Budapest - Nov 22-24

German Wings recently started something called Blind Booking. You pick the airport from which you are leaving and the type of city you want to visit, Cultural, Party, or Major metroplis. We, Kathe, Bettina, Pam and I, booked the flight from Stuttgart and away we went to…..Budapest. We left Saturday morning (Nov 25), Pam and I drove to Schwetzingen to Bettina’s and she drove to Stuttgart. There was a little snow on the ground we left and a little more near Bettina’s. This is the first real snow that we have seen in Heidelberg since we arrived in January.

The flight to Budapest was not full and was completely uneventful. The Airport in Budapest is interesting and looks like a remnant from the communist era and in fact the only airlines flying out of this terminal were discount airlines, German Wings, Wizz and Jetair. Across the runways we could see much more activity at the main terminal with mainline carriers. The airport is not far from town and we took a taxi to our hotel.

The hotel was very nice and located right in town. The rooms were modern, clean and fairly large. We had gotten street maps at the front desk and were looking for someplace to have lunch. From the tour book we picked Leroy’s which a small chain of restaurants in Budapest. We left the hotel and started walking. It was getting colder and windier as we walked and after about 15 minutes we realized we were walking in the wrong direction. We walked down to the Danube (the river) and walked back along the river and then headed the few blocks back up to the street that Leroy’s is on.

Along the way we saw the main cathedral in Pest, the cathedral across the river at the top of the hill in Buda, the castle in Buda, the chain bridge connecting Buda and Pest and we walked through the food market in the old train station. We also stopped periodically for shopping purposes as Budapest has excellent shopping. Also, the weather was not getting any better as the nasty wind and cold was punctuated by periods of snow, which the wind would inevitably drive into your face.
Budapest also has a very nice coffee culture. So along the way to Leroy’s we stopped for coffee togo. When we finally made it to Radacy where the restaurant was, we realized that it was no longer here. Later when we saw an ad for Leroy’s in a periodical, we realized that the location there was indeed closed. We picked another local place and had a very nice meal.

We headed back into the center of town again and towards the Christmas Market. Christmas Markets in Germany are a big thing (more later) and almost every small town has some kind of market. We only knew of the one market here in Budapest and we were looking for it.

One thing to know about the people of Budapest, they are exceptionally nice and many if not most speak English fairly well. While looking for the market and studying the map, we were approached by at least two people asking us if we needed help….Yes, we did. We arrived at the Christmas Market to high winds and snow. The first thing we got were glasses of Gluwein, mulled and spiked wine and very seasonal, to warm us.
Most of the stands were fairly typical, but there were two stands serving Hungarian specialty and I am sure seasonal sweet treat. Out front there was a grill with charcoal burning and off to the side was a woman behind a window (protected from the wind and snow) who was rolling out dough. She would roll it into a circle and then cut a loose spiral. Then besides her was a rack where there were spools that were slightly wider at the base than at the tip. She would unwrap the spiral of dough and wind it around the spool so that it was spread over it evenly. Next she would roll the spool back and forth until the dough was spread evenly.

She would then place the spool on a different row of the rack and a guy outside would pick up the spool and pour some combination of sugary stuff on it, vanilla sugar, cinnamon sugar and lemon or some other combination. Then the guy by the fire would place it on the fire where the tip would plug into a rotating fitting that would then turn the spool with dough and sugary substance over the fire. He would move the spools to his left as they would cook and then when a spool was completely cooked and nicely brown, he would hand it to another person who would cool it and then wrap it in clear plastic. In the cold, the finished product looked like a steaming chimney and smelled divine. Pam, Kathe and Bettina shared one Sunday afternoon. I refrained, not being sure whether it was butter or lard they used to make the dough. Either way, this was not included in Weight Watchers, Core or regular program.

