissance city on a hill, intact because Marburg was an extreme backwater between 1600 and 1850.” It is known for its medieval churches; the one we saw was called Elisabethkirche. And for those of you infectious disease buffs out there, the Marburg virus was named after this town. Marburg is a hemorrhagic virus much like Ebola and back in 1967 some infected monkey tissue made 31 people ill and killed 7 of them. But I am digressing here…

I enjoyed the ride out of the big city of Frankfurt and into the quiet Hesse countryside. The snow had begun to fall and everything was peacefully covered white…we passed stables with horses, small villages filled with steep roofed homes and smoky chimneys, communal garden plots and pine forests. Our train from Frankfurt was running late and we missed our connection to Marburg which cost us another 30 minutes of time. In the winter in Europe when the sun sets at 1600, time is of the essence as sunlight is in short supply. The sun was just setting when we arrived in Marburg and the temperate was quickly dropping as the snow continued to flurry around us. We easily found our way to the old city (aldtstadt) of Marburg which was full of cobblestone streets lined with colorful timbered houses. There was a bright and festive Weihnachtsmarkt (Christmas market) around the Elisabethkirche. One could have a feeding frenzy in these markets trying candied nuts, marzipan, gingerbread, potato pancakes, bratwurst, crepes, chocolates, waffles, and hot mulled wine! Besides food, there were stalls with ornaments, jewelry, decorations, clothing and so on—from what I had heard about other markets, this was just a tiny one we were experiencing.

We walked further into the hilly town of Marburg. Although it was dark out now, the streets were alight with Christmas lights strung across the narrow cobblestone lanes. The old town could not have been any more magical with the snow falling down unless Santa Klaus himself appeared on a chimney top. We walked on and came to platze (plaza area) with a few more booths selling bratwurst and wine and a snowy slide down which the children could use their toboggans. What a fun childhood winter tradition! Onward we moved, with frequent stops inside of little shops on the way, partly to browse but mainly to attempt to re-warm our freezing appendages.

As we worked our way higher up the hill through Marburg, we came to another larger platze. This one was more decorated. There was a sign in lights strung across the square that read, “Frohe Weinachten” or “Merry Christmas.” There was also a small Ferris wheel for small children set against an old stone building whose perimeter was lined with more lights. The bratwürst stall had a crowd at least two deep waiting for the hot sausage fresh from the grill. Children were purchasing handful of candied almonds. The real hot spot was the glühwein booth. There were at least fifty people congregated under umbrellas and heating lamps holding colorful steaming mugs of glühwein and apfelwein which are hot spiced red wine and apple wine. At this point, it was about 10°F and my toes were completely numb. I was willing to try anything to warm up so I ordered a mug of apfelwein and for €3 I got my hot wine, a gingerbread cookie, and you get to keep the commemorative mug as a souvenir of the Marburg Weihnachtsmarkt 2009! It is clearly obvious why the hot alcoholic beverages are so popular at this time of year as they truly do warm a person up on a cold damp night. It was lovely to see so many people outdoors socializing with their wine even in sub-zero temperatures. Leave it to the Europeans to be out of their homes socializing in the town center in any condition! I think Americans could use this as an example to turn off the television, get off the couch and be outdoors with neighbors.

I enjoyed my apfelwein so much, that I stopped at the Elisabethkirche weihnachtsmarkt for another round. This time I got the glühwein which was equally as delicious and completely responsible for saving my right pinkie toe from frostbite.

After we thoroughly were frozen to the bone, and I was tipsy on glühwein, we decided it was high time we boarded the next train for Giessen to see Frida for dinner. As I sat on the train, I was really starting to regret the last mug of glühwein as my bladder was quickly becoming very uncomfortably full! With 10 minutes left until we arrived in Giessen, I couldn’t take it any longer and went walking through the train to find the WC. Luckily there was one just in the next car, but I unfortunately found the aisle to be completely blocked with the luggage of half a dozen people. I motioned to them that I needed to get through, tried to start walking but I realized there was no way I was getting through they were all ignoring me anyway. Those last ten minutes were painfully slow. Anna laughed at my as I squirmed around in my seat, unbuttoning my jeans to allow my bladder more room to stretch out. We got to the Giessen station and I walked as fast as my bulging bladder would allow me, forked over the best spent €0.50 to use the toiletten! Ah, sweet release.

