Clase de Deutsch

Foreign languages aren't exactly my forte, unlike my multi-lingual, fluent in German so much so he is basically a local, husband. My plan to get by in Germany was to rely on Justin and my handy pocket phrase book my sister-in-law borrowed to me. But after several embarrassing moments and the feeling of isolation, I decided I really should to try and pick up some of the language. So I enrolled in a beginners immersion class on how to spreche Deutsch at the Heidelberg vocational college.

My class resembles a UN meeting with students literally from around the world. I am one of only two Americans and other students hail from Africa, Asia, South America, the Middle East and other European countries of course. I am still in my first week, but I can already tell I will be learning so much more than the German language. When else in my life will I be in a room with people from Bali, Brazil, Gambia, Italy, Pakistan, Turkey and Nigeria, just to name a few? We are all new to the German langague and on an even playing field, so there is a real camaraderie among us. It is truly incredible. 

 Old German Alphabet 

The actual learning of the language is shaping slower than my appreciation of my classmates. Like all languages, the rules of German are very difficult. For example, today we started to learn how to count. I could spend weeks on learning the art of saying 34 backwards- vier und dreizig (4 and 30). It is very confusing! It is also funny that I have homework every night. The worksheets remind me of my first year of spanish years ago! 

All in all I think enrolling in the course was a great idea and will help immerse me even further into the German culture. I also will be able to visit over 15 countries and get a local's insight on what to do. Pretty cool!  

Munchen

Bavarian Cows! 

Somehow, the weather in Germany shifted overnight from the Sahara Desert to November in Chicago. It was a welcome change, minus the monsoons we drove through to reach our first stop- the small town of Lenggries in Bavaria. It was there that I'd have my first traditional German meal.

It took a lot of courage, a massive temperature drop, and some stomach stretching to prepare me for that meal. The rump roast with herb butter, mixed vegetables and fried potatoes with a local Hefeweizen was a surprising treat. Locals entertained us by yodeling their Bavarian drinking tunes which definitely helped the roast go down a little easier.  After the meal, we rolled ourselves home to go to sleep before a long day of sight seeing.

Beer at the Hofbrauhaus

We woke early in the morning to more rain and decided to leave the village and head into Munich instead of going on our planned hike. On our way into the city, we drove by the famous Neuschwanstein Castle and decided we'd come back to scope out the interior and breathtaking mountain views on a nicer day.

The majority of our Saturday afternoon in Munich (which means The Monks) was spent shopping for Lederhosen and Dirndls for the upcoming 200th anniversary of Oktoberfest. Justin and I are both excited to sport our new purchases (I'll be wearing a vintage 70's Dirndl)! After our exhausting shopping trip, we had worked up a thirst  and swung by the Hofbrauhaus House. Of course we also snuck in some sightseeing.

We toured the Pinakothek Der Moderne, Neue Pinakothe (both are 1€ each on Sundays) and looked at some nice cars at BMW World. We then took a stroll in the English Garden where we had lunch at the Chinese Tower. I found it bizarre that the food served at he Chinese Tower was none other than German and was disappointed!

Memorial at Dachau 

Sunday afternoon we drove less than a half hour outside of Munich to Dachau- I had not realized how close the first concentration camp was to the city. Dachau really cannot be put into words. I can only say that it is unimaginable that the beautiful city of Munich was the birthplace to such a horrible part of history (including the Hofbrauhaus). I will never forget the awful things that were done to not only Jews, but to other minorities and to those who were outspoken. It makes me very, very thankful to have my freedom and makes me want to do something for those living and dying today without it.

All our photos can be seen here.

Nussloch Nachos

Preparation.... 

One drawback to living abroad is longing for food favorites consumed on a regular basis back home. For Justin, a SoCal native, this is Mexican food. Unfortunately for him, Mexican food hasn't really blown up in popularity this far east. So I decided to improvise and cook a "Mexican" meal to curb his craving until the next time we indulge in a real Mexican feast back home.

