Photographs

After hearing from friends their rave reviews of Flickr, we decided to host all of our European travel pictures there. Right now, it has couple sets from recent travels and we'll continue to update the album as time passes.

I hope to display many pictures publicly to get feedback on the photographs. On that note, due to the public nature of these albums, we're keeping pictures of ourselves private. If you have flickr, email us and I'll add you to our "family or friends" list so you can view private pictures.

Bamberg, Germany

Rathaus

Bamberg is another one of those Unesco World Heritage sites that was saved from the terror of the war. Its buildings are intact and in great shape. It is a city rich in history but also rich in breweries, there are 8 breweries and 1 brewpub in the area.

Like Regensburg, we bought a Bayern pass for the day and headed to Bamberg at 10am. After arriving, we saw the Cathedral, the Rathaus, and Rosengarten.

Rauchbier

Then it was a pit stop for bier and lunch. We first had Rauchbier (smoke bier) that Bamberg is known for. Then it was off to Ambräusianum (the only brewpub) for food and more bier. The food was good, Putenfleisch (turkey) mit Kartoffel Knödel (potato dumpling) und Gemüse (vegetable). The turkey was a tad overdone for our taste but still good with gravy/sauce. The Kartoffel Knödel was well seasoned but very gummy and the Gemüse was cream of broccoli and out of this world.

On we went to see the Altenburg castle at the top of the hill. What we learned was the hill wasn’t a mini hill or a short hike, it was a full fledged “you better be ready for an uphill work out”. (There’s a reason, they call it Bamberg, berg meaning hill/mountain.) The hike was unplanned but well worth the views of the city. After hanging out in the cool air, we returned back down to the city and walked to Michelsberg Abbey.

Michelsberg Abbey

We finished our day with bier from Brauerei Spezial and Brauerei Fässla. Spezial‘s interiors has the old world charm like it was in 1536! We also ate dinner at Brauerei Fässla. I ordered schnitzel mit Kartoffel Salat (potato salad) und Gemüse Salat (vegetable salad). He had Brathähnchen mit Kartoffel Salat und Gemüse Salat. Our main dish (meat) was superb. Potato salads are usally tangy and that's a hit or miss for us; unless they're exceptionally outstanding, we generally agree they taste okay. Like the one here. Germans are crazy for potatoes and bread.

Inside Michelsberg Abbey

Each bier was very unique and delightful. My favorite was Weisse Bier from Spezial Brauerei and Helles and Hefeweizen from Ambräusianum. In addition to those, he also enjoyed the Fässla from Brauerei Fässla. The Rauchbier from Schlenkerla was our least favorite. It tasted like the bier had sat in cigarette smoke for few days. We knew this but when in Rome…

Bamberg is an amazing city and we’re both glad to have visited it in peak summer weather. With few more breweries to check off our list Bamberg will be seeing us soon. Until then, we are looking forward to having the bier in our apartment for these warm summer nights.

Television

Watching TV here is pretty ridiculous. Most of the time it’s Scrubs, wrestling (WWE and WWF), American movies that have 1 star ratings, and Soccer (Fubball), to name a few. There are more news channels then there is to report- BBC, RT, French news, Spanish news, Turkish news, and German news. I appreciate the diversity and the attempt to reach the global audience but I wouldn’t mind bad TV in other languages. My least favorite thing is the dubbing; almost everything that’s in foreign language is dubbed.

Once we get our apartment, we’ll get a larger variety of channels. I hope. What we’re looking forward to is the American/English channels with German subtitles. That’ll help us learn the language tremendously.
There’s a government license fee for all residents that use internet, radio and/or TV to pay 18 Euros/month. The Gebühreneinzugszentrale or the GEZ collects the funds. This finances the public broadcasting system and instead of waiting for contributions they make everyone pay. I’ve also read if you don’t pay, someone comes to your door to collect the money. No joke.

And Hasselhoff? I haven’t seen the guy on TV, yet; that could change after we get cable.