After the walking through the market and then listening to some singers singing American songs with Hungarian accents, we walked over to Gebaud, an old café right alongside the Market, to warm up and have some coffee. While sitting there with coffee and looking out the window at all of the cold people, we decided on where we would eat dinner and planned our route. It was going to be a fairly long walk and a cold one. We found the restaurant with little difficulty. It was 8pm on a Saturday and we were the only customers. The cold must have been keeping the regulars inside.
After dinner we walked back to the hotel and exhausted from the travel, the walking and the cold, we all slept well.

Sunday morning dawned, Cold, windy and snowy. Bettina, Kathe and I were going for a run and Pam went to a flea market in another part of town. We ran up along the Danube to an island in the river and then ran around the island. The island is fairly large and we were partially protected from the wind on the way out and were blasted on the way back. The plan was then to run back on the Buda side of the river. I kept watching the horizontally blowing snow thinking, “Do I really want to run across the bridge to the other side with that wind blowing that snow into my face?” We decided to not run on the Buda side of the river and instead ran through the streets of Pest.

We had all enjoyed the run and after showering, I called Pam, who was sitting about a kilometer away enjoying a cup of hot Cocoa. Kathe, Bettina and I walked to the coffee shop to meet Pam. We easily found The Ultimate Coffee and Wine Bar. It was a very nice place and we stayed there to have breakfast which we all enjoyed.

When we finally left the coffee shop we wanted to find the largest Jewish Synagogue in Budapest, The Great Synagogue in Dohány Street. The inside of the Synagogue was amazing and was well worth the visit (see pics). It was already getting late by this time and we wanted to make it across the river to see the castle and walk around the top of the hill in Buda. We found ourselves distracted by both weather and shopping and warming up in a café enjoying hot cocoa or coffee. The weather kept alternating between miserable and not so miserable. None of us was really looking forward to walking across the bridge as we expected it to be a pretty windy nasty walk.

Thankfully, the weather had begun to moderate by this time. We walked across the bridge and then took the funicular (the third funicular I have ridden) to the top of the hill. We walked around the castle grounds (the castle was closed by this time) and then around town. We had been commenting how Pest was so like Paris. Buda on the other hand reminded Kathe of London. Again, we were cold, I was hungry and we found a coffee shop. It was a very nice coffee shop. I ordered a coffee…..and Pomme Frites (French Fries). We learned that while the lights were on, they were having some electrical problems in the shop and the kitchen was closed and the heat was not working, which explained why it was comfortable but not toasty warm inside. Kathe got Hot Cocoa which she described as being like chocolate pudding it was so thick.
I was getting really hungry at this point and started agitating about dinner.

Bettina had a place she wanted to try and we started back to Pest. We took the funicular back down and walked back across the bridge. We did not actually make it to the place Bettina had in mind, instead we found another place called Dio. It is a very upscale restaurant, well decorated and again, empty. We had gotten there fairly early and it did fill up while we were there. We really enjoyed this restaurant.

Monday morning was sunny, cold and much less windy. We checked out, left our luggage with the hotel and found a place for breakfast before heading to the airport for the flight home. Despite the weather we had a very successful weekend and we all enjoyed ourselves!

Buying contact lenses

So buying contact lenses would seem to be fairly straight forward. I started wearing contacts in 1989 and every time I needed to replenish my contacts I would need to go to the Optometrist, get my eyes checked and get a contact lens fitting. Then I would get a prescription and get it filled. When Pam and I were home in October, I did not make it to the Dr.'s office to get new contacts. This meant that I needed to get my contacts in Germany.

When I got a new pair of glasses here in Germany I ran into a small roadblock because I had worn my contacts in and they needed me to have my contacts out for 12 hours before getting them checked. So, when I headed to the eye glass store (Optiker) I went without putting my lenses in.

When I got there I explained that I needed new contacts and they took my glasses, determined my diopter (-3.25) in both eyes as expected. He went into the back and brought out a box of contacts. Just like that I had new contacts. Instead of spending $170 for a years worth of contacts and an eye exam, $36 euro and I had 6 months worth of contacts.

