Family Reunion in Würzburg

 

Here we are at our last weekend in Germany. During the weeks before our trip, we had planned a family reunion with the Geek's parents and siblings and their families. It was quite an endeavor since this was a long weekend and the start of school holidays in some of the German states (especially Bavaria and Baden-Württemberg). But we had finally succeeded in booking rooms as well as train tickets, and on Friday afternoon we met in Würzburg, two train hours to the North from München, but still in Bavaria in a region called Franken. This part of Bavaria is well known for its excellent wine that is bottled in uniquely shaped bottles called Bocksbeutel. The wine, by the way, is excellent.

We had booked rooms in a youth hostel that used to be a women's prison. It was right on the river Main and about 20 minutes to walk to the city center. The bells of the church right next to the hostel woke us every morning with its very loud ringing - no need to set an alarm.

Würzburg is a very old city (first mentioned in 704) that was heavily bombed in World War II and consequently reconstructed afterwards. One of the most famous churches in Würzburg is St.-Kilians-Dom (cathedral) right in the center of the city.

The Residenz (residence), with its very famous interior staircase is in walking distance to the city center. The principal architect was Balthasar Neuman, who developed a refined brand of Baroque architecture. The Residenz was built in the 18th century and since 1981 it has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site. In addition, it has a beautiful formal garden and - you guessed it - a beer garden (after all, we're still in Bavaria).

In order to get to the city center we had to cross the beautiful Alte Mainbrücke (Old Main Bridge) which is a landmark of Würzburg. It is for pedestrians and bicycles only, no cars or motorcycles are allowed.

This is the oldest bridge in Würzburg and for a long time, it was the only way to cross the Main. Started in 1476, it continued a tradition in the 18th century by adding stone figures along the length of the bridge, like Charles Bridge in Prague and St. Angelo Bridge in Rome. The statues represent several saints.

They make a great silhouette against a dramatic sky.

From the Alte Mainbrücke you have a good view of the Festung Marienberg (Marienberg Fortress) high above the city. It is the other important landmark of Würzburg. 

I couldn't find exact dates when the fortress was started, but it seems that originally a church and monanstery was already at this location in the 8th century. Today, the oldest remaining parts are from the early 11th century. During the centuries, the fortress was reconstructed several times and most of the current structures were originally built in the Renaissance and Baroque styles. It was severely damaged in World War II and rebuilding it fully lasted until 1990.

On Saturday morning we decided to hike up to it. It was a steep climb with many stairs and steps.

Still more stairs... I was walking with my mother-in-law and she just repeated over and over "I hate stairs, I hate stairs". However, we had to laugh about that.

After all this climbing we were rewarded with a fantastic view over Würzburg.

The fortress is huge and I found lots to photograph.

I was specifically taken with all the beautiful old doors and gates.

Since all of us still were very cautious, we avoided eating inside and instead visited beer gardens of which Würzburg has many (remember - it's Bavaria). The local beer was delicious - of course I had my beloved Weißbier. This is my ticket for T Tuesday, so kindly hosted by Elizabeth and Bleubeard.

After one of those beer garden visits we decided to take a family picture, taken by the Geek's older brother's girlfriend. Here we are - parents, siblings, in-laws, cousins, pet.

Lunner in the Abbey

 

Last week I told you about our stop in Vipiteno/Sterzing on the last day of our short trip. After we had left this charming little town in Südtirol, we crossed Brennerpass into Austria and from there drove via Innsbruck back to Bavaria. It was a lovely drive in splendind weather with gorgeous views. We passed the beautiful lakes Walchensee and Kochelsee which were pretty crowded since it was a public holiday (Ascension Day). We finally reached Kloster Benediktbeuern (Benediktbeuern Abbey) where we decided to have "lunner" - a name that we gave to a warm meal that is between lunch and dinner when we have neither of the two. We often do this while traveling.

Benediktbeuern Abbey is a monastery of the Salesians of Don Bosco, but was originally a monastery of the Benedictine Order. It was founded around 739/740. During the secularisation of Bavaria in 1803 the abbey was dissolved and during the course of the disposal of the library and archives the manuscript of the Carmina Burana was found, a 13th century collection of songs by wandering scholars. This manuscript is now in the Bayerische Staatsbibliothek in München together with many priceless manuscripts and charters from the abbey's library and archives. 24 of the poems of the Carmina Burana were set to music by Carl Orff in 1935/36. If you're not familiar with this music, listen in to "O Fortuna":

The site is huge and now among others also houses a university, a "Centre for Environment and Culture" and is home to an extended herb garden. The brewery - what is a monastery without its own brewery? - unfortunately was closed in 1925.

I am always very fond of the baroque church towers that you can find in Bavaria with their remarkable onion shape.

There were gates. as well - I always love gates.