Luckily my mom is an expert tortilla maker and shared her recipe with me. I have been meaning to attempt her tortillas for some time now, so this was the perfect opportunity. The other ingredients proved to be a bit more challenging. I bought made in Germany salsa, but ended up making my own pico de galo with several less milligrams of salt. Primary Mexican food ingredients, such as fresh jalapenos and cilantro, are not available here. So, I put myself in the shoes of a deconstructive chef and got creative.

Finished product! 

I would say the results turned out pretty well. Of course, everything tastes better with an ice cold Hefeweizen from our personal collection!

Lessons Out East

(Dresden at night)

Admittedly, I was skeptical about heading to Eastern Germany last weekend.  While Justin lived in West Germany as a kid, the Wall was still up creating an uncrossable barrier to the Eastern side. And, in my head, the East still seemed like that dark and unpleasant place today. I was uninterested in visiting, but went along for the ride... While driving into Leipzig and seeing some run down areas, I thought my unfounded notions were spot on. But, I was wrong.

Leipzig proper, the first stop on our trip, was surprisingly clean, friendly and incredibly historic. Composers such as Bach and Mendelssohn came through Leipzig in the 1700 and 1800's making it a classical musical center in Europe which still holds true today. It is home to one of the oldest Universities founded in 1409! Additionally, post WWII, the Nikolai Church was the site of the beginning movements and protests that ultimately toppled the GDR.

We stayed at the Westin and think it was a former Russian bunker, which was humorous. But the hotel was very central. We were pleasantly surprised to find how friendly the people of Leipzig were, even while ordering nachos at midnight (a very rare treat, even if they were a bit off)!

After Leipzig we headed over to Dresden which was spectacular. Dresden, the capitol of Saxony located on the Elbe river, was totally destroyed by controversial fire bombs deployed by the Allies towards the end of WWII. That was so hard to imagine considering most of the city has been rebuilt and restored to it's original and breathtaking facade.  Dresden was incredible and reminded me a lot of Florence- one of my favorite cities!

(Wein Sommer Festival)

The New Dresden Synagogue is one of the only buildings not rebuilt to original spec. The old, gorgeous building, Semper Synagogue, was destroyed in 1938 during the Kristallnacht- the first Nazi Pogrom on a national level. The New Synagogue is very nondescript, but incorporated what was left of the old Synagogue, which I thought was neat.

As we were touring Dresden, we found a local wine festival. We were some of the only tourists there, and it was really nice to see the locals out enjoying a gorgeous night. They were very relaxed and friendly. This is where I was convinced to finally eat a sausage- not going to lie, I half liked it. I found that to be the perfect way to end a trip that completely changed my previous misconceptions.

See all our Eastern Germany pictures here.

Beer in Steins

Justin's mom says that to Germans, beer is a food group. She has a point. Everyone knows that Germans are big beer drinkers, but I am personally amazed by their appreciation for the beverage and how readily available it is.

Here, a tall, tasty, cold brew is never too far away. Some interesting places I've found bars include the grocery store, Leiman Community Pool, local parks, my tiny gym, McDonalds, the ice cream parlour and Autobahn rest stops (seems dangerous).

Beer is a huge part of German culture and is an art form. With over 1300 breweries all adhering to the German Beer Purity Law known as "Reinheitsgebot," a cold one is hard to resist. Beer selection can be very granular and will vary based on the region and the season, but it's pretty hard to go wrong.

And our beer collection is delicious!

Ashlock beer collection 

Prost to that!

3 Countries, 1 Weekend

Our travel is restricted to the weekend, so we really have to map out our routes so we can make the most of our time. This weekend we got creative and were able to venture to three countries, Austria, Switzerland and Germany.

Day 1: The first stop was at a hotel just across the Austria, Germany border in the small town of Dornbirn, which sits at the foothills of the Eastern Swiss Alps. The hotel restaurant had an amazing 360 degree view of the foothills and the mountains. They also had a locally brewed Hefeweizen beer that was awesome!