We had sent Frida a text with our arrival time when we were on the train but after waiting for twenty minutes without seeing her in the station, we began to worry. Neither Anna nor I had purchased SIM cards for our foreign mobile phones and thus were very hesitant to make a phone call and spend a load of money. But after now 45 minutes had passed, we decided we’d better call and make sure nothing had happened. We knew Frida would not forget us, but we figured she must be very busy with a newborn baby. After one hour, and trying to phone her, we decided we’d just walk around Giessen and find some dinner on our own and hopefully hear from Frida later on. We made it about one block from the station when Frida called back and apologized that she was on her way to meet us. The new mom had been preparing dinner for us, this was the first meal she had cooked in the three weeks after having her baby via c-section, all the while having to stop to breastfeed her baby, Elise, every 1-2 hours. I could understand why she missed her phone ringing!

It was about a 15 minute walk from the station to Frida and Alex’s apartment. Their’s was in a modern new building, a cozy two bedroom. Alex was holding the baby when we arrived who was already crying for more milk. Frida rushed her over to the couch to feed her. After that, I got to hold the little girl, tiny at just three weeks of age and all cozy inside her pink fleece jumper. After catching up for a little while, we sat down to a lovely meal with Alex and Frida. They even had made hors d’oeuvres for us: a thin bread with prawns. For dinner we had ostrich steak, pasta with Bolognese sauce, and some veggies, tomatoes and mozzarella. Dessert was even better, but maybe my sweet tooth makes me biased. Alex made an apple cake with a cream top. I had asked Alex earlier if there were any special regional foods he suggested we eat while here. He mentioned a sweet pancake with apples. I said that sounded delicious, and so right then and there he got up and also made that for us and served it up with some stewed plums. It was delicious!! I am not used to seeing men make the desserts in the US so it was great to see Alex in the kitchen baking. It was so nice to see Frida again after all these years and meet her new family, share a home-cooked meal, but the jetlag was setting in now so we said our goodbyes. Hopefully it would not be six and a half years until we met again!!

Merry Christmas, now give me some Ativan

17 December 2009

Merry Christmas, now give me some Ativan

Through an accident on the Hutchinson Parkway and the cars crawling over the George Washington Bride, I made it to Newark Airport exactly two hours before my flight would depart for Frankfurt. I was quite impressed with my impeccable timing considering I am pretty much always running at least 15 minutes late at any given time—call it Whitehouse time. I was so thankful that the other doctors let me leave the clinic extra early that afternoon otherwise I would have been seriously rushing to make the flight. When I arrived, my dad was waiting at Terminal C to meet me as planned and take the car back home. We hugged hello and then I said, “I have to change my pants real quick in the back seat before I get on the plane.” My dad said, “You can’t do that here! We can not linger too long at the drop off area, the cops will kick us out! Come on, Kate, hurry up!” The police stayed away for the time being…even long enough for us to chat a bit and my dad to hand me an extra duffel bag which he again reminded me I was to fill up with German crafts from the Christmas markets.

When I finally entered Newark Airport, I found it more bustling than ever. My ticket had been booked using my dad’s frequent flier miles so I was also traveling with his “Elite” status. I figured I would fly through the Elite check in area. I was sorely mistaken. There was a short and stout, frazzled, middle-aged woman checking e-tickets at Elite and First Class check-in area—we’ll call her Sylvia. She was being bombarded with rushed and stressed travelers trying to get checked into their flights as fast as humanly possible. She was struggling to turn away half of the passengers, explaining that this area was only for elite and business class, but no one seemed to care. Just as I approached her, I looked down and realized that no where on my e-ticket itinerary did it mention Elite or Platinum status, I did not have high hopes but showed her anyway. “Ma’am this ticket is not Elite! This area is only for Continental Elite members….but you can go through.” As I got into the line, I could hear Sylvia behind me, talking out loud to herself and anyone who would listen, “This area is too full!! Why do they keep sending people here?! No one understands this is elite only!”

Standing in the queue for the next 30 minutes was a study in American culture. It was utter chaos really. The Continental woman, Sylvia, would periodically yell out, “If you are not checked into your flight exactly one hour before departure time, you will not be allowed on. So when you have one hour left, you can move to the front of the line.” As you can imagine, this put a panic into people. Everyone was looking at their watches, discussing their plan of attack for moving themselves, their three babies, and six rolling suitcases to the front of the line.

