After the beginning of the Weinachtsmarkt season, Gilder came to pay me a very long-awaited visit. The poor guy had some logistical issues with the trains (a place we've all been...can I get an amen??), but after several phone calls to me to keep updating me on his exhausted progress and some extensive patience on his part, he arrived in Tuebingen on the 3-something train, and I went to pick him up at the beloved Hauptbahnhof. I felt a bit like I was in one of those travel scenes in a period film, minus the steam that billows everywhere as the train breaks and cools down. He didn't necessarily know whether I was meeting him on the platform or in the lobby/out front and I didn't know which part of the train he was on and was so afraid he would go down the staircase to the tunnel that takes you under the tracks and into the main building that I wasn't looking toward at any point in time and we would have to do all sorts of phone calling. Luckily, we spotted each other from about as far away as humanly possible (thank you, pink Croker shirt and lots of luggage) and had a somewhat hysterically long (well, it probably only felt like that) fight through the crowd of people to get to each other. Then we did and I almost cried. I kid you not. But, terribly strong person that I am, I kept it together. It's funny, I don't often see glorious reunitings at the train station here, but I've seen obnoxiously couple-y young Germans waiting for trains together (don't get me started), so I couldn't decided if our ridiculous (I like to think ridiculously cute) display that was also entirely appropriate for the public eye wasn't maybe a little bit odd for the Swabians. No matter. We hopped a cab, got the boy a bit of a nap, fed him some pancakes (thank you, Ivor), introduced him to some of my friends over said pancakes, and the next morning were off to visit the parents of a very dear friend of mine (well, of the whole family's) in Neustadt about two hours away by train.
Friedie's parents took exceptionally good care of us, stuffed us full of chicken soup, schnitzel, potatoes, salad, coffee, and German Christmas cookies (Plaetzchen), all homemade natuerlich, and then drove us around to a couple of the Weinachtsmaerkte in the area. We had an absolutely wonderful day with them, and made our way back rather late to Tuebingen so Gilder wouldn't miss the Chocolate market that was still going on.
Now, Tuebingen is a bit of a unique place in that it has a rather compact Altstadt and a rather big charm, such that it is home to lots of markets. A provincial market, a chocolate festival, it's own Weinachtsmarkt...it goes big or goes home. That said, the issue is generally space. The markets are always crammed into the two major squares and accompanying connecting and side streets, which is lovely if you're the only person at the event, and hellish if you're there with a crowd. My first visit to the chocolate market happened on it's opening day, and things were buzzing but not stressful:
We did things like eat Schupfnudeln! Sinead is pretty excited for these...you'll see why...
These are Schupfnudlen. They are big gnocchi-like 'noodles' with bacon and onion and, wait for it....sauerkraut. I know, I know "ew, Catie, you have lost your mind," is what you're thinking, but don't knock it 'til you've tried it. So delicious. Real sauerkraut is not like the canned variety you've ever had at home, so calm down.
There were crepes all over the city for a good week. This was dangerous. I only thrice succumbed. And generally at meal times. I'm so good.
Here is the lovely Josh, enthusiastically waiting for his crepe to cool enough to be edible.
Here is the man dipping my strawberries into the dark chocolate fountain. Yes it was as good as it looks.
Here are Josh and Sinead with their respective white and dark chocolate moustaches. So delicious!
This was the thickest hot chocolate I have ever seen or eaten. Not drunk, you heard me right, eaten. They had this at the Weinachtsmarkt, too, and it was literally hot chocolate. As in they melted regular chocolate.
Our day at the chocolate festival also included lunch at Neckarmueller, the brewery on the Neckar River that also serves delicious (and only slightly overpriced) food:
Yummmm Flammkuchen
Here was mine, ready for it's close-up
This was the key discovery I made about Neckarmueller on this trip. The "Ofenkartoffel" (oven potato) is on the "kleine Hunger" menu, as in, for small hungers, as in...snacks? It's super inexpensive and enormous adn smothered with chives and garlic sour cream sauce. It was also delicious cold later that evening. gold star!
We also traveled to the Stuttgarter Weinachtsmarkt, which was quite large and I thought really impressive. Stuttgart is only 45 minutes or so by train (which feels like zilch since we're always there going OTHER places), and we had a spectacular time. We saw lots of traditional things, like these:
Tried to stay out of the rain (boooo drizzle, even though it briefly turned to snow):
(this is one tiny fraction of the market, on one square)
And saw some less traditional, and absurdly awesome things, like these Star Wars nutcrackers:
Our biggest trip (other than, for Gilder, the one he took across that whole oceanic business) was by far our long weekend in Amsterdam. We left on a Thursday at the crack of dawn (well, before it, since it was 6:15 or so and the sun doesn't come up until 8 here in the Land of Darkness) and took about 6 hours of trains to get there. I don't really mind long train trips since you can move around easily, have more space than on a plane, get great scenery out the window, and don't feel packed in like cattle. We were tired but it was an easy trip, and we arrived in Amsterdam and checked into our hostel (the Flying Pig Downtown--highly recommended) before doing some exploring. The first thing we came across was the House of Cheese, where we were greeted by a curd-stirrer itself!
On our second day, we made a point to get the the Anne Frank House before the crowds. This was at once a really awesome and extremely haunting experience. The house itself is the storefront (now museum) out of which Otto Frank's business was run, and above which the Frank family lived with another family and family friend, hidden in an annex. The building has been very well-maintained, and once you enter the second floor you are essentially following a tour of cases with artifacts and items and lots of information on plaques as you make your way through. The Annex itself has been emptied of furniture, but photos are up of recreated layouts before the furniture was removed and scale models sit in cases showing you were everything was. The most chilling part, for me, was the pieces of wall-paper that had been left on the walls (the rest was replaced with a matching paper) and covered with plastic casing that still held photos, drawings, and clippings that the Frank girls and other people living in the Annex had pasted on in an effort to make the place more cheerful. We were thoroughly depressed after we left, but I was truly glad to have gone and had the experience of seeing it.
