Food for thought

I love food. A lot. The chances of me eventually being a beefy 300 pound woman are probably pretty good. So I try to reign myself in sometimes and work out regularly to counteract my food fetish. It's incredibly difficult for me to control myself in a foreign country where new and interesting (and delicious) foods are all around me. So those of you that will see me when I get back to the states in December and January, please be kind if I'm all chunky-like. Cuz here are some of the things I've been noshing on with wild abandon:

This is breakfast stuff for us here: milk in a box (it keeps for like 6 months unopened and unrefrigerated), various yogurts which are so much better than those in the states, and this incredible drinking yogurt ( the Mullermilch) that I have taken to using as the 'milk' in my cereal sometimes (brilliant, no?).

These are some of the cereals I've been eating. You are probably thinking the Fruchte Musli is probably the tastiest, but you are wrong, the knusper musli is incredible. There's even talk of Mr X taking a box home with him...

Sometimes we buy rolls from the 'backerei' and bring them home for sandwiches. We grab an assortment of meats and cheeses (different every time) for filling. Sometimes we just get crackers and spread liverwurst on them with some strange mustard and have those. Sounds gross, I know but it's good. I also included in this picture a very new Ritter Sport I found here: Dunkle Vollmilch. Basically it's dark milk chocolate. The perfect blend of milk and dark and oh so mouth-wateringly good.

We actually have been eating some fruit so we don't get rickets or anything. These grapes don't look it from the picture but they are huge! The fruit next to them is similar in size and shape to a peach but it doesn't taste like the peaches I grew up eating. It tastes more like a combination between peaches and apricots or something. I am loving them.

As you can tell based on previous posts, we've been having ridiculous amounts of hot dogs/bratwursts/sausages/frankfurters. It's kind of sickening but they do really know how to make these things perfectly appealing and appetizing here. In this Jeff's buying a bratwurst at a stand on the street in Vienna. They take a bun type thing and cut the top off and make a hole in it by poking a long metal rod down it and then they fill it with mustard and stick the brat in. The best one I had, hands down, was the one laced with cheese.

These things are everywhere around here. They are called Doner Kebaps. They fill a pita-ish bread with this gyro-looking mystery meat (but different) and then add some sort of sauce and lettuce and onions and some sort of spicy red powder. They are really good. I found one I like better than the Doner though and it's called the Huner Kebap. It's less like a gyro and more like a sandwich but with similar ingredients. Either one will really do a number on your breath though - Gum and breathmints are powerless.

And now we move on to treats and desserts...

We stop at ice cream and gelato shops every now and again. The best ice cream I've had in Germany remains the cone I had in Oberammergau with my SIL last March. Some others have come close though.

This is the biggest chocolate fountain I have ever seen. You can't tell from the picture but it was like four feet tall or something. Oh, and that's rich, creamy, smooth German chocolate pouring out of it.

I bought this little guy at a chocolate shop in Amberg (more on that town tomorrow). I am attempting to hold off and save it as a Halloween treat for Mr X and myself. But that seems so far away, doesn't it? I think the only thing preventing this delicious looking pumpkin face from already being in my belly is that it's just so cute. Less than two weeks left - I can do it, I can do it...

Hunting season

Last spring when I came to Germany I was here the first 2 weeks in March. I didn't see a single cow. In fact, the only place I saw an animal at all was in Switzerland. My SIL can vouch for me on that one. She and I drove along the Germany countryside and field after field was empty - not a single cow. All this delicious cheese and yogurt had to come from somewhere, right?

Well, this trip I have seen plenty of animals, all over the place, and I've documented it all with my camera (for proof). But what I want to know is where do all the cows go during the winter. If you happen to know please fill me in...

(This may just be a lone cow, but there are lots of them all over right now)

(This duck waddled right up to me, wanting some food, it made me nervous. I'm a wimp, I know.)

(Check out how fat these sheep are. Or maybe they just have crazy big puffy wool coats.)

(Mr X calls these Bavarian Oysters.)

