Somewhere in Italy

The wife and I were able to spend some quality time in and around Venice. Venice was great, but the first part of the trip in an area around Lago del Garda and Verona was just as good -- if not better. The food was miles ahead of what we found in tourist-trap Venice.


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We stumbled first upon Provenza wines... and spent an hour talking about local wines, olive oil, and grappa and tasting with our host, Lorenzo. That stop led to some very heavy baggage on the way home -- 6 bottles of wine weighs around 4 kilos, by the way. Lorenzo recommended a restaurant in nearby Desenzano del Garda by the name of La Frasca. What a find this place was -- easily the best food of the trip. He specifically recommended the taglilini with a fish from the lake -- fantastic. The pasta in this dish is fresh. Another interesting entré was my main course, a seared steak of horse meat. I'd had horse in Japan, but there it was thin slices served raw. Eating a whole steak is a different story. Horse is a very sweat meat but the flavor is good -- if you can get over eating Mr. Ed.

After lunch, we walked the lake front, wondered out loud about the glowing green water, had some gelato and then we were on our way again. Next stop... Verona!

“Show me your horse and I will tell you what you are.” - English proverb

But It Is My Cheese!

Tacos are not easily found in this part of the world. England wasn't any better. The stores here sell taco kits for around $9 that are good enough for an occasionaly fix. But the real surprise in Denmark is that they apparently love nachos. And by nachos, they mean mountains of taco-spice seasoned tortilla chips, a load of melted cheese, and then some combination of jalapenos, salsa, and sour cream. It works for an occasional fix of Mexican pizazz but I normally regret eating it when I'm done.

"I was wondering if you would like to join me in my quarters this night... for some toast." -- Jack Black as Nacho Libre (2006)

Night at the Wine Bar

From Cologne, we made our way along the winding Rhine River to the tiny tourist town of Rüdesheim am Rhein -- recommended by a coworker. The trip there had to be one of the most picturesque stretches of road I have had the pleasure to travel on. Not only was there the wide river and the hills covered thick with trees, but dotted along the entire way were terraced vineyards and cozy towns and towering castles. We had to keep stopping to take pictures.

By that evening, we arrived in Rüdesheim am Rhein and checked into our hotel. From there, we made our way to the river to scope things out and stop at a small wine bar we had seen on the way in. We thought it would be a tourist trap but good enough for a cool drink of one of the local wines.... ... ...

... fast-forward 4 hours later. We had now seen only one other non-local and everyone except for Boo was a bit tipsy. Every one there was someone local from town and they get together at this place every night. This was far from a tourist trap. The wine never really stopped flowing and everytime we turned around another glass was there to try. The white wines were quite good, the reds were best avoided.

The barkeep spoke about 50 words of English and one of the ladies spoke English well. Between the two of them, we had many broken conversations with the folks around the bar. They were surprised that we lived in Denmark -- and maybe this came across as more critical than intended but their overall opinion of our current home country was that it's a bit odd, said with some eye-rolling. Huh. Hmm.

At one point, I ordered what was apparently 'wine cheese' and bread (not many food options here, only this and chips and pretzels) and my handling of the bread and cheese was apparently good amusement for the locals. I still fumble with using a knife and fork for just about everything here -- what's the point of a sandwich if you are going to eat it with knife and fork?

It wasn't long before we had tried all of the wines, I think, and moved on to the schnaps -- some I ordered, some were just served. These are nothing like what we call schnaps in the States -- these are strong spirits without sugar and the light fruit flavor wafts (burns?) up through your nose as you drink it down.

We hadn't eaten dinner yet, so we polled the locals for the best place in town and were given a few options. We finished our wine and I went to pay the tab. Four hours of drinks came to 20 euros (about $30) -- I think more than half of our drinks had been on-the-house, especially since at one point I would order a schnaps for me and another for the happy barkeep.

The next day we started a bit slowly -- Boo especially (seriously, she wouldn't get out of bed) -- and backtracked to some of the towns we had driven through the day prior, including a long stop at Bacharach. From there it was on to Frankfurt for the night.

Prost!

“How could drops of water know themselves to be a river? Yet the river flows on” -
Antoine de Saint-Exupery (French Pilot, Writer, and Author, 1900-1944)

The Dom and Donuts

We spent just one night in Cologne (also known as Köln for those of you like me that can't find a major city on a map of that city) on our first German road trip. We stayed at the Hilton right in the city center -- their rates were good and they took pets. What they didn't disclose upfront was that they had a pet fee -- not uncommon -- but here it was more than half the price of the room. With that hefty sum, Boo was provided a massive bed that she really didn't like, a bag of treats she was allergic to, and food and water dishes that I think she could have bathed in. Living large!

