Ode to Spargel

This is auf Deutsch, or at least my attempt to do so.  Apologies to those who know better.  You can correct me (please!).

And if you don't speak German and want to know what it says, open Google Translate, cut and paste with initial language as German and output language as English. 

Yeah, it's some work, but it's worth it.  This is a piece of art.  It will move you to tears.

Ode an den Spargel

Ob zum Frühstück, Mittag-oder Abendessen
Spargel kann ich nicht vergessen

Im Frühling oder Sommerzeit
Spargel is lecher Fröhlichkeit

Ich mag es, in Salaten und auch in der Suppe
Ich mag es, allein oder in einer Gruppe

Ich mag es als Hauptgericht oder also Vorspeise
Ich würde wahrscheinlich wie Spargel-Eis

Amerikanischen Spargel is wirklich erbärmlich
Aber Deutschen Spargle is wahrlich himmlisch. 

Fütter mich Spargel.  Sag nicht "Nein!"
Gib mir mein Spargel und ich will fröhlich sein.

Amen.

Was ist Spargel?

I feel obligated to write about Spargel.  If you look it up in a German-English dictionary, Spargel is Asparagus.  Trust me it is not.  You know what Asparagus is:  a pretty tasty, often woody, kind of bitter vegetable.  In our grocery stores, it is green, maybe 1/4th to 1/2 inch in diameter.   Spargel looks like this:

Seriously.   It is the nectar of Eden.  Sweet.  Tender.  Flavorful.  Typically about 1 inch in diameter.  And this is the season for fresh Spargel.  It is everywhere, in crepes (as Judy had yesterday), soup (as I have had, several times), and as its own entree, typically with a light Hollandaise sauce that would put what you get in the typical American restaurant to shame.


If I could get this in the U.S., year-round (and could afford it), I would gladly become a vegetarian.


Out of respect for German (and Austrian -- they have it too) Spargel, I will never insult this divine vegetable by calling it "asparagus," less it be confused with its grossly inferior American cousin.


Second, I have written an "Ode to Spargel"  (not "Asparagus").  And I have written it in German, to the best of my ability.  Those of you who speak German can check my grammar.  But it's poetry, so grammar doesn't count, right?


The entire next post will be this Ode.  Spargel merits it.

April 29: Augsburg... under construction

The entire city of Augsburg appears to be under construction. Literally. You can't go a block without running into a grader or shovel. Luther Platz has no Luther statue, presumably exhumed as the whole platz -- and all the streets throughout the downtown -- are dug up. It does not add to the ambiance.

We got up in the morning -- late -- and hoofed it down to St. Anna's for the liturgical Lutheran service.  The church is remarkable (see the last post) and kind of inspiring.  Attendance looked to be about 80 people, which is more than we've seen elsewhere in our journeys but was dwarfed by the size of the cathedral. The pastor was a woman (as in Innsbruck) and the service was liturgical enough to follow.  And we sang the songs somewhat lustily, being as German is easy to pronounce if you know the rules... even if you have very little idea of what exactly you're saying. 
Afterwards, I went to the tourist information center to find out where we could get wifi, being as (1) I had no intention of paying €15 per computer for internet and (2) we didn't have anywhere to stay the following night.  Henry's coffee shop offered a decent breakfast and free wi-fi for customers, so Judy and I got internet access on both of our computers and 2 decent breakfasts and good German coffee for a couple Euro more than we'd have paid our rip-off hotel for internet access for one computer. 
Not that I'm bitter.

And we got a room reservation at a Pension in Munich that would take us to the day we need to return to the U.S.  And breakfast was good.  I had drei Eiern mit Speck und Brot (look it up) and Judy had Spargel crepe mit Hollandaise sauce.  I will write more about Spargel in the next entry. It merits a separate entry.

We next visited the Romisches Museum, which contains relics of a Roman colony established here about 2 millenia ago.  Not big, but kind of cool.