Regensburg, Germany

Our first trip out of town was to a town called Regensburg, an hour away. The best part about traveling within Germany is the Bahn. It’s called Deutsch bahn or DB. Within Bavaria (the state we live in) we can buy a Bayern pass for 29 Euros. That means 1 and up to 4 adults or children can travel within the state (round trip) for 29 Euros. The only catch to this is the pass is valid for one day only. This is perfect for day trips to Regensburg and other small to medium sized cities in the state. (We visited Munich and learned a day trip there wasn’t enough time. We will be going back.)

We left at 8:30am and arrived in Regensburg at 10am. Upon exiting the Hauptbahnhof (main rail station), we spotted a large crowd gathering in the city center, 200 meters away. The crowd was because of the flea market that takes place in the beginning of summer in Regensburg. In the entire day of strolling and sightseeing we probably saw 200+ vendors selling antiques and trinkets.

The city had military connections before the war and it is close in proximity to other cities bombed in Bavaria however, thankfully, Regensburg had little damage to its buildings and the city’s livelihood after the war. Due to this Regensburg is listed as UNESCO World Heritage site. There are some magnificent buildings still standing from before the war that are refreshing to see. The Dom being one of them. The Dom (also known as Regensburg Cathedral or Kathedrale St. Peter) was completed in 17th century and is reminiscent of gothic architecture of its time. The Steinerne Brücke (stone bridge) was built in the 12th century and it connects the two parts of the city over the Danube river.

Our only meal in Regensburg was an Indian lunch. (A side note, we don’t normally seek out Indian restaurants while traveling.) When we arrived at the train station, there was a large banner for Indian lunch buffet at a restaurant nearby. After seeing the church and browsing the flea market vendor tables, we went to Ganesha for lunch. The buffet had fish curry, pork vindaloo, chicken kheema, rice and daal. Everything was surprisingly good and authentic; I specially liked the pork vindaloo and chicken kheema. The service was also impeccable. We ate a large lunch that would hold us over until the evening and it did just that. The dinner was ice cream (Eis) in Nürnberg.

Regensburg was the perfect day trip for a beautiful Saturday.

Busier these days...

I haven't forgotten about Pork Bier Belly; we're just busier these last couple weeks due to multiple things. None of which includes travel but we hope that changes soon.

One thing that has engulfed our lives is the apartment hunt. When he isn't at work and when I have time we're constantly searching for apartments online, scheduling appointments (in our broken German) and visiting to see the apartments themselves. As you can imagine, it's twice the work because of the language. At times we find a place but it doesn't have a fitted kitchen or a balcony or an elevator (things that aren't posted online so we find out when we get there.) Google translate is our new best friend.

And the other thing that's kept me busy is language classes. I am taking German 4 days a week, 3.5 hours each day. It's been wonderful learning the language and meeting other individuals that are on the same level as myself. I've learned many verbs, nouns, and am able to speak in basic conversations with strangers. I am escatic to be able to go the farmers market and ask questions. Ist das gemüse aus Bavaria? (Is this vegtable from Bavaria?) Inlined with my local eating. The verb to cook is kochen- Ich koche Kohl mit Karotte.

He takes a class with a tutor that teaches him conversations and business language. And although his classes aren't as regular, he is also learning from coworkers and at meetings.

And I am also researching ways to post our photos online; I've looked at Flickr and Shutterfly. I am looking for something that doesn't have to have a log in to view the album, unlimited picture upload and zero cost would be great but it's not crucial. Any of you have suggestions?

And on the travel front, I can happily report that we're planning a trip to Prague in few weeks. I have also started researching Spain and Italy for weekend trips but nothing solid on that front, first that apartment!

Das ist alles.
That's all.

Day to day life observances

Germany is a dog friendly country. Many people running errands, taking walks or going out to eat have dogs with them.  With that, the restaurant owners have also adapted to the dog friendly culture.  Many places we’ve been to in the past 4 weeks we’ve noticed dogs in the restaurant patio with its owners as well as inside the restaurant.  It’s very common for guests that are dining in the restaurant to bring their dog inside.

