I went to bed dreadfully late last night and woke up quite bleary-eyed around 9. We had brunch plans that required we leave by 10 am, so we quickly made ourselves ready.
As we prepared to leave, I had a chat with my awesome room-mate and traveling companion (aka Aunt Rachel.) She tole me she was able spend the first part of her weekend in Baden-Baden, visiting the daughter of a friend of hers from Eden who is married to a German fella.
When she mentioned that she saw Barbarossa's castle AND a Russian Orthodox Church, I about died. Just a wee bit jealous, perhaps. But judging by her reaction at my mentioning our travels along the Rhine valley and the Schokolade museum, it would seem we were both "equally jealous of the other's travels." ;)
Riding in the car this morning I had some quiet time due to two factors.
When we have all ridden in the car, I usually have one child at each elbow. But today, since Embla was not coming on account of being worn out from the trip, both of the other kids sat closer up front, so I was relatively undisturbed and had a little time to collect my thoughts, so to speak.
Today we met up with Bernie, Aunt Rachel's friend from Eden and her husband Fritz, who is from Germany. They took us to this absolutely incredible brunch and Frühstück place in the town of Esslingen, a 40 minute drive from Schönaich. Last year it was voted the best cafe and breakfast place in all of Germany.
Believe me, it deserves the title.
Let's just say the Germans sure know how to do breakfast.
(Not pictured: the additional croissant I ate. And the müsli I got afterwards.)
There were meats, gravlax, cheeses, five different kinds of bread, fresh veggies, fruit, yogurt, quark, müsli, croissants, many kinds of marmelade as well as jam, butter, herbed sour cream and cream cheese, bacon, sausages, and eggs.
And that's not even counting the drinks.
For example, the Heiß Schokolade (Hot chocolate) alone was worth the entire trip. Arnheidur said I must get it, and I'm so very glad I did. They give it to you like so, frothed milk and melted chocolate which you mix together with a long handled spoon.
The Way To Eat A Proper Breakfast, German Editon (aka: my purely observational conclusions on the subject)
You pick your brötchen (bread roll) or piece of bread. You split it down the middle (for bread, leave open faced) and butter it liberally with either butter, leberwurst, herbed cream cheese, herbed sour cream or Nutella (if you are going sweet.) Then you take whatever meats you like, such as salami, Bologna, (the REAL kind) pastrami, or any other cold cuts and layer them on along with one of the many cheeses offered. Then you put tomatoes, cucumbers, or sauerkraut on top of that. Take note that the order of the layering seems to depend on the person, with some liking it to end with meat, others the cheese, others the veggies.
Finally, you fold it like a sandwich and eat it that way or enjoy it open faced. And if you are a müsli person, you layer or mix this cereal with either quark (yogurt cheese) yogurt, or milk. The most common way to eat if seems to be in a berry yogurt (the real kind, with fruit visible) with additional fruit or berries placed on top. Some even let the müsli in the yogurt and let it soften for a short while.
We walked (waddled?) by a Champagne factory
on the way to the Evangelical church in Esslingen, called St. Dionys.
Goodness, it sure was lovely (and old, built in the 1200's)
We walked by the water to reach the main square of the town of Esslingen. The adults sat at a table while the kids played at a park. I kicked the soccer ball with Ellert for a bit before joining the adults.
It was a very pleasant way to spend an afternoon, sitting in the square, chatting with Bernie and her husband while looking out over a nearby vineyard.
Fritz was such a kind man, a true gentleman. He is perfectly fluent in English, but he knew that I was learning the language and so he took it upon himself to start a little conversation with me in German. He was very patient with me as I bumbled along, taking pauses as I would repeatedly forget words and also the proper form of "der/das/die." But what a treat to be able to relax and try out my German with a patient, non-judgmental person.
In our talk, I learned about the Schwabian language, which is a regional German dialect that adds some additional sounds and such to German words. He said even he can have a little trouble understanding the Schwab dialect, as it is not so clear sounding, more mumble-y and not well enunciated. It is spoken widely in the Baden-Wurttemburg area (the "state" in which we live) and this may be part of the answer to why I can understand the language in some areas better than others.
He mentioned that the "High Deutsch" (hoch-Deutsch) language, the "textbook-quality" German language is very proper sounding and clear-cut, with not as much mumbling and no added sounds as with Schwabian. This is spoken in the Hanover area of Germany.
I told him I can read the language better than I can speak it in conversation. He said not to be discouraged, the speaking part will come with a little time and some practice.
We even got a picture of the whole crew! We had a lovely time with you both, Bernie and Fritz. What a treat! We had a lovely time!
It was fun fo walk a different way back to the car, as we were able to see a little more of the quaint streets that make up Esslingen. This one was a foot-traffic-only street.
As I have mentioned before, most stores are closed in Germany on Sundays, with the exception of a few restaurants here and there. But nevertheless, we had fun doing a little window shopping on our way to the car.
We also passed some swans, next to the infamous park where Ellert broke his collarbone.
We arrived home and my thoughts turned to the upcoming week, which is my last week here in Germany. I already have plans to make a birthday cake for Erla on Wednesday; Rachel, Embla and I are going shopping tomorrow, and we might go to Stuttgart proper again, since we've only been once, right after we arrived here.
My mind has also turned to packing for the return trip. I have used all of the snacks I brought along as well as most of my favorite travel supplements, so I know I will have room for the things I have purchased while here.
Well, except for some of the chocolate (shown here stacked nine deep.) But, what can I say. Buy it in bulk at the factory ten minutes away and you end up getting a fine chocolate bar that is sold for $5 or more in the states for .20 to .77 Euro each.
I have all but decided to ship home the obscene amount of chocolate I have acquired as gifts for friends and family. It is not very expensive to ship priority mail and arrives in the states in 6-10 days (or so says the site) so I think this might be my best option.
Perhaps the real reason is that I want to have more room to fit these horrible confections in my suitcase.
And by "horrible," I mean terribly good.
They are a wafer bar, made and dreamed up somewhere in Poland. It's a lightly sweet and dipped in dark chocolate.
But anyway. I may get more of those tomorrow when we attempt a trip to the Polish fresh market. If you are local and would like to become an addict too, I can set you up when I get home. It just takes one bar.
;)
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