We'd heard about a fair just outside the city center and caught a tram up to it.  It was basically an old-time except for a big-time, full-scale beer hall complete with band.  You can guess where we headed.  We parked in front of the oompah band, only to have a bachelor party -- decked in traditional lederhosen -- park in front of us.  It was relaly fun.  The groom-to-be had a rope with a picture of his betrothed around his neck, and a ball and chain around his leg.  His compadres made him go up on stage and sing with the band, to the delight of all.  One of his friends came in with a squirt gun and started blasting his buddies.  Judy laughed her Judy laugh, which got her blasted too.  And she laughed some more, and got blasted some more.

the groom-to-be

Afterwards, we visited two more churches, the 1000+ year old Dom Maria Heimsuchung, and St. Ulrich's.  The latter is Dominican (I think) but they have actuallly reserved one chapel for Evangelical Lutheran services, which seems at once weird and wonderful.

Just one entrance to the Dom.

Inside the Dom... Jesus in the Garden of Gethsemane

the Dom

The Dom

Inside St. Ulrich's

Inside St. Ulrich's

St. Ulrich's.  the Lutherans get the little(!) chapel in the center foreground.

The Lutheran "piece" of St. Ulrich's

After touring around, we stopped in St. Moritz Platz for some food.  I was attracted to a sign for "Spargel Suppe," and indeed got some, and was not disappointed.  I have never been disappointed by Spargel here.  And I will leave that as a teaser for the next entry, dedicated to Spargel.

April 28: Oberammergau to Augsburg

We got up on the 28th and packed for our trip to Augsburg.  We had booked our train trip online:  the RB 59562 to Murnau, then change to RB 59522 to München-Pasing, then catch the ICE 956 to Augsburg Hauptbahnhof.  I was a little concerned because we'd taken a bus into Oberammergau and while I assumed we were taking a train out, the evidence was conflicting.  On the one hand, one unofficial website explained that the RB trains are the Regional Bahn "workhorses" of the German train system.  Then another site talked about taking the RB bus (with the same number) from Oberammergau.

In reality, it didn't matter.  Here is the Oberammergau train station:

The "bus station" is a bus stop 10 feet away.

Judy went down to check out of the hotel, and our kindly proprietors offered to put all our luggage in the car and bring it to the station.  "Go, walk around the town.  We will meet you at 10:15."  Our train was at 10:38.  So we did walk around, and pretty much everything was closed, but it was a gorgeous spring day and the temperature was in the 60s without a cloud in the sky.

We got to the "train station" at precisely 10:15 (working on that German precision) and our proprietress was waiting in the car with our luggage.

I would so stay with these guys again.  I have been reviewing all of our experiences on TripAdvisor (34 reviews so far) and Pension Dedlerhaus gets a "5" out of 5 stars across the board.

So the only train serving Oberammergau pulled into the "station" shortly thereafter, and we got on as a bunch of folks with bicycles got of.  We had our pick of seats, and indeed cars.  It was a pretty big train, with very people climbing on board at Oberammergau.  I think we could've all had our own car, and the scenery on the leisurely trip to Murnau was truly bucolic.

The track from Oberammergau dead-ends at Murnau, and we all got off and walked across to where the next train starts.  This was another RB, but it had some double-decker cars.  We didn't use these, choosing a car next to the bicycle car so we could tuck our luggage against the wall.  This train did fill up as we made our way toward München-Pasing, and it ran a lot faster:  probably up to about 140km/hour (about 80mph).

When we got to München-Pasing, we had about 15 minutes to get to our next platform.  Good thing.  We are lugging a lot of heavy luggage, and you go down into a tunnel to get between platforms, then climb back up.  And I mean climb.  No escalators.  So we were huffing and puffing and wheezing when ICE 956 pulled up.  The ICE trains are capable of speeds in excess of 340km/hr, although I don't think we approached that.  It's a half hour from Munich to Augsburg.

Not knowing any better, we'd paid an extra €4 for reserved seats on the train, and I was feeling supremely competent ("competence" being the highest goal I can aspire to here) having figured out exactly where on the platform our train car (7) would pull up to.  We got onto a very full train, and found it full of pretty-drunk and very-unhygeinic 20-somethings.  There were two seats left, but we definitely shouldn't have reserved and probably should have just looked elsewhere and hoped that we didn't get bumped.

Oh well.

The trip to Augsburg is short, and thankfully our hotel (InterCity) was immediately adjacent to the train station.  It was a perfectly adequate place, but it cost as much as anywhere we've stayed, and on top of it they wanted €15/day for internet and another €15/day for breakfast.  We declined.