Day 2: After indulging in the complimentary breakfast buffet and taking in the gorgeous Dornbirn scenery, we jumped back into the car and headed over the other border to Switzerland.

The first Swiss stop on our list was St. Gallen and the Stiftsbibliothek, or Abbey Library. This library was unlike anything I had ever seen. It is perfectly preserved, so much so that shoes and photos were not allowed inside the main hall- Baroque Hall. Here is a link to the professional pictures.

The exhibit on display was of medicinal herbs and gardens. It was amazing to see how advancedmedicine was with the use of herbs so long ago. The doctors in our families would have been fascinated by these books, though surely it’s taught in medical school.

Rodin's Gates of Hell

Next up was Zurich where we headed over to the Kunsthaus Museum in the 95+ degree weather. This museum was very impressive and housed some of Monet’s Water Lily Ponds- which are my favorite! I also was able to stand in front of Rodin’s Gates of Hell (blog picture)and hope it is the only gates I face!

After the museum we wondered around town, explored the streets and sampled the local sweets! If we had planned ahead, we could have swam in the crystal clear river to cool off. Instead, we spent 10 Swiss Francs on bottled water. Zurich is outrageously expensive! A value meal at McDonald's would set you back $11!


Another attraction we missed in Zurich was the Lindt Chocolate Factory. I am still upset over this, although the extra sugar was probably not necessary.

That night we watched Germany take 3rd place at the World Cup in the Zurich West bar district. Not too shabby, Germany!

Amazing Zurich chocolate shop

Day 3: We headed out of Zurich and onto Basel, Roger Federer’s hometown. While there we toured the Kunstmuseum Basel. Here we saw the fantastic collection of Chagall’s Rabbis. They also had several Picassos of which I took photos of before I got in trouble... Oops!

While in Basel we also saw a group of kids doing Parkour. Justin got some cool shots which can be seen here.

Last, we stopped in Baden-Baden, Germany. This is a town located in the spectacular Schwarzwald or Black Forest- which is possibly the only type of cake I am not a fan of. (Here’s a recipe if you feel differently!)

Baden-Baden is famous for it’s mineral baths and fancy spas. President Clinton was quoted saying Baden-Baden is “so nice that you have to name it twice.” I would have to agree. We took in the sights and explored the ancient castle that is set atop a hill overlooking the forest. It was just gorgeous!

We also found the International Oldtimers Auto Show. I’m not a huge car buff, but I was very impressed with some of the cars on display! Check ‘em out here.

See all of 3 Countries, 1 Weekend pics here!

Nothing Fancy

Our Nussloch home is minimalistic, but not by definition of sleek and modern. More like back to the basics. No fluff. It's the opposite of our old city dwelling in Lincoln Park, which we do miss, filled with every day modern luxuries. However, we’ve found it sort of refreshing to live without the chaos.

You can take a look at more pictures of our new place here.

Kurpfalzstraße

After our Spain trip (Madrid, San Sebastian, Elciego) we arrived at our new home in Nußloch, Germany on Kurpzalfstraßn (KurpfalzStreet) where we will live for the next 6 months. We had no idea what to expect from our new place. All we knew was thatNussloch was a town of about 10,000 and was close to Headquarters.

As we pulled up in our Mercedes A-class rental car (automatic, of course), we were, well, puzzled. We had requested a two bedroom apartment, and we were told that is what we would have. The second bedroom was nowhere to be found... So, here we are today in our one bedroom apartment with a large living room (aka second "bedroom"). Turns out the number of bedrooms would be the least of our worries...

On move in day, when temperatures were exceeding 100 degrees, we quickly discovered that there was no air conditioning. No air conditioning anywhere in the entire country, really, except our rental car! So after completing paperwork and taking a brief tour, we jumped in our cool rental car and bought a €20 fan. Best investment ever. Not only does the fan cool us down, it also serves as our clothing dryer (our washer is this tiny, overly complicated machine that can only hold about 7 items at once). For the most part the rest of our apartment is just fine. It is exceptionally clean and more or less fully furnished -except for sheets, which we are still working on figuring out.