But our main reason to stop here was the Klosterbraustüberl, named after the old brewery. It has a restaurant and a big beer garden. Since it was a holiday, the beer garden was crowded and we had to wait for our food quite a while, but spent the time with people watching. And we did see some "real Bavarians" in the traditional Bavarian costume.

The food we had I had already shown you in this post, but since this is for Elizabeth and Bleubeard's T Tuesday, please join me for the wonderful Weißbier we had here.

 After we had eaten our "lunner", we started out to the very last leg of our trip, returning to München through the beautiful Upper Bavarian region.

If you are in the US, I wish you a very happy Thanksgiving. Despite the current state of the world, there is much to be thankful for. We shouldn't limit that to just one day in the year.

Germany's Most Romantic Lake

 

Hello T gang - today I am going to take you to a very special place in Bavaria which IMHO is the most romantic lake in Germany: the Königssee (which translates to King Lake but has nothing to do with kings). It is surrounded by steep and high mountains - these are the Bavarian Alps - and most of the lake is part of the Nationalpark Berchtesgarden. It is a natural lake that was formed by glaciers during the last ice age. It stretches for almost 5 miles (7.2 km) between the steep mountain walls and measures just short of 1 mile (1.2 km) across its widest part. It is similar to a fjord.

The best place to access the lake is from Schönau, and the only way to explore the lake is by electric powered passenger boats. You can see one of the boats in the middle of the picture below. The buildings in the background are the "garages" for the boats.

Of course we took the boat - it's the only way to get on the lake and see all the beauty and natural drama it has to offer. Each boat has a tour guide. We were very lucky that we had a wonderful guy with a refeshing sense of humor, colored by his soft Bavarian dialect that makes everything a little bit more special. The Bavarian dialect is often said to be "hefty" (mostly by people who don't like it), but I would characterize it as "hearty". Like with almost every language, it can be lovely and soft, or rough and hard. This guy definitely belonged to the first category - he was charming.

He told us about the lake and everything you need to know about it. It has a maximum depth of 620 ft. (190 m) and thus is Germany's deepest lake. It is supposed to be one of the cleanest if not the cleanest lake in Germany. The surrounding steep mountains rise to a height of 8,900 ft. (2700 m) and that includes the famous Watzmann massif, the third-highest mountain in Germany. Only the electric powered boats as well as rowing and pedal boats are allowed on the water. You can swim in the lake, if you like - but be forwarned, the lake is extremely cold.

In the middle of the lake, the boat stopped and our guide gave us a sample of the incredible echo at this spot. He took up his trumpet and played short melodies that sure enough were then repeated by the echo. It was simply amazing. I made a minute-long video of it; you have to turn up the sound to be able to hear the echo (the baby will get quieter).

After about 30-40 minutes we reached the first stop which for many people is the final destination on this tour. This is probably the most photographed view of Königssee - St. Batholomä with Watzmann massif behind it.

St. Batholomä is a pilgrimage church that was re-built at the end of the 17th century on the foundation of the original 12th century church. At the beginning of the 18th century it was remodeled to its current baroque appearance. It is very picturesque how it snuggles in its surrounding magnificent landscape.

Königssee is famous for its fish and our guide had already told us on the boat to try the smoked char which we of course did as well as a smoked fish spread. Both were avilable in a little shed for just a couple of euros. It was so delicious I would have happily eaten a second helping.

After this tasty refreshment we took a little hike along the shore of the lake and into the woods. Just look at the color of the lake - this is its actual color. Isn't it amazing?

The mountains were equally amazing and wonderful. It helped that we had a picture-book day.

Eventually we embarked on one of the boats again and went further south toward the end of the lake. There were noticeably less people taking this direction.

The terminal station is Salet where there are two Almen (Alm is a mountain pasture in the Alps, but simple inns with a very limited offer in food are called Alm as well and one of the best things you will encounter during a long hike when you're hungry and thirsty), Saletalm and Mooskaser Saletalm. In the picture below you can see Mooskaser Saletalm in the typical Upper-Bavarian architecture style.

As tempting as it was, we decided to skip the Alm and hike over to Obersee (Upper Lake) instead. I think we made a very good decision. The view was just breathtaking.

At the far end you see Röthbachfall, the highest waterfall in Germany with a vertical drop of 1,540 ft. (470 m). The mountains here belong to the Steinernes Meer ("Rocky Sea"). This is right on the border to Austria.

It was finally time to turn around and take the boat back to Schönau, passing boat stations and crosses of pilgrimage that you can find all over Bavaria.

Back in Schönau it was time for dinner. We were hungry - that smoked char was many hours ago! We wanted to go to Echostüberl which was still a bit to walk. We had to cross this beautiful covered bridge which is actually a weir to get to the other side where the restauant was located.