On the bright side, there was a Turkish street cafe down the road with .5 liter beers for €2 and a great Turkish salad for €4.50.  That is a real deal here.

We walked around a lot, stopping first at St. Anna's where Martin Luther had stayed back when he was in a fix for questioning indulgences.  We found that there was a church service at 10:00AM the next day and decided to come. 

Afterwards, we continued to wander and ended up skipping dinner, opting for some gelato instead and went back to the hotel to crash.

The real scoop on the "grotte" at Linderhof

From the official Linderhof Park website:

"The artificial dripstone cave with its lake and waterfall was modelled on the Hörselberg from the first act of the Wagner opera "Tannhäuser". This natural stage, built in 1876/77 by the landscape sculptor A. Dirigl, was lit by arc lights. The electricity for this was generated by 24 dynamos in the machine house 100 m away, one of the first electricity works in Bavaria. The grotto features a "royal seat", a Lorelei rock and a gilt boat in the shape of a shell."

As Tom Petty once said, "it's good to be king."

April 27: Schloss Linderhof

We woke up early this morning and went downstairs for a great breakfast (and unlimited coffee!) in the Dedlerhaus breakfast room.  Browsed in the proprietors' woodcarving shop, and while there talked to the owners about planning to take a local bus to Schloss Linderhof, the castle that "Mad" Ludwig II actually completed.  A few minutes later, one of them (Birgitta Haertle) came out with a day pass giving us unlimited use of local buses.  I love these guys.

So we caught a local bus up to Linderhof.  I had visited here in 1973 and was more impressed with it than the more famous Neuschwanstein, and it is an easy 30 minute bus ride from where we are staying.  We had a vague idea that we would get there and figure out how to move on to Neuschwanstein, maybe.

Schloss Linderhof is Ludwig's homage to French King Louis 14th, the "Sun King."  I think Ludwig had a serious inferiority complex as a king (albeit a very rich king... at least for awhile) in a constitutional monarchy in which he had no real authority.  In any case, Linderhof is based on Versaille, is filled with pictures of his French idols and imitations of their stuff (most magnificently, in the mirror room), and has no images of himself, at his insistence.  And pretty much everything is covered with gold leaf -- so much so that 5 kilos were used even though the layers are very thin.

After getting there and looking around, we tried to figure out how to get to Neuschwanstein.  As they say in Maine, "you can't get theah from heah."  The bus schedules were too infrequent, and ended too early.

So we stopped at a cafe and had a beer and wienerschnitzel. 

We weren't allowed to take any pictures inside, so you'll have to Google it to see the opulence therein.  But we got lots of shots from outside.  Here's a selection:

Schloss Linderhof, from the front

Shooting from the front of Linderhof toward the pools and fountains

Garden to the right of Linderhof, heading to the "grotte" and "Maurische" (Moorish) kiosk

Inside the "grotte," a fake cavern built by Ludwig... if I understood the German (probably not), to impress friend Richard Wagner.

Gardens to the left of Linderhof

The Maurisches (Moorish) kiosk

Inside the Maurisches (Moorish) kiosk

The view from above Linderhof

Above pools/fountains facing Linderhof

The pool and fountain in front of Linderhof

Inside the "Marokkanische" (Moroccan) haus, Linderhof

Translation:  "My people went to  Bavaria and all I got was this sh**ty bag."
They must've gotten this idea from the U.S.  Sorry, Germany!

Afterwards, we caught the bus back to Oberammergau, walked around, and had a light (salad) dinner.  Too much good Bavarian meat and potatos!

Off to Augsburg tomorrow.

April 26: Auf Wiedersehen, Innsbruck! Grüss Gott, Oberammergau

We got up and frankly dragged our feet getting out of the hotel... we have so enjoyed our time in Innsbruck.  Downstairs for some Latte, up to finish packing, and Judy went out for some last pictures.  The night before, she'd captured some fantastic evening views from our room. 

