October and November Revisited

As the weather got chillier, the food, travel, and the people grew heartier in compensation. We stopped by Hannover's Oktoberfest, the second largest in the world apparently, then took in Munich after the Oktoberfest craziness and followed that up with a tour of Neuschwanstein, the hefty fairytale castle with a crazy backstory pretty incongruous, albeit enhancing, to its claim to fame. Then we peppered the rest of the month and November with standout activities such as Dining in the Dark, a traveling charity dinner held in pitch darkness as blind people serve you your entrees, a Mark Knopfler/Bob Dylan concert, the Austria fireworks presentation at the royal gardens which is the second half of my birthday present (No photos, see videos for the spectacular show.) and warm gatherings with family and friends. November also marked the end of all my level one German courses and the passing of my integration course exams, which is the first step to getting my German citizenship. That made me a jolly person indeed, just in time for the holidays!

Hannover's Octoberfest, beer tent with live band.

Band from Bavaria plays all the big beer swilling hits!

Clap your hands and say ja!

Pho stop on the way to Munich.

Restaurant Mekong in Erlangen has a lot to smile about, including some pretty decent spring rolls.

Good pho! Better than Hannover by far, but not as good as Hamburg.

Matti and Vincent show you how the pros do it by slurping up the tastiness.

Rice dishes for the less adventurous

Erlangen town square on a work day.

Munich! Having a tasty brew with Nina, Mario's sister, at the Englischer Garden.

Some fancified brats and sauerkraut at Bachmaier Hofbräu.

I order their apparently famous leberkäse with truffles and a potato salad. It was every bit as delicious as anything with truffles would be! Highly recommend.

The farmers market in Munch was just stand after stand of gourmet eye candy.

Jarred wild mushrooms ready to kick up one of your favorite recipes.

Mario being lewd in front of the town hall in Marienplatz. Every day at noon the bells chime and everybody, I mean everybody, gets off work to go to lunch. There's also a little show put on by mechanical bell ringers in the balconies. The stuff of German coo-coo clock fantasies.

Mesmerizing market finds.

Best farmer's market this side of France.

The world famous Hofbräuhaus in Munich.

I imagine these guys to be regulars who meet to play cards every week.

Frauenkirche

Top of the Frauenkirche. The Bavarians are really friendly and this guy was giving us a free history spiel about the town.

View from the top...

...unfortunately marred by some nuclear plants in the distance.

BMW Headquarters and Museum

Private concert for Nina and Mario.

Olympic Park

Inside of the old swimming hall at Olympic Park.

Olympiasee

Double rainbow!!!!

In the subway in Munich, I catch something that represents some of Germany's favorite pastimes pretty well: knitting, bratwursts, pretzels, potatoes and beer.

Pit-stop on the way to Schwangau, the little village that leads up to Neuschwanstein castle.

Just parked at our hotel, this is our first experience at Schwangau.

In the distance, the castle looms quietly.

Eat me!!

Picturesque heart of Schwangau

Hohenschwangau, the neglected little brother to Neuschwanstein, sits on the hill to the right.

The happy gas they're pumping is getting to us.

I'll give you one guess who the locals in this photo are.

Mario posing for a silly shot we made him do.

Friends forever. :)

I know they said no photos but after the other Asians, the real Asians who didn't understand English, in our tour group starting snapping shots immediately after the guide said "No photos, please," I figured I could use some compensation. The tour guide literally only said ten sentences in total and the tour lasted half an hour and cost 19€/person.

Neuschwanstein was built by a crazy king who, I suspect, is gay. Who else would never marry but instead dedicate an entire castle, equipped with a private man-cave actually made to look like a cave, to his love of Wagner romance plays. This is a stage he had made just to show the plays. Everything is of course painstakingly hand painted and crafted.

Where the audience would sit during the play.

View from the back terrace of Neuschwanstein overlooking Schwangau and Hohenschwangau Castle.

I love old kitchens!!! Here is where food for that crazy king Ludwig II was prepared.

Just look at how many prime ribs and roast turkeys fit into these pans!

Natural waterfall behind the castle as seen from the bridge.

The inspiration for the Sleeping Beauty Castle at Disneyland, you can see how the tourists are drawn to believe it's a romantic homage or gift to a princess possessing beauty beyond words--nope, not a chance.

10 o' clock view from our hotel balcony.

2 o' clock view.

12 o' clock view.

So quiet and beautiful, cowbells are all you hear. Check out my videos for a private night concert held by our neighbors.

Mia walks Truffles! She's that big and mature already.

Auntie Hannah shows Mia how to blow a dandelion.

First course of the evening at Dining in the Dark at the Copthorne Hotel Hannover: German cured ham field salad with sun-dried tomatoes and a creamy parmesan dressing. I must admit, since there was nobody sitting to the right of me, little by little I pulled the salad off the plate and realized halfway through that the girl to the right of the empty seat was doing the same thing. Great foodie minds think alike!

Second course of our experience: lentil curry soup. I am very proud to announce I was the only one at the table to guess what we were eating correctly. You will have no idea how hard it is to eat soup in the dark until you've tried it.

Roast tenderloin of beef with a delicious jus and garlicky mashed potatoes with roasted peppers. This, Mario and I agreed, was the toughest to eat since we had to handle a knife in the dark as well as the fork. We had no idea how to find the piece of meat we cut off so eventually we both resorted to chewing directly on the tenderloin--hey! It's dark so nobody can see anyway!--or pulling it apart with our fingers.

For the vegetarians that night they offered an eggplant and cheese roulade that looked just as tempting as the beef dish.

Dessert was amazing and consisted of a hazelnut ice cream with pieces of brittle inside, fruits, and chocolate ganache.

Our table-mates of the evening who we had no idea the ages of. I think they were just as surprised with our appearances as well.

My first taste of real homemade Polish pierogis at Ewa's home. A little preview of what was to come around New Years.

The treelined area in front of the Leibniz University. We signed up for a sport pass that brings us here every now and then to play unlimited badminton.

Mario's little surprise for me after I got home from my German integration course test.

Celebration dinner at Mövenpick. A butternut and prosciutto salad, hearty and delicious.

I ordered their fish of the evening and it was stuffed with artichoke hearts and some other veggies in a turnip puree.

Mario goes traditional with rouladen, also outstanding!

The industrial entrance walkway to the TUI Arena. We're here for another "See 'em before they die!" concert with Mark Knopfler and Bob Dylan.

Mark was great and played a lot of new hits along with a few favorites...

Bob, on the other hand, sounded like he needed a Fisherman's Friend. Still a powerhouse of talent though!

Having a very traditional German meal at our friend Jürgen's house for his birthday.

His mom ordered in goose with potatoes, gravy, and red cabbage. Warm and satisfying!

Jürgen and his wonderful mom. Cakes in the foreground.

I couldn't resist the temptation any longer!

Balloon fashion.

Mario tries it on for size.

If you want to win my heart you will do well to come home bearing a box of spicy scallop hand rolls like my Sweeto did one night, instead of flowers and chocolates!