The town of Nussloch is built on a hill that leads up to a beautiful forest with great hiking and mountain biking. There are also about five bakeries that have the best bread ever. There are tons of kids running around and a really good Pizzeria/Ice Cream Parlor. We go for a nightly walk through the town since we only get CNN International (for those wondering, Hulu and such do not work in Germany. I found this out the very hard way!! No idea how I will survive without E! News). The sun doesn't go down unit around 10pm and the sunsets are amazing. Frankfurt is about an hour away and Heidelberg is just 20 minutes away.

We are happy to be here and have a lot of exploring to do in the next 6 months!

Madrid

Spain was the first leg on the European adventure. We started in Madrid where we stayed at the Hisperia Madrid. The hotel was really nice, but quite a walk to the sights. We arrived the first evening starving from the flight, so we went in search of dinner.

Plaza Mayor was our first stop, which is a large square with tons of tapas restaurants. It's a beautiful place and worth a look, but the restaurants are essentially tourist traps. Right behind the Plaza is the Mercado de San Miguel. This place is great! It's an upscale market where you can sample all of what Madrid has to offer. The sangria is €3 and is fantastic! We then moved onto Cava Baha where ate more delicious tapas.

Day 2 was Justins birthday and he wanted to visit all the museums. So we did!. First we visited the Thyssen Museum which was awesome. We loved the art of Matisse, Kirchner and Picasso. After we walked to the Parque de Buen Retiro, which is massive, and saw the beautiful Palacio de Cristal.

Onto the Reina Sofia Museum we went, which is free after 2 on Saturdays. The building is amazing, but we found the ultra modern art slightly bizarre. The last museum on the list was the famous Prado, which is also free on Saturdays after 6. Even after touring the Prado, we liked the Thyssen the best. We also managed to squeeze in a quick look at the breathtaking Palaccio Real.

Day 3 we got up early and headed on the road to San Sebastian...

San Sebastian

San Sebastian is located 20km from France in the Basque Region, where they speak Euskara- which does not sound like Spanish. The landscape is incredible with it's beautiful beaches and Pyrenees backdrop. We were in heaven!

The region's food is similar to that of Madrid, but it is much tastier. They eat Pintxos which are like tapas and are traditionally eaten in bars with red wine (never more than €2 a glass). Pintxos are lined up on the bar while the patrons help themselves and pay once they are finished- so the honor system is key. San Sebastian also has world renowned restaurants. There are 18 Michelin Stars in the city! It was like everywhere we looked, there was a Michelin restaurant.

Somehow we managed to pull away from the food to do some sight seeing. One morning we hiked up to the statue of San Sebastian and discovered the breathtaking lookout where we had a 360 degree view of the city. We visited both La Concha Beach and Onderretta Beach, which is famous for it's surf. Both of the beaches, and really all the attractions, were very close to our hotel which is a landmark in itself. The Hotel Maria Cristina was very luxurious.

After a few days in the beach town, we headed over to Elciego for some wine...

Elciego

The last stop on our Spanish getaway was in Elciego, which is in La Rioja region. Before getting to our hotel, we stopped in Haro to see a crazy festival where people shoot each other with water guns full of Rioja wine (Haro is the rioja wine making capitol of the world). While we arrived too late to see the fight, we did see some evidence. After leaving Haro and getting slightly lost, we arrived at our hotel...
Nope, that is not a museum. Gehry designed this hotel for the Marques de Riscal vineyard. It took years for him to be swayed into doing the project, and Gehry only agreed after having a vintage bottle of wine from his birth year, or so the story goes. It was the most spectacular hotel and we could not believe we had one of the 44 guest rooms!

The hotel over look a magnificent church that could be seen from our room and all of the Rioja region vineyards. The on-site Gastronomic restaurant was awarded a Michelin star. We chose to eat at the more "traditional" restaurant, and thought the food was excellent.

This will probably go down as the coolest hotel on our trip!

You can see all our Spain pictures via Flickr.