An Indian family approached Sylvia with their tickets. Apparently Sylvia did not deem them appropriate for Elite/Business check-in. Well this couple was not taking no for an answer. They insisted that they were Elite. Sylvia insisted that if so, their ticket would say it. The Indian woman did not care and proceeded to join the queue. Sylvia responded by putting her arm out in an effort to stop this woman. The woman cried out, “How dare you put your hands on me?! Do not touch me!!” The husband chimed in, in defense, “You should not be touching people! You need to keep your cool.” As ridiculous as it was, I think Sylvia realized that she had to back down from this fight otherwise she’d be paying off her Christmas credit card debt with an unemployment check. She apologized profusely and of course, as was their plan all along, the Indian family joined the line, the wife muttering obscenities about Sylvia under her breath as she walked on.

As I continued to stand in the slow moving line, watching as people checked their watches and then proceeded to break out of the queue and to the front of the line, I saw a woman and her two children join in at the end. The 10 year old daughter said, “Mom! It says this is the Elite line, I don’t think we are supposed to be here!” In a panicked voice with a British accent, the mother responded, “I don’t care! Elite! What does that even mean!?” On a theoretical level I agreed with that, what does it mean? Does it matter how we move people through as long as they get on their flights in a timely and efficient manner?” This British woman was like a lioness on the hunt, they must have been really late for their flight because she was ruthless navigating her way through that line. She hadn’t even been there 5 minutes before she was sneaking her way up to the front with her kids and cart full of baggage. Meanwhile, the passengers around me who had been waiting patiently like myself were becoming enraged. People were cursing about this British woman and others like her who were cutting ahead. They were yelling out to the Continental employees, “Hey! Look! Stop them!!” We were a few screams away from needing riot control.

I was laughing at the whole ridiculous situation with the two men behind me, one of the guys I recognized from work back in the day when I was in pharmaceuticals. His traveling buddy said, “God, I wish I had taken my Ativan before I got on the plane!” Isn’t it sad that we need to resort to self-medicating to deal with public interactions? Aren’t the holidays supposed to be a time when we perform random acts of kindness and appreciate our neighbors and fellow human beings? I had never seen so many stressed out people in one place at one time. I have traveled quite a bit in my day and and this was still the most anxiety filled airport I had ever seen. Was it the holiday rush? The New York City metro culture? An understaffed airport? Here’s my solution: Continous intravenous drip of Xanax or Propofol (à la Michael Jackson) for all holiday travelers. Just kidding. My serious advice: Don’t be late for your flight! Remember to breath! If you can’t handle that, then dose yourself with Xanax and spare the rest of us. I felt the worst for Sylvia, as obnoxious as she was at times, you almost can’t blame her. Dealing with hundreds of highly stressed and angry people at work all day is draining and toxic. I hope Sylvia was able to go home and enjoy a large bottle of wine, a massage from her boyfriend, or just a good yoga class.

In any case, I made it threw unscathed to my gate with plenty of time to spare. Soon I would be in the more civilized and refined continent of Europe. Where queues are respected, patience is a virtue, and life moves at a slower pace. Then if all else failed, there is always a pub around the corner!

Delicious Pastries, Sunken Ships and Pregnant Moose in Stockholm

13 May 2009

Delicious Pastries, Sunken Ships and Pregnant Moose in Stockholm

Anna studied biochemistry in university, which, sorry Anna, has always been one of my least favorite subjects ever! She is now working at Uppsala University in a lab dealing with blood samples. There is always some PhD student giving their dissertation during which the rest of the department is expected to listen to the dissertation defense and attend a party in the evening to celebrate. Anna has one of these to attend today so I am unleashed on my own to explore Stockholm.

On her way to work in the morning, Anna walks me to the Uppsala train station and points me to the correct platform to wait for the Stockholm train. I lug my huge rolling bag suitcase into one of the train cars and sit amongst the Swedes on their morning commute to work. Stockholm is about a 45 minute train ride to Stockholm so there are many people who make this journey for work each day. Many of the travelers are working quietly on their laptops throughout the ride. I finally arrive in Stockholm in the large open central station. First I find my way to the train station lockers where I take the biggest one and leave my bag there. It costs about $7 but it is worth it to not have to lug around baggage all day. My plan is to see as many museums as I can in one day and later in the evening, meet up and stay with another Swedish friend of mine, Helen. Helen and I also met in England and actually lived in the same house in Brighton together. I call Helen to say a quick, “Hello! I made it to Stockholm safely!” and then I navigate my way out of the station.