(Getting pictures of the deer was my favorite, there are so many of them around here.)

(Eat your heart out all you hunters.)

Coburg

Last Sunday Mr X and I visited a town called Coburg. It's about 60 miles north of Nuremberg. This town is adorable and I really enjoyed wandering it. Supposedly it has been around since 1056 AD and it was spared any bombing during WW I because Coburg's prince Albert had married into British royalty. Interestingly enough, the current British royal house descends from this union, they just were renamed to Windsor during WW I.

Anyway, two highlights of the day were: 'bratwurst mit semmel' and the Veste Coburg citadel (one of Germany's largest castles - but it looked less like a castle and more like an armoury to me)

By the time we arrived in the city, parked and aimlessly made our way to the center of the town, I needed to use the ladies room. Mr X said he'd wait for me outside. I wasn't in there for longer than 3 minutes, I swear, but by the time I got back Mr X was standing there grinning and holding a teeny tiny roll with a long skinny bratwurst hanging out each end. I wish I would have had the camera with me because it looked pretty funny. Anyway, I was hungry so I got one too. They were pretty tasty but I still liked the cheesy ones from Vienna best. Mr X thinks these are the best he's ever had in Germany/Austria/Switzerland, hands down. He even got more on his way out of town later. So there you have it, if you're ever in this part of Germany, Coburg's got the best 'bratwurst mit semmel' in the country. Or you can just take his word for it.

(Mr X's bratwurst only had one bun, which is strange because we both asked for the same thing in German, so his looked much more goofy.)

**Interestingly enough, regarding Mr X's food experience here, I found out that The National Hot Dog and Sausage Council (I didn't realize there was one) claims Frankfurt is traditionally credited with originating the frankfurter. However that same council says that this claim is disputed and the other story is that the hot dog was created in the late 1600s by a butcher that lived in Coburg. So maybe Mr X's taste buds have got it right.**

Enough of that, on to the Veste Coburg citadel. This place was amazing. It was built starting in 1225 AD on top of a hill on which the city is built and it is surrounded by beautiful park-like areas. There are 3 museums inside the Veste:

(This is a view of part of the citadel from outside the walls.)

The Ducal Palace, which consists of the rooms in which the Dukes of Coburg resided. This also includes the rooms where Martin Luther lived in 1530 after he had been excommunicated from the catholic church. He actually did some of the translating of the bible into German during his stay in these rooms. I guess the most famous room is the Hunting Room which is entirely made of wooden inlay panels. I got in trouble for trying to take pictures in this room. I only got one picture and it's not so great because my dumb flash was on, which is likely why I got caught.

The Armory Museum was one of the most interesting and unique things I have seen in Germany. I guess the one here in Coburg boasts the largest collection of medieval armor and weaponry in Germany.

(This was a real horse - just stuffed or taxidermified or whatever it is called.)

The 3rd museum was the Art Collections. We spent a while checking out the extensive glassware collection but breezed through most of the rest of the art rather quickly, as we are not art savvy folks.

~~~

If you do get the opportunity to check out Coburg, you should. It is definitely worth the effort.

German traffic signs

Since I just posted about a car, I thought I'd share a little bit about German traffic signs. Most of them are pretty self-explanatory and similar to those in the US. Mr X and I have, however, seen a few that we have no clue what they mean. We just continue on and ignore them...probably not necessarily a good thing but oh well. So today I went online to find out what one of the unknown ones that we see frequently actually means. I found it and it means we have always the right-of-way on that particular roadway unless otherwise posted (i.e. stop sign, yield, etc).

Anyway, I thought I would share with you some of the German road signs I found online here:

This sign obviously means that snow chains or tires are required. I put it up because I like the depiction.

It's got to be a bit alarming if you are driving down the road and you see this sign, don't you think? It actually means that there is an "unguarded quay, riverbank, or landing ahead or alongside the road."

This one means horses only. I wouldn't have known that it was so restrictive just by looking at it.

This is my personal favorite. This means that the road ahead is used by migrating frogs. Good thing they warn you because that would be so gross to plow into a bunch of frogs unexpectedly.

This one means to watch out for winter sports along the road. I've seen this one. They have places where the ski trail passes right over or right next to a small road. I thought it was strange.

Electrified rail crossing.

Traffic calming zone (No idea what that means - maybe go slow, calm down).

Water polluting cargo prohibited (again, wouldn't have deduced that from the sign).

This sign I put up simply because we saw it while driving around in Vienna. It was crazy to me that we were only a few hours drive from Budapest. I was half tempted just to go because I could...

The Panda is extinct

Once a month Mr X has to turn his rental car in for another one, although he can keep the one he has if he wants. Since Mr X's previous car was the Fiat Panda he opted to switch up and see if he would get a sweeter deal. So check out our new car for the next month:It is an incredibly nice BMW wagon with an in-dash navigational system and the biggest sunroof I have ever seen. It is so nice and comfy and it drives fast! Mr X's hands get a bit sweaty when he gets it over 100 mph.

Regensburg

On Saturday Mr X, myself and one of Mr X's acquaintances headed out to Regensburg Germany to explore for the day. This town is the 4th largest in Bavaria with BMW, Siemens, AEG and Toshiba as the major employers.

(This is a view of the city from the Stone Bridge.)

The first thing we saw as we entered the city center was what is known as the "Stone Bridge" - they were quite creative with that one, don't you think? Good thing though because I would likely have forgotten any other name. It spans the 'blue' Danube which is not particularly blue. It's actually rather greenish really. This bridge was built from 1135 to 1146 and apparently, at the time, was referred to as the eighth wonder of the world. There is a story that the superstitious regarded the bridge to be the work of the Devil because he assisted the builder in return for the first three souls of those who crossed it. The story goes that the builder cheated the devil by chasing a dog, a rabbit and a hen over it first. Pretty smart guy - I bet the devil was annoyed.

Right next to this bridge once you cross it is a historical sausage kitchen that has apparently been around since 1616. We stopped of course and sampled them - they were delicious.

(I guess this place is ALWAYS just completely packed. We couldn't even sit down.)

The largest structure in the town is the Cathedral of St. Peter. It is massive and apparently when it was first being constructed it could have held three times the population of the city during that time. Construction began in 1254 and took roughly 600 years to complete. St. Emmeram's Basilica received it's name from a traveling bishop who worked in Regensburg for 3 years and then was brutally murdered on a trip to Rome. His body was brought back and this Benedictine Monastery was built in his honor. It also housed a famous school of writing. There were crypts below that we check out as well.

(I stepped on this loose tile so I bent down to see how loose it was exactly. Mr X's friend was freaking out, thinking that I was planning on stealing it.)

This is the Thurn and Taxis Residence. The Thurn and Taxis family organized the first postal line in 1490 from Brussels to Innsbruck and later extended it to Vienna. Then Lemoral von Thurn and Taxis was made the Appointed General Post Master in 1615 and was promoted to some sort of princely rank. The family amassed an insane fortune. This residence is said to have more rooms than Buckingham Palace.

This is where the former Bishop lived and made beer apparently, as there was a brewery here too. But in 1810 Regensburg became Bavarian property and so did this place. Now it is a restaurant but you can still buy the Bishop's beer here. All in all, Regensburg is a lovely town and I really enjoyed it. I would have liked to spend more time exploring the Taxis place, but maybe next time. As it is, my feet hurt from walking so much and I have a lovely blood blister on each of my big toes for proof.

Smart cars

Have you seen those tiny Smart cars? They are adorable because they look like little toy cars or something. I love them. I desperately want to try driving one because they've got to be fun, I mean just look at them! We saw this one in Vienna with a very appropriate moniker on it for the area of the globe we are currently visiting:

But then we saw the newer and much more sophisticated Smart car. Check it out:

It might look larger to you, but it's not much. Probably it is a bit longer but it is really low to the ground and compact. I still like the other one better because it is so cartoon-esque but this certainly is a step towards "cool" for the Smart car company.