The Seasons

As I have said previously, Pam and I are about to complete our first year in Germany. I have learned an important thing about Germany, it is a country of seasons. Sure, there are Spring, Summer, Autumn and Winter, but there is also, Strawberry Season, Spargel Season, Feld Salat Season, Wildkirschbraton season and many others.

Let me first start off talking about the 4 seasons. We are currently in autumn. This is autumn and not Fall. Use the term Fall to a Euro and they may not understand what you are saying. It is autumn. By far Summer is the season that is the most different than the others. Autumn, Winter and Spring are characterized by changeable weather. If it is clear in the morning, then it will be cloudy and rainy in the afternoon. If it is Rainy in the morning then it will clear by the afternoon and be sunny for a while. The rain here tends to be very different here than in Philly. In Philly, rain tends to be accompanied by wind, sometimes a little wind and sometimes a lot of wind. In Heidelberg, the rain mostly falls straight down with no wind. So, in Germany, taking an umbrella with you when it rains is quite helpful. Not only are you not fighting the wind with an umbrella, but because the rain comes straight down, you can stay mostly dry and not just your head.
As I mentioned, Summer is considerably different. It does not rain quite as much and can go for a week or more without rain. Also, Summer is considerably warmer than the other seasons. Actually, Spring this year was considerably cooler than Winter and it was the only time we saw frost or snow since we were here.

Then there are the other seasons and are mostly dictated by what food is in season. Strawberry season is something that is even special in the US. Freshly picked strawberries are so much better than berries picked in South America and shipped. At the same time is Sprargel season. Spargel is Asparagus, white Asparagus and the Germans though are very passionate about their Spargel. It is grown on immense fields and is grown so that the stalks never see the light of day until they are picked, preventing them from turning green. Driving down the road you will see fields with long mounds running down them in rows. These are Spargel fields. The picking season lasts from Mid-April until mid-June and during this time you will see workers manually going down the rows harvesting. Fresh picked white Asparagus is quite different than green asparagus. It tends to be sweeter and needs to be peeled before eating or otherwise it will be chewy. Spargel will appear in the Market and also Restaurants will have special Spargel Menus and then one day all that is left is Spargel soup, the season has ended and as you drive by the same fields, you will see the bushy tops of the plants growing wildly letting the plants re-energize for next year.

During the summer months as anywhere different types of produce come in and out of season. The next big season, is Oktober Fest which actually takes place at the end of September. At this point you will have special Bock beers and such.
Currently, we are in one of my favorite seasons, Feld Salat or Field Salad. It is a type of lettuce. This is a late fall winter crop and it used to run only from November to January, but now lasts until March. When we first arrived, I noticed people crawling in a field but I could not tell what they were doing. I described what I saw, people kneeling down and doing something with their hands and I described the plant that I saw, a low growing plant. I was told that this is feld salat. I had never seen it in the US before. It is a salat green and is quite tasty and only grows an inch or so from the ground. It is harvested by hand and the pickers have to get down to the level of the plant slice it off at the ground level and put it away, very laborious. Being here in November, I do notice that the leaves of the greens are larger than they were last January/February. I have to think that this is partly because Jan/Feb are part of the extended season and are probably a second or third round of planting.

We are also currently in Wildkirschebraton season. This is a season that I had not heard about until just last week when it started to show up. Kirschbraton is venison (deer meat) and wild (pronounced Veeld) is wild. We have had it served to us at a dinner, we have seen it as Maultaschen and as steaks. A word on Maultaschen. Taschen is the German word for bag. A Maultaschen is like a ravioli only it does not have cheese. Our favorite is Steinpilz Maultaschen (mushroom), there is also Puten (turkey) and Gemuse (vegetable) which are the most common. They also tend to be prepared differently, kind of pan fried and spiced. We tend to eat them like raviolis, in a red sauce….the Steinpilz are really good.