Before I leave, however, I purchase something called the Stockholm Card. This card can be purchased to cover a few different lengths of time; I get one for 48 hours. Now that I have bought this card, I use this for the subway, buses, and entrance to all of the museums in the city. When I finally emerge from the train station the sun is out in full force with barely a cloud in the sky. Stockholm appears to be a bustling city with Swedes and tourists alike walking through the busy but clean streets. I find my bus stop and take about a 15 minute ride to the Skansen Museum on the Djurgården island. The Skansen Museum is the world’s first open air museum founded in 1891 by Artur Hazelius. Hazelius went all over Sweden to collect actual buildings which he then transported to Stockholm and assembled into a museum. Basically Skansen is a miniature Sweden, the northern part of the museum grounds displays some typical northern arctic towns and so on. Different areas also house some of Sweden’s typical wildlife and the Skansen workers are in the appropriate traditional dress.

I start in the south of Sweden and work my way north. I visit a typical southern barn and home complete with Swedish ponies. I visited what would have been a Finnish colony in Sweden. These people lived in homes called smokehouses because there was no chimney to release the smoke from the fire place. I went inside of the little cabin with two women in traditional dress and they explained how people lived there. Not having a chimney actually allowed their homes to be heated much more efficiently. One fire could keep the house warm for most of the day so excessive amounts of wood did not need to be used. The smoke settled on the low ceiling of the cabin so it was advantageous to stay seated when inside. I visited a traditional school house, town hall, and church.

Then I came upon the animal area, somewhat like a zoo, and full of Swedish school children on field trips. There were seals, bears, European bison, wild boar, ponies, foxes, and birds, to name a few. My favorite animal experience was the moose display. There was a female moose lying on her side in a bed of hay and she was furiously licking a baby moose. After watching for a few minutes, I saw her whole body go into a spasm and she lifted her hindquarters off the ground. I could see that her vagina was swollen and looked to be bleeding and then it was clear to me that she had just given birth to that baby moose! It was quite fascinating so I watched a bit longer and got to see the baby take a few of it’s first wobbly steps before plopping back down in front of its mother.

Finally it was lunch time, so I found a tiny little café located inside of an old house. I ordered a ham and cheese sandwich on chewy rye bread and had my pick of lots of homemade pies for dessert, I chose the mixed berries. A section of Skansen is set up like an old town with a blacksmith, general store, shoemakers and so on, everyone in their traditional dress. In this area, I found what would be one of my favorite spots in all of Sweden, the bakery! I found this place my following my nose to the scent of warm dough, cinnamon, and butter. Outside the entrance was a wooden sign that resembled a soft pretzel, and inside were an array of freshly baked pastries. It was all warm and aromatic inside the tiny bakery. The men working there were dressed all in white with chef’s hats on. There were two men in the back room rolling dough and putting pastries in the oven. After eyeing up each treat, I finally chose a cinnamon roll. I didn’t care if I had just eaten pie, I was going for round two. The cinnamon roll was warm inside the paper bag and it some butter was seeping through the paper. It was heavenly!

My next stop was the glassblowing studio. Sweden is known for its glass, both functional and artistic. Inside the studio, there were benches where one could sit and watch the artists blowing their glass creations. It is quite a mesmerizing and interesting process to observe. I picked up a few knickknacks and vases in the gift shop adjacent to the studio. I really enjoyed the shops at the Skansen museum, although I wished the souvenirs were a bit cheaper. There is a famous hand carved and painted Swedish horse from the northern areas that one will see in most tourist shops. They are colorfully painted and are actually a symbol of Sweden in general. I really wanted to take one home but I couldn’t justify spending $30 on one the size of my palm.

I could have spent more time at Skansen but I decided it was time to move onto another museum. A few blocks up the street I found the beautiful Nordic Museum. This building was constructed in the Dutch-influenced Danish Renaissance architecture style and founded by the same guy who made the Skansen, Artur Hazelius. The Nordic Museum (Nordiska museet in Swedish) pays displays the cultural history and ethnography of Sweden. There were exhibits on fine china, modern Swedish weddings, Swedish furniture design (picture the orthopedically designed Ikea chair), and the Sami people of Scandinavia.