The dominating focus of Cologne is Cologne Cathedral -- in German, Kölner Dom -- a UNESCO World Heritage Site. The building in it current form is over 700 years old and took 600 of those years to build. This place is massive: it's spires are the second-tallest in the world, its facade is the largest in the world, and the cathedral as a whole is the largest in northern Europe. The most important treasure inside the cathedral is the Shrine of the Three Kings, a golden relic believed to hold the bones of the Three Wiseman -- but our schedules didn't work out so we had to pass on seeing that.

The area around the cathedral is a mid to high-end shopping district, dotted with a few bakeries selling what appeared to be the German version of the jelly donut. I said "donut" in one of the bakeries and was corrected with the word "Berliner", which, by the way, was a subject of humour and urban legend when JFK made his famous speech in Berlin on June 23, 1963 stating, "Ich bin ein Berliner" -- or "I am a Berliner."

The last piece of our Cologne adventure was Kölsch, the local beer. It's a less bitter beer than most of the German pilsners on offer. There are several brew houses serving up this stuff in rapid-fire fashion in small cylindrical glasses. The small glasses aren't just for show -- the beer is best when just from the tap and has had limited exposure to air. Drinking many small glasses of the brew is the best way to maximize your Kölsch enjoyment. Careful though, once you start drinking, the barman will keep replacing your glass until you make him stop!

Prost!

“Give me a woman who loves beer and I will conquer the world.” -- Kaiser Wilhelm

Do These Shorts Make My Butt Look Fat?

This past weekend we were hanging out in Venice when I noticed this tart walking around St. Mark's Basilica. I think more than one person hurt their neck doing a double-take on this action. Yowza. For a few minutes, I think she was the only taking pictures of the church and all its glory -- everyone else was grinning and taking pictures of the rare crescent moon in midday.

This blog was approved by my wife.

Salute!

Turn Left, Board Ferry

We took a road trip a week or so back that led us through an impressive chunk of Germany -- basically from Denmark to Frankfurt and back via Cologne. The drive from Frankfurt to home we did in one chunk and it took around 9 hours. For the bulk of the trip, we relied on our portable GPS to guide us from point A to point B -- and for the most part it did a great job.

But I had to laugh: We were winding along the roads we took from Köln to Frankfurt -- trying to make our way to our overnight stop in Rüdesheim am Rhein (my new favorite tourist trap!) We had already made one detour when we convinced our guidance system that finding a winery was really the right thing to do. After that, the wife was driving, I was navigating (she gets carsick otherwise) and I was looking ahead on the GPS map to see where it was taking us. I saw we were crossing the river ahead at a place called St. Goar. "Huh," I said, "I don't remember there being a bridge there. Oh well. " Sure enough, the GPS was telling us we had about a tenth of a mile before our next turn -- but there was nothing but water ahead. It all came clear when the GPS then announced, "Turn left... and board ferry."

The ferry ride was impressively efficient. The ferry crossed every 10 minutes or so, just going back and forth across the river in ping pong fashion. I'd guess it held about a dozen cars but no more. For about 6 bucks each crossing (we crossed three times by the end of our travels), it wasn't a bad way to get where you needed to go.

“The hasty and the tardy meet at the ferry.” -- Arabian Proverb

Weekend In Barcelona, Take Two

We were lucky enough to spend another weekend in Barcelona. We had a great time, stayed in a great hotel, ate some of the best food of my life, and saw more than I can fit in one blog post. I somehow narrowed down about 900 pics to around 60 -- too many, I know, but Ma will appreciate it.

Some highlights: the trip up and back down Montjüic, the Hill of the Jews. There is a leisurely two days of sights in this one place, including many gardens, a few substantial museums, the Olympic Stadium, and finally, the impressive Castell de Montjüic. We went to the Picasso Museum but no pictures allowed there. Finally, we did a fine job of eating and drinking our way through the rest of town -- including my first shot at the odd but delicious gooseneck barnacles, lots of grilled and fried octopus and squid, and my fair share of anchovies.

¡Salut!

The Grass Isn't Greener

Look at this: we leave England and next thing you know they are having Donkey Shows right in our old neighborhood. And Donkey Classes? They teach you this stuff? My, my -- our little Callow has come a long way.

"Do you think yourself wise? Then there's a donkey inside your waistcoat”
Charles H. Spurgeon quotes (English preacher of 19th century 1834-1892)