We are also entering Weihnacht season (Christmas). This is a big deal here in Germany and there are Weihnachtamarkts all over the country. These are temporary markets that open on the 3rd or 4th weekend of November and run until the day after Christmas and take place in a town’s major square. Heidelberg’s market is spread over the Kornmarkt, Marktplatz, Universitätsplatz, Anatomiegarten and Bismarckplatz. At a market you will find lots of crafts and seasonal specialty booths. Gluwein is the season specialty, which is a redwine that has been heated,mulled and spiked. It is served in mugs that are about half the normal size and have a yearly design for that Market. Pam and I have started planning a weekend around see several of the Markets in our area (besides Heidelberg). More on this later.

The Grapes of Wine - no Wein...

I have had a full season of watching grapes grow in the vineyards north of Heidelberg. One of my primary running routes takes me north through Dossenheim to Schriesheim or further to Leutershausen or Großsachsen. Along the way I pass through vineyards. It is a very nice place to run, but it is not like running trails amongst nature. It is a paved path that takes me by many other gardens also.

Before I start a little background. According to Sven, the wine guy down the street, in the 18th century, someone decided it would be great to import grape vines from the new world. They did not produce good wine there, but you never know, perhaps the soil of Europe would be beneficial for the new world vines. The result was some really bad wine and a stowaway…a grub. The grub loved Europe and proceeded to eat its way through the roots the grapevines of Europe, destroying almost all of the vineyards. They attempted to cross the Euro vines with the New World vines, which did not help. Eventually, Euro stems were grafted on the trunks of New World vines. As you walk through vineyards here, you can see that the bases of the vines are distinctly different than the upper parts. I am sure if you walked through American vineyards you would see the same. The only place the grubs did not take root were in places of sandy soil.

Winter in Heidelberg was fairly mild until March. In January and February there mornings where I wore shorts and a t-shirt to run, but in March the temperature actually dropped and it started to rain more regularly. At the same time, the days were getting significantly longer and the trees and bushes had started shooting out leaves, but the grape vines remained dormant through most of March. Within a week at the beginning of April, the vines started to sprout leaves and stems, changing from skeletal trimmed stumps sticking out of the ground to live growing plants. Several weeks after the vines sprouted, I noticed that previously empty rows and beds had been planted with new vines.

During the first few weeks after the vines sprouted, I looked for flowering but the flowering of grape vines is not exciting. On the stem from which the grapes will eventually hang, there are little green buds, that is all. These buds are somehow pollinated (I did not see an abundance of bees) and turn into grapes. The distinction between Red and White grapes happens quickly. Within a week of being pollinated the grapes turn from bright green to either a dark red/purple or greenish white color.

During the summer while the vines work their magic on the grapes, delivering sugars and other goodies to them and there is ongoing human maintenance to the vines. The vines themselves are sprayed to protect from pests. I am not sure what kind of spray, but I was not picking off any grapes to taste them (which I saw people do). Also, the ground was sprayed to prevent the ground cover from growing. I am sure this is done so that the vines are not overgrown and valuable sunlight is cut-off. They also have a machine that trims the vines. The rows are comfortably wide enough to allow a tractor to travel up and down. The machine is drawn along behind a tractor (John Deere) up and down the rows and trims top both sides of the vines. Left unattended the vines would just continue to grow and I am sure this would divert precious resources from the grapes themselves. Later in the summer as the grape bunches got larger, I noticed that some varieties of grapes had a poly mesh strung along to help support the weight of the grapes (I assume).

Having spent the whole year watching the vineyards, we went on vacation and then home to Philadelphia in late September through the end of October. During this time period, most of the grapes were harvested. When we returned in November, the leaves had started to turn yellow and the bunches of grapes were gone, except for one bed of about 10 rows. These vines do not have mesh strung along the grape bunches now, but have a plastic sheet stretched along the length of the rows covering the bunches. These grapes are north of Schriesheim and I did not see them until I went on a longer run.