The exhibit on the Sami was most fascinating to me and I took advantage of the free audiotour headset I was given. The Same people, also known as Lapps or Laplanders (a derogatory term), are the indiginous people of northern Scandinavia (Sweden, Norway, Finland and part of Russia). Anthropologists have studied the lineage of the Sami and found they are direct descendents of the first Homo sapiens inhabitants of Europe and also share DNA with the Basque and Catalonians who were also early inhabitants of Europe. I guess the closest group I would compare them to would be the Inuits of North America. They have their own very unique language in many dialects and they inhabit some of the coldest parts of the world, living off of the land. They are a semi-nomadic people as they herd reindeer. The Sami also use fur trapping, fishing, and sheep herding to earn a livelihood. They have very colorful traditional clothing made of natural fibers, furs and skins. They have their own traditional music, festivals, beliefs and cultures. They used to practice a mix of Shamanism and Norse mythology as a religion before the Lutheran church became widespread in Sweden. The Sami were discriminated against at one point as an ethnic minority but today they are very integrated into modern Scandinavia even having their own Parliaments in the Scandinavian countries. The modern Samis are very proud of their heritage and keep their culture alive in art, language and music.

My finaly museum visit of the day was to the Vasa Museum (Vasamuseet in Swedish) located next to the Nordic Museum. The Vasa is a museum wholey devoted to one impressive ship. The Vasa was a warship that was built for King Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden from 1626 to 1628. On its maiden voyage the ship sunk after only making it one nautical mile from the port in Stockholm. They believe that the ballast was not weighted enough with stones to prevent the ship from toppling over in strong winds. A good many of the ships crew perished along with the ship on that fateful day 10 August 1628. People tried to recover the expensive ship cannons over the years but failed. Finally, in the 1950s, an archeaolgists by the name of Anders Franzén wanted to locate the ship and attempt to recover it. With a gravity powered coring probe, he went out in a boat to where he thought he might find the Vasa and dropped the probe down. As luck would have it, the probe came back up with a chunk of wood inside of it, and so the excavation began.

I watched a great video about the recovery process of the ship. Lucky for the exacavators, the ship was basically in one piece. Divers worked to place steel cables under the hull of the boat, 100 feet deep in water, and eventually the ship was slowly brought to docks and lifted up in stages. On 2 April 1961 the ship broke free of the water for the first time in 333 years! It was still amazingly in almost perfect condition. The cold Baltic Sea is made up of brackish waters and this was the saving grace for the Vasa. There is a shipworm called Teredo navalis which inhabits warmer saltier waters and is responsible for destroying submerged wood. Over subsequent years the Vasa was restored by spraying it with hot polyethylene glycol and eventually a huge open museum was built to house the ship. People are not allowed to go inside of the ship, but there are many levels built around it so you can view it from different angles and heights. The ornate wood carvings are still impressively intact. It is really an amazing sight to see and the only ship of its era still intact today.

As I was finishing up at the Vasa museum, I got a call from Helen, she was finished with work. Before getting back on the bus to meet her, I took a quick stroll along the edge of Djurgården island, where I had spent the whole day. The views of the rest of Stockholm over the water in the evening light were beautiful. The city is full of colorful buildings, green copper peaks and docked sailboats. Helen and I met in the middle of the train station. It had been six years since I last saw her when she visited me in Hoboken. Of course I recognized her immediately; she looked just the same as before. She took me on the subway to the apartment she shares with her boyfriend, Jonas, in the Södermalm neighborhood.

The apartment was three stories up in a pretty old building. I thought it was quite spacious for a city apartment. Jonas’ sister and her friend were staying with them to take a cake decorating class in Stockholm so we had a full house. Helen set up a bed for me in the foyer and I settled in. Hungry for dinner, Jonas and Helen took me out to Thai restaurant in the neighborhood. It was a fun atmosphere with bamboo huts inside, background noise of chirping crickets and every hour an artificial monsoon passed through the area complete with thunder, lightning and rain sounds. We had a good time catching up on life and reminiscing about fun times in England in the US.

On the way home from dinner, Helen walked us to a lovely elevated point in Södermalm, called Katarinahissen, with awesome views of the city below. The city was full of light which bounced off of the surrounding waters. We took a stroll through the cute and historic artist district of Södermalm and I made a mental note to come back in the daylight. The city was quite full of life for a Wednesday evening and I decided I really liked Stockholm.