I looked at two more apartments this Saturday in Hattenheim which is a little town just down river from Eltville. Nice views from each place, and they are only about 200 meters from one another. The first one was an apartment and I would have the ground floor and the basement. Above me would be Agnes (with her enormous rack), and in the Penthouse is Peter the owner of the building. He’s a pilot with Lufthansa. Peter’s view from his back balcony is fantastic; mine would simply be nice because I’m much lower. There is a vineyard literally right outside of the back yard, and a view of (the remains of) a castle, and the Rhein River.
The other place I looked at was a house that is closer to the Rhein, but also closer to the road and the train tracks. Roughly the same view, but a quite a bit better because it has a 2nd floor balcony.
I should find out around the middle of the week if I can get the house or not (he’s got others looking at it as well). If I can’t get the house, I’ll take the apartment. Agnes cuts the grass and does the gardening, so there will be plenty of chances to catch her bending over from where I’ll be situated. She also seemed pretty pleased with the opportunity to have someone who likes to cook living in the building. I think she also had eyes on using my pickup truck.
I didn’t have an appointment to look at these places until 1500 (that’s 3:00 PM for you civilians and Americans). Since my appointments were later on in the day, I came out to Hattenheim early and drove around and took a walk for a bit in the vineyards. Hattenheim is a very small town and the streets there are very tight. Being that I have a pickup truck it was important to me to find an easy way into the apartments. I was driving through the constricted streets of this town, and people were diving into doorways to get out of the way. I felt like I might need to fold in my side mirrors to keep from scraping the windows on the houses. I managed to work out a way to get to the apartments without having to go through town, so I drove over and parked near the apartments. I was still about 20 minutes early, so I went for a little walk.
There is a wine restaurant just a ways down the street from the house I was going to look at, but it was closed. I noticed another wine place that a gentleman was walking out of. I walked over and he let me inside. As it turned out this was not a wine restaurant or even a bar, but was a retailer (maybe wholesaler) for the winery. I sat down in a chair and he asked me what kind of wine I wanted. I said that I wanted a “halb-trocken” or a semi-dry. He let me try about three of them before I had to leave. They were all good and I felt obliged to buy a couple of bottles. So I purchased 2 bottles (one was a 1.0 liter and the other a 0.75 liter bottle) for about $13. “Oh, I’ll be back” I said as I was leaving.
One of the guys I work with came out to look at the apartments with me. He speaks German pretty well, and could ask the questions that I couldn’t. His wife is also German, and she came along too. After we checked out the places we were planning to go up to Kloster Eberbach, which is an old monastery that has since turned into a hotel/restaurant/winery/meeting place/etc.
As we were leaving the apartments, I told Jeff which way to go to get to the Kloster. I was following him and we missed the turn. We reached a dead end, so we turned around. I told Jeff where he missed the turn, and we started back, only to miss it again. I flashed my high beams at him and pulled up along side him. He said that a sign said that it was a dead end. Being as how I do not know German and he does, I continued to follow him. And I followed him through the very narrow streets of Hattenheim that I was trying to avoid. It was tight, but the Tacoma and I managed to come through unscathed.
I think Kloster Eberbach was originally a Cloister (Kloster) of nuns, which became a monastery later on. The monks used to make wine there, but I think the whole deal has been taken over by the State now. They do still make a Kloster Eberbach wine, but I don’t think it’s made on premises. I posted a picture of one of there wines earlier. They also have there own beer; however, I’m not sure if they brew it themselves or if it is contract-brewed for them. It was pretty good though. I had a Helles, which is a pale lager bier. It was called Kloster Hell, which I thought was pretty funny.
We decided to grab a bite to eat. I saw that they had the Jellied Suckling Pig on the menu. How could I not order this? So I did. The jellied pig was basically little bits of meat that were cooked, then cooled and suspended in gelatin. It was served in ½ cm slices with an herb cream sauce, and some fried potatoes. It was all pretty good.
Sunday I went out with Jeff and his wife to visit a friend of hers northeast of Frankfurt. The plan was to have lunch and then do a little hike on a trail in the woods a couple of miles away. We stopped at a small bier garten for lunch. I had Spargel with Hollandaise sauce and pork schnitzel. Spargel is the German name for asparagus, only they don’t let the asparagus get green. I think that they do this either digging it up before it breaks the surface, or by constantly covering it and then digging it out. It basically prevents the photosynthesis from turning the plant green. If you’ve never had white asparagus, it has a much more subtle flavor and doesn’t get as woody as green asparagus does (if you don’t pick it soon enough). Spargel season is big around here, in fact it gets top billing on the menus. Instead of Schnitzle with asparagus, you get asparagus with sauce, and some schnitzle. I didn’t eat enough of the spargel to know if it makes your pee stink as much as normal asparagus; however, it is in season now so there will be plenty of opportunities. I may just have to take one for the team and experiment with it.
So we went out for a hike on this trail in an area called Hoherodskopf. A hiking club from the area had built this big tower called the Bismarckturm years ago on the highest point in the area.
The idea is that you have a 360-degree view from the top. We went up and I took some pictures, but it was a little hazy in the valleys, so they don’t show up very well.
Near the bottom of the monument there is a small sign that tells of Saint Bonifatius (Boniface). Apparently he used to baptize the heathens very near to there, and he is credited with bringing Christianity to Germany.