Lucy the dog

After few biers so it's blurry

Another note about dogs here in Germany that’s different is most dogs aren’t on a leash.  There’s a sense of independence for dogs and the owners don’t feel it necessary to have them on a leash.  It makes me wonder if the dog will run away but then I realize dogs are very loyal and if they’ve been unleashed their entire life they’re trained this way.

I am sure the misbehaved dogs would try to run away and those select few are on a leash but most are not.

Also on the pet subject, there aren’t any outdoor cats.  Cats may not be of peak interest for pet owners here or if they are they’re indoor cats.

Speaking of independence, this also applies to children.  The other day when we were on the tram I saw a young girl, maybe 9, going somewhere alone.  The husband says that he regularly sees children as young as 7 years old on the tram by themselves or with few friends.   This illustrates that German parents have a hands off approach to parenting, in some ways.  This also teaches the kids how to be independent and responsible at a young age.  I know there may be parents like this in America as well as India, but majority of people would not feel comfortable sending their kid to school or the store alone on a tram or train.  The contrast is there’s the constant fear in America for something to go wrong where Germans don't live in fear in that regard.

And moving onto something that’s very unusual for Americans but common in India.  Staring.  Germans stare at people as much as Indians, I think they’d give Indians a run for their money.   So in that sense this makes me feel right at my Indian home.   However, having lived in America for so many years, it does feel uncomfortable.  The husband doesn’t mind and carries on but I find it intrusive.   People watching is very common here; this is what sidewalk cafes and biergartens are for- you drink, you socialize, you stare, and you drink some more.  I understand for us it may be a combination of factors: Nürnberg is a smaller city with less ethnic diversity (it’s a city of 500,000 people so not a small village), we are brown people that speak English and another foreign language, Gujarati, and we are not just doing the touristy things, we’re at a store or buying produce at the farmers markets so obviously we’re staying.

To give an example, we went to a Bierfest and a group of girls in their 20s stared at us the whole time we were in one spot.  So I stared at them back; that taught them a lesson, then they only stared at us when we were looking in the other direction.  I probably wouldn’t do that again because eventually I’ll get used to people staring at us. 

Hauptmarkt and a Meal

The Hauptmarkt is where all the farmers line up to sell fresh vegetables and fruits for the day. We learned that by the end of the day, they have many things that are half off because of low shelf life of fresh produce.

Here’s a before and after of the Hauptmarkt. On Sundays and holidays the entire city shuts down, including the farmers market; this is due to Nürnberg and most of Germany being very catholic. There are laws prohibiting vendors from operating on church day. So here’s how the Hauptmarkt looks on a Sunday.

And here’s how it looks on any other day.

Our first “homemade” meal had almost 100% of its ingredients from the farmers market.  We bought olive oil from a local vendor that sources all his oils from Italy and Spain.  He talks to his vendors in those countries regularly so although he isn’t growing the olives himself for making the olive oil, he’s very informed on how the olive oil is produced.   Everything except the red chili flakes (from America) are from the farmers market. 

Pasta with Garlic and Spinach

Ingredients
250 grams freshly-made-dried noodles (These were made in the last 2 weeks and dried)
1/4 cup extra-virgin olive oil
2 garlic cloves, peeled and minced
1 cup spinach, washed and chopped
1/2 teaspoon red pepper flakes

Directions
In a large pot, bring water to boil, stir in salt. Add pasta and cook about 10 minutes or until al dente. Drain pasta in a colander and reserve 1/2 cup of pasta water.  The reserved pasta water will help create the sauce.

In a large sauté pan on medium heat, add olive oil.  Then add the garlic and sauté until light brown and fragrant.  Don’t let the garlic burn otherwise it will taste bitter and bad.  Add the chopped spinach and red pepper flakes and sauté for 1 minute. Add the cooked pasta to the pan and mix until pasta is combined with spinach and garlic.  Add 1/4 cup (more if you want it saucy) of reserved pasta water and stir to combine. 

We bought 10 eggs (farmers markets and grocery stores sell eggs in 10 as opposed to a dozen) so the only thing missing from this meal is a fried egg.  I’ll be making this meal tonight with an addition of an egg.