From the restaurant we had a lovely view over the lake and saw the last passenger boats coming in (it's a good idea not to miss the last boat) and then finally going into their garage.

The food in the restaurant was delicious - of course I had fish. Any guesses what we had to drink?

Thank you, Elizabeth, for hosting T Tuesday again. I'm so happy to join.

 

What's Wrong with that Beer?

 

I know I know, you have been waiting for this, haven't you? You were starting to ask, when is she finally taking us to the beer garden? She has been writing about München since the beginning of June, but what about the beer??? And what was wrong with that picture in last Tuesday's T post?

Alright then, let's go to the beer garden.

In München you can pretty much go to a different beer garden every day if you want to. There are the big ones by the breweries like Paulaner, but there are also many smaller ones, some really just a bigger garden by the side of the road. 

Beer gardens have long simple tables and benches. Sometimes, when the place is very crowded, you share the table with strangers - a great way to meet and get to know other people. The majority of German beer gardens are in Bavaria, and other than beer gardens in the rest of Germany, you can bring your own food and eat it there as long as you buy your drink(s). We've seen many people who do this - they buy their beer (or whatever they want to drink) and at the table they put out their tupperware and spread their food. It's a great way to spend the evening outside in company without breaking the bank.

Our first evening in Munich, finally spending time with Kaefer again

Of course you can also order food in a beer garden. The food is typical Bavarian dishes and is served cafeteria style.

Kaiserschmarrn, Schnitzel, Weißbier and dunkles Weißbier

Breze, Obatzda (Bavarian soft cheese dish), Radi (radish), Kartoffelsalat (potato salad)

Pretzels are always on offer and they can be very big.

She can be such a goofball!

Weißbier, especially the dark one, is my favorite. It is also often called Hefeweizen and is more popular in the South and Southwest than in the rest of Germany.

Weißbier is served in a special glass that is only used for Weißbier / Hefeweizen. 

A "regular" beer - called "Helles" (light - as in light color) or "Dunkles" (dark) - comes in glasses like this or smaller ones:

But what is "regular" beer anyway? There are so many different kinds of beer in Germany, some are more popular in the areas where thy come from. "Kölsch", a very light, top-fermented brew comes from Köln (Cologne); "Alt" (old) is a top-fermented, dark bitter brew from Düsseldorf; Pilsner or Pils is popular all over Germany, it is bitterer than most beers and must be carefully drawn - usually seven minutes (if you order a Pils and you get it after three minutes, it is not carefully drawn); "Rauchbier" (smoked beer) that is brewed in Bamberg. These are just a few kinds of beers of the rich selection in Germany. And each has its own glass.

Glasses for Weißbier, Kölsch and "Willibecher", a more universal glass 

Glasses for Pils, Alt and the famous Bierseidel which comes in 1 or 1/2 liter

You might have heard about the German Reinheitsgebot (purity law), enacted in 1516 in Bavaria's Ingolstadt. It says that "from henceforth, in our towns, our markets, and in the country, nothing should be used in the making of beer except barley, hops, and water alone." Yeast as an ingredient was added later. In 1987 this ruling was reversed when German brewers lost their case that brewers from countries outside Germany should not be allowed to import any beer if it wasn't brewed according to the Reinheitsgebot. However, brewing beer by only using barley, hops, water and yeast enjoys very high popularity in Germany and brewers proudly announce that their beer is "pure". Weißbier is brewed with a large proportion of wheat relative to the amount of malted barley.

German beer "science" doesn't end here. Remember the picture I showed last Tuesday, mentioning that something is wrong here?

When you go out with friends or a group, before you take your first sip of beer you clink glasses. While you clink glasses, you don't look at your glass, but you look into the eyes of the person you clink glasses with. It is very rude not to do that. So far so good. Looking at the picture above, you would think that this looks alright - we're clinking glasses, Kaefer is looking at me... but no. We're not drinking any old kind of beer, we're drinking Weißbier. And with Weißbier, you clink with the BOTTOM of the glasses, not the top as in the picture. This is ONLY for Weißbier, not for any other drink. Why? By clinking the glasses at the bottom, the yeast that has settled at the bottom after pouring is being "shaken up" and distributes throughout the drink. If you happen to pour Weißbier from a bottle, you have to do it very slowly with the glass held almost horizontally, otherwise you get too much foam at the top. Before the bottle is completely empty, you "shake" it in a circular movement so that you get all the yeast at the bottom. I told you it's science! I once even did a Weißbier pouring session at my home with my German class - it was very popular. The fun of teaching adult students!

By the way, we did clink our glasses at the bottom after taking this picture!

Elizabeth, thank you for the opportunity to share this with the T Tuesday gang. Everybody knows now what to do if they find themselves in Germany with some Weißbier (or in a German restaurant outside of Germany).

This has become quite long... so let's lean back and have a beer. Prost!