Grapes are planted in like beds of varieties. You can tell beds of grapes by the age of the vines or the shape and/or color of the leaves. The leaves of red grapes turn purple in the fall and not yellow. This fall, maintenance takes two forms, some beds are removed and the rest are trimmed so that all that is left is a trunk about 2.5’ (1.5 meters?) tall. Why are some beds removed? I have no idea. It could be that that variety only produces productively for a limited number of years? Or, the Weingut (winery) is not going to produce that variety of wine any longer? Based on the very informal survey I have taken, while running, about 5% or less of the beds are removed this year and a similar amount of new beds were planted in the spring.
Telling the age of a bed of vines is fairly easy, but what is a bed, how am I defining a bed. Remember, this is terminology that I have defined. A bed of vines is a grouped of a variety and is usually a minimum of 4 rows and each row is about 200-300 meters long. I have to assume, that planting beds smaller than that becomes unproductive, as there is a need for each variety to be harvested together. The stumps of new vines are the width of a pencil when planted and now at the end of the season are still not much larger. Vines in the second year are definitely thicker, but still very small. Older vines are much thicker, the bark is more course and they have may have moss and lichen growing on them.

This evening (Nov. 14) we will get to taste the outcome of all this work as Sven, our wine guy, is hosting a wine tasting at a local Art Gallery here in Handschuhsheim. Should be pretty nice!

10 Year Jubilee

Pam has been with SAP for 10 years. As a US employee she would have been sent a nice email with a link to a website where she could choose a gift. Germany though has a different plan and Pam is a German employee. Each November, a tent is erected in the city center of Mannheim and the Radio Regenbogen (Rainbow) Palazzo starts. The shows are daily except Monday and it runs until February. SAP buys tickets to 5 Saturday shows for its Jubilee (10 Year) celebrations and you pick one of the Saturday shows. This past Saturday (11/8) was our week. Pam’s colleague, Kathrin and her husband (from the Dresden office) were also in town for the event.

http://www.palazzovariete.de/

The tent is a one ring circus type tent with a lobby tent attached. The floor is a raised from the ground and there is a hardwood floor and the ceilings and walls are lined with drapes to hide the tent and seat around 300/350 people. The tent is heated and was in fact quite warm when we got there. There is a fixed menu and drinks are included in the price. Essentially, the Palazzo is a dinner theater with a round stage in the center (which elevates) and a second stage along the back wall.
We arrived and presented our ticket and Pam had indicated my dairy allergies. I was given a little ticket like thing that showed I had food allergies. A serving person came by also to identify people with specials needs and became my very own serving person.

The show was MC’d by a comedian, Kay Scheffel, who can sing, do ventrilliquy and do a little standup. He introduced the acts and also preformed. He started the night off dressed like John Belushi in the Blues Brothers and did a nice job, although he was missing a Dan Akroyd. There was also a female singer, Marissa Burgess and 4 dancers, den jungen Schönheiten, all tending to be dressed minimally. Also, there is a second comedian, John Fealy. Fealy is a British Standup Comedian who poses as the Chef for the Palazzo.

The Palazzo process is as follows; Kay, then an act, then Marissa and den jungen Schönheiten, then another act, then Kay, then John Fealy, then a course would be served. Then the process would start again. Kay would usually have a musical number and a comedy routine before each course. Pam and I had a difficult time following the comedy act as it was mostly in German. John Fealy on the other hand presented his act in English, which seemed to leave out very few people.

Kay did a ventrilliquy act twice. Once with a dummy he called, Donut and once with two dummies pulled from the audience. This was probably his funniest bit of the night. He had a man and a woman on the stage and he held each of their wrists and whenever he would squeeze there wrist they would open their mouth and he would speak for them. As the act progressed, the guy held up well and was very funny, the woman on the other hand had difficulty not laughing. It worked amazingly well and the guy was great and very expressive facially as well. At one point Kay was let go of their wrists and they would respond to his words and even mouth the correct words. Even though Pam and I only understood about 25% of what was said, we still found this to be hysterical.