After the hike we went back to Jeff’s wife’s friend’s house and had coffee and gooseberry pie. The view from her place is just amazing. Apparently some German Prince used to own all the land around there. It is very rural and beautiful.
But then it became Monday and I had to go back to work…
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4 comments:
I'll bet when you were on top of the tower you started doing a Monty Python bit. When you were hiking did you start thinking of how to get a keg up to the top of the hill?
[clop clop clop]
KING ARTHUR: Whoa there!
[clop clop clop]
SOLDIER #1: Halt! Who goes there?
ARTHUR: It is I, Arthur, son of Uther Pendragon, from the castle of Camelot. King of the Britons, defeater of the Saxons, Sovereign of all England!
SOLDIER #1: Pull the other one!
ARTHUR: I am,... and this is my trusty servant Patsy. We have ridden the length and breadth of the land in search of knights who will join me in my court at Camelot. I must speak with your lord and master.
SOLDIER #1: What? Ridden on a horse?
ARTHUR: Yes!
SOLDIER #1: You're using coconuts!
ARTHUR: What?
SOLDIER #1: You've got two empty halves of coconut and you're bangin' 'em together.
ARTHUR: So? We have ridden since the snows of winter covered this land, through the kingdom of Mercia, through--
SOLDIER #1: Where'd you get the coconuts?
ARTHUR: We found them.
SOLDIER #1: Found them? In Mercia? The coconut's tropical!
ARTHUR: What do you mean?
SOLDIER #1: Well, this is a temperate zone.
ARTHUR: The swallow may fly south with the sun or the house martin or the plover may seek warmer climes in winter, yet these are not strangers to our land?
SOLDIER #1: Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
ARTHUR: Not at all. They could be carried.
SOLDIER #1: What? A swallow carrying a coconut?
ARTHUR: It could grip it by the husk!
SOLDIER #1: It's not a question of where he grips it! It's a simple question of weight ratios! A five ounce bird could not carry a one pound coconut.
ARTHUR: Well, it doesn't matter. Will you go and tell your master that Arthur from the Court of Camelot is here?
SOLDIER #1: Listen. In order to maintain air-speed velocity, a swallow needs to beat its wings forty-three times every second, right?
ARTHUR: Please!
SOLDIER #1: Am I right?
ARTHUR: I'm not interested!
SOLDIER #2: It could be carried by an African swallow!
SOLDIER #1: Oh, yeah, an African swallow maybe, but not a European swallow. That's my point.
SOLDIER #2: Oh, yeah, I agree with that.
ARTHUR: Will you ask your master if he wants to join my court at Camelot?!
SOLDIER #1: But then of course African swallows are non-migratory.
SOLDIER #2: Oh, yeah.
SOLDIER #1: So, they couldn't bring a coconut back anyway.
[clop clop clop]
SOLDIER #2: Wait a minute! Supposing two swallows carried it together?
SOLDIER #1: No, they'd have to have it on a line.
SOLDIER #2: Well, simple! They'd just use a strand of creeper!
SOLDIER #1: What, held under the dorsal guiding feathers?
SOLDIER #2: Well, why not?
Let me see if I have this straight. Your American friend, Jeff has a German wife. Jeff and his German wife take you (American bachelor) to meet a female, German friend (who, like as not, is unmarried) of the German wife for a day of hiking and general all around good times. And you spin this yarn with no mention whatsoever of how friendly / attractive / stacked she was. I just ahve one question, when is the wedding.
Wilhelm
I think this scene works better:
NARRATOR: The Tale of Sir Launcelot.
FATHER: One day, lad, all this will be yours!
ERBERT: What, the curtains?
FATHER: No, not the curtains, lad. All that you can see! Stretched
out over the hills and valleys of this land! This'll be your kingdom,
lad!
HERBERT: But, Mother--
FATHER: Father, I'm Father.
HERBERT: But Father, I don't want any of that.
FATHER: Listen, lad. I've built this kingdom up from nothing. When
I started here, all there was was swamp. All the kings said I was
daft to build a castle in a swamp, but I built it all the same,
just to show 'em. It sank into the swamp. So, I built a second one.
That sank into the swamp. So I built a third one. That burned down,
fell over, then sank into the swamp. But the fourth one stayed up.
An' that's what your gonna get, lad -- the strongest castle in these
islands.
HERBERT: But I don't want any of that -- I'd rather--
FATHER: Rather what?!
HERBERT: I'd rather... just...
[music]
...sing!
FATHER: Stop that, stop that! You're not going to do a song while
I'm here. Now listen lad, in twenty minutes you're getting married to
a girl whose father owns the biggest tracts of open land in Britain.
HERBERT: But I don't want land.
FATHER: Listen, Alex,--
HERBERT: Herbert.
FATHER: Herbert. We live in a bloody swamp. We need all the land we
can get.
HERBERT: But I don't like her.
FATHER: Don't like her?! What's wrong with her? She's beautiful,
she's rich, she's got huge... tracts of land.
HERBERT: I know, but I want the girl that I marry to have...
a certain... special...
[music]
...something...
FATHER: Cut that out, cut that out. Look, you're marryin' Princess
Lucky, so you'd better get used to the idea. [smack] Guards! Make sure
the Prince doesn't leave this room until I come and get 'im.
GUARD #1: Not to leave the room even if you come and get him.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: No, no. Until I come and get 'im.
GUARD #