We made a quick trip to the Museum of Torture (....interesting) before deciding we had had it with depressing things and found ourselves some lunch.
By far the highlights of the trip for me were the Van Gogh Museum and the Amsterdam Historical Museum. The Van Gogh has an outstanding collection of original works, not only by Van Gogh himself, but also by other contemporaries and influences of his. Alas I have no photos because they're smart and don't allow you to take them. Nor did the folks at the Amsterdam Historical Musuem, which was one of the best museums I have ever been to. After wheedling our way into getting Gilder the student rate (with only his American student id...most places only accept the International Sutudent Id Card (ISIC)....but as we've learned if you act confused and disappointed about having 'forgotten' it, they usually don't care), we headed straight to the Amsterdam DNA exhibit, that takes you through the history of the city in a highly interactive and seriously multi-media manner, with 6 different stations where you scan your barcode on the back of your brochure and select one of the videos representing an aspect of the section you've just seen is your 'favorite'. At the end, you feel extremely knowledgeable and it tells you what quality of the city (and the Netherlands) fits you best (among things like Freedom, Creativity, etc). Not only was it gloriously informative, but the rest of the museum was great, too! To top it all off, they had a restaurant that had delicious food at reasonable prices.
This is the only tuna salad sandwich I have EVER seen on a menu without celery (which I hate and may be mildly allergic to). When I asked the waitress if it contained celery, which wasn't listed under the description of the ingredients, she gave me a look like I was a little bit crazy and then laughed and said no. I love this place.
Our final educational/cultural stop was at the oldest house, and one of only two remaining wooden houses, in the city. It was in an enclosed area of the city belonging to/inhabited by the Beguines, a group of practicing Catholic women who have inhabited the small sanctuary-like building complex since public practice of Catholicism was first outlawed during one of those oh-so-common historical religious...tiffs, shall we say. That law, of course, no longer exists, but the community does, and it was simply beautiful.
Here is the house...
And here's a partial view of the enclosed community
Most of what we saw in Amsterdam looked like this...canals with stunning houses. Rough life.
I have some more photos, but they're on my other camera, so I'll be editing this post with more photos tomorrow! I will leave you with some more photos of food because, let's face it, can you ever have too many? Unless you're hungry, that is...
Gilder's monster sandwich
Waffles!
Frites in garlic sauce
The amazing pad thai I acquired when Anya and I walked through the Red Light District to get to China Town. I missed any sort of Asian cuisine...this was NOT a disappointment in the least
We returned to catch the end of the Tuebinger Weinachtsmarkt (also way too crowded for words, also have pictures of this on my other (read: non-iphone) camera and will update) and had a quiet few days to recuperate and for me to catch up on work before Gilder returned home. It was sad to say goodbye, but we knew that a week and a half later we would both be in Hanover for two full weeks for Christmas and New Year's with my family, so it was definitely manageable.
Before heading home, I made sure to fit in a bit of fun time amidst trying to figure out all of my ignored work.
I made pancakes for my friends and Sinead tasted maple syrup for the first time. Of course I documented this! What do you think I am, a crazy person?
We celebrated our friend Rachel's 21st birthday (still a big deal for the English, but not for quite the same reasons), made homemade pizzas, and wound up having a little bit of armed conflict with the leftover gluhwein that had turned into some kind of delicious reduction sauce boiling away in the bottom of the pot. Ivor was just one of many unfortunate victims.
With nary a tear as I said goodbye to Tuebingen and the few cm of snow we actually recieved...
(view from my window)
...I headed home for some much needed Christmas relaxation, recuperation, and family time! My Aunt Jane joined us once again, per Christmas tradition, and Gilder made the trek out (more jetlag...joy!), so we had a nice "full" house and were able to sit around and gorge ourselves on homemade German cookies by yours truly and lovingly imported (well, from New York) Zabar's offerings. I won't lie, I essentially spent two weeks doing just about nothing and enjoying myself fully in the process. There was some marathon knitting going on to finish Christmas gifts, and all adult family members (sorry Chris) received mittens in the following pattern with varying color combinations:
These are my mom's, about halfway through, so two more colors and a thumb to go around Thanksgiving!
We did have the chance to spend some time with my friends Steph and Aka, a welcome delight, and even went on a real-person grown-up date where we had some of the best food I've ever eaten at a restaurant in Hanover at the Canoe Club (if you're there, check it out, kids). My pasta with short ribs in a sweet potato sauce (sounds odd, but pureed with cream and veggie stock....mmmmm) re-kindled my desire to learn to cook short ribs, and properly at that. When I asked the waiter what the sauce had been, I expected him to tell me sweet potato and cream, but he blew me away when he gave me a detailed of how the chef creates it (including his use of a vegetable mirepoix...I wanted to hug the man), so this pasta is going to be a future staple, let me tell you. I'm now taking dinner reservations...
While I'm enjoying seeing all of my friends, my English students, and my babysitting family again, it is a little sad to be back in Tuebingen again and away from Gilder and my family. We have three weeks to go in the semester and it cannot end soon enough, because two fantastic trips are in the works, including another possible visit from the man himself. Stay tuned for trip planning and some details on life back in Tuebs!
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