The circus type acts were very impressive, one couple performed twice and all of the others performed only once.

The first act was Denise Randol and her husband. In this act Denise worked with Hula-hoops. At first working with just a few, but at the end she had about five going around her torso and one each on her arms. Her husband’s job for this act was to throw her hoops. The Huescas were the second act before the first course was served. The Huescas are brothers. One brother (always the same brother) would lay on his back on a padded piece of equipment that elevated his hips above his head, so that the other brother could jump up and land on his feet(in a seated position). From this position, they would perform various feats. The Laying down brother spinning the other brother or throwing him into the air. This was all very impressive and required amazing leg strength.

The Jaster’s act included knife throwing and a crossbow. From about 20 feet Giacomo would shoot the crossbow at balloons that Elena was holding and also shot an apple on her head. The act included spinning Elena while he threw knives at the board she was spinning on, very cliche. This was my least favorite act, but still an impressive demonstration of skill. In the same section Aurelia Cats performed. She was on a single trapeze and essentially performed a dance routine on the trapeze. Some of the strength moves and flexibility she exhibited were astounding.
The Randols came back for another act. This act involved roller skating on the elevated stage, which was about 6’ in diameter. Massimo’s job was essentially to skate in a circle very quickly and to throw Denise around while remaining in the small circle. I am sure if you asked Massimo, he would demur and tell you that what they do is not that difficult, I would tell you that it was the only act I really felt that disaster was just a fraction of a second away. One tiny misstep and the momentum of both of them could have gone flying into the audience. This act was followed by the Pellegini Brothers, four brothers who performed acts of acrobatic strength. One brother would lay on the stage and another brother who grasp his hands, and then be benched press to full extension by the brother on the ground and then the brother in the air would let go with one hand. A third brother would then grasp the brother on the grounds free hand and push himself into a hand stand on that hand. These guys were amazing!

Additionally, there was Rosa. During the meals she acted as something of a clown, going from table to table performing quick routines.

The show started at 8pm and ended at 11:30ish. We left after 1am after spending time chatting with Kathrin and Rene. When we left the performers were at the Bar talking. I am sure the idea is that you can socialize with them after the show. I was actually amazed at the number of performers who were smoking.

I am sure that on a yearly basis the show changes slightly as acts change and I very much enjoyed our evening there, but I do not desire to head right back and do it again. It would be great fun to do it again with another couple or persons who have not seen the show again.

German Blue Laws

It was not long ago that stores across Germany all closed between 4 and 6 PM daily and were closed on Sundays. Today things are much more liberal. Many stores are open until 10pm and closed on Sunday. This of course has a large impact on how you organize your weeks and specifically your weekend.

Most of your food shopping for the week needs to be done on Saturdays. For Pam and I a typical Saturday starts with a trip to the Farmer's Market in the Square in front of the Tiefburg in Handschusheim. There we will buy our produce, some chicken, eggs, as well as flowers and some other things. We will later go to the Rewe, the local grocery store and get other canned goods and such that we need.

On Sunday there are no stores open, only restaurants, coffee shops, souvenir stores and tanning salons. Traditionally, Germans will use Sunday to go walking. I am sure that this traditions varies with where you live. Here in Heidelberg, there are miles of trails and the idea is to walk to a specific location and to then stop and have a some cake and coffee. You do this with family or with friends or both. It is a very nice tradition and stores not being open is OK, most of the time....except on holidays when they are closed Saturday also!

Nov. 1st is a holiday in Germany. It is the day to remember your descendants and to visit the cemetary. This seems like a fine holiday, but why did it have to be this particular Saturday. Pam and I had just returned from the US the previous Monday and had absolutely nothing in the house to eat. All week we had looked forward to shopping on Saturday....only to walk out the door and around the corner....to see cars parked in the lot where the farmer's market is supposed to be!