After dawdling as long as we could, we schlepped our stuff to Innsbruck Hauptbahnhoff (main train station).  It's a bit of a hike laden with luggage, but the morning was gorgeous and we wanted a last walk through town.  In fact, by the time we got to the Hauptbahnhof, it was warm enough to strip off our fleeces... for the first time since we had arrived in Innsbruck.

It's supposed to hit 80 degrees F tomorrow, from what we hear.

We caught a local train to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  I highly recommend it.  The view along the way is beyond description.  In our case, the train was nearly empty and we had an amazingly pleasant journey.

Upon arriving at Garmisch-Partenkirchen, we looked for a bus to Oberammergau.  I found the platform for one that was leaving in 40 minutes -- time for a quick drink on the sidewalk at the local cafe. 

Have mercy!  Been waitin' for the bus all day (obscure ZZ Top Lyric).  New KY friends behind.

There we met a couple of men from Kentucky, one of whom had recently retired from the faculty of the U. Kentucky and was now farming himself out as an adjunct around the world.  He'd been out of the U.S. for 4 months and hoped to continue to do so, focusing on Southeast Asia.

Sounds like a plan to me.

The bus came and we went over to the bus driver to ask for advice on where to get off.  Oberammergau has 5 stops and we didn't have a clue, other than an address for our hotel.  The bus driver didn't know a word of English so I had the opportunity to try to resurrect a little German.  He didn't know our hotel or the road it was on, so we figured we'd wing it.  As we carried/dragged/kicked our luggage toward the rear of the bus, a young woman asked, "so where are you trying to get to?"  Her advice was to get off at the bahnhoff (train station) as we could get a cab and maps.  So we thanked her and carried/dragged/kicked our luggage to a seat. 

The bus was truly local and filled with schoolkids heading home.  Pretty chaotic, but it was easy to figure it out the system.  An LCD screen at the front showed you the next 5 stops coming up so we knew when we were getting to Oberammergau, the last stop being the bahnhof.  But Judy and I had a sneaking suspicion that we could get closer if we could figure out the town (without a map).  So we kept our eyes open, and after the third stop (where Judy spotted a sign that said E.B. Ott), we both actually saw our street.  We carried/dragged/kicked our luggage out the back bus door, and guess what?  We were less than a block from our hotel!!   This has never happened.  Actually, we've never even found our place on the first pass.  And we've only found it on the 2nd pass once. 

We were exceptionally proud of ourselves.  Or maybe it was just relief.

In Oberammergau, we are living in a postcard.  Seriously.  If you don't believe it, check this out:

Pension Dedlerhaus, Oberammergau. 

Yeah, that's our digs here.

The Pension Dedlerhaus is a family-run B&B.  The lowest floor houses their shop, which sells woodcarvings (Oberammergau's 2nd claim to fame, after the Passion Play) as well as other souvenirs.  Behind a locked door is a charming breakfast room.  We're at the top of the stairs, next to a deck that is ours to enjoy.

We dropped the bags and went in search of lunch and adventure.  We stopped at a restaurant with a table outside:  it was probaby 70 degrees F, not a cloud in the sky.  We were feeling good, and I ordered in German and for the first time in our entire time here -- I'm not kidding -- the waitress let me go ahead and finish ordering.  And not only did she cover her snickering exceedingly well, but she responded to me in German.  Trust me.  She had no illusion that I spoke German.  But it was a very kind gesture that I was genuinely touched by.

Until the food came.  We ordered schnitzel, and we got brats.  Which we accepted (and they were really good), as I assumed I'd somehow misunderstood the menu.  That was until we paid the bill, and I went by a guy in the same restaurant with the schnitzel we ordered.  Oh well.  At least I felt redeemed.

We wandered around town, making a pilgrimage to where the Passionspiel (Passion Play) is held every 10 years.  But -- and this is hard for me to admit -- the best part was the window-shopping.  For any of you who don't know me (or have been living in a cave), there is no better way to ruin a shopping trip than to invite me.  I hate it.  Pretty much across the board.  But the woodcarving here is exquisite.  We ended up picking up a small piece (50% off, and I was the one urging to get it... that never happens).  Here it is.

Woodcarving from Oberammergau

This puppy hit all my hot buttons:  beautiful carving, skilled painting, and bagpipes!  The ultimate Rock & Roll axe.

A little trivia:  bagpipes are thought to have originated in Egypt.  Virtually every culture in eastern, central and western Europe has them.  Scottland is pretty much the last place that they arrived.

Oberammergau is really quiet this time of year and we felt incredibly blessed:  70 degrees, not a cloud in the sky, and no crowds.  So we had an amazing day wandering one of the most picturesque towns I've ever seen, with no more crowds than you would expect if only locals were there.  Pretty awesome.

We'd gone to the information center and heard about a Hanzel and Gretel house and a Little Red Riding Hood house, which were near each other and a little south of us.  It sounded really cheesy, but we went anyway.  What the heck. They are awesome!  Check it out:

Little Red Riding Hood story, on a house

Little Red Riding Hood story, on a house



Little Red Riding Hood story, on a house

Hansel & Gretel



Hansel and Gretel

Afterwards, we went out to dinner.  Great food, great Bavarian beer.  I ordered entirely in German again, and this time the waitress didn't even snicker.

I love this place.

April 25: last night in Innsbruck

I actually ended up letting the students out early, as I had reserved the afternoon for an exam and we changed it to project plus take-home.  Nobody complained about getting out early.  The project presentations took up the morning, and were good, and fun.  It was a nice way to end the class, and several students came up afterwards to say how valuable that was compared to just more lectures.   Of course, I am still grading them, so I'm not sure how much of that is the "suck up" factor.  One student will be done with his degree after writing 2 theses of his choice and has decided he really wants to do one on international consumer behavior.  He's asked me if it's OK to write for advice and readings and I was flattered and happy to oblige.

It was an absolutely gorgeous afternoon and Judy and I went to her favorite place -- Tiroler Bauernkeller -- for a late lunch.  They have an all-you-can-eat buffet and I do not recommend that if you're trying to keep your figure in Tirol.  But I didn't take my advice, and it was good, and my stomach still hurts 7 hours later.

We said our "good byes" to our friends at MCI and spent the afternoon walking, sitting at cafes, and just enjoying the sun and the warmest weather we've had since arriving almost 2 weeks ago.  After a much lighter dinner, we returned to the room to catch up on blogging, upload pictures, and simply sit on the porch enjoying the sunset.  One last late-afternoon shot, from our balcony:

April 24: almost done... RATS!

I had another long day, but at least we did a simulation in the afternoon which was far less boring than a lecture (for the students and for me).  Judy met me at school for my lunch break, and it was -- as they say in New Zealand -- "peesin' rine."  Truly miserable!  But by the time class was done shortlly before 5:00, the skies had cleared.  We ended up just walking around, enjoying being dry.  Then had some dinner at the Elferhaus, which has pretty OK food and a good beer selection.  I had a sausage plate with 5 different sausages, and unfortunately I can't tell you what they were.  One was a knockwurst, 3 were hotdog-like (but not hot dogs), and one was really good and different but the waiter didn't know what to call it.  Rats.

One more day of classes.  One more evening meal.  Then off to Oberammergau.  I'm excited for the next leg of our adventure, but I am really going to miss this place!

April 23: Hungerburg and Alpenzoo

The weather cleared again and we wanted to take advantage of it to do something outside.  That, and we discovered that the museums were closed on Monday.

No class today, and Judy had wanted to check out the Alpenzoo.  There's a combo ticket from Congress Station that lets you take the cable car up as far as Hungerburg and give you admission to Alpenzoo.  While you can get off right at the zoo, we had really liked Hungerburg and had not been there in good weather.  We went up to Hungerburg and walked down a fairly steep but reasonable path down the mountain toward Alpenzoo.  Here's some of what we saw along the way:

To be honest, I really wasn't expecting much from Alpenzoo, but it is a truly delightful place.  Not on a scale of, say, National Zoo in Washington or San Diego Zoo, but the aesthetics and views are far superior. The layout is extremely thoughtful and not the largely paved landscape you encounter in many zoos.  Plus, there's a fun playground for the kids at the bottom, and a fun patio with very reasonable draft beer, wine, and snacks for the adults, overlooking Innsbruck and the mountains.  The weather was warm, the sun was out... what a great way to spend an afternoon!

Alpenzoo patio view

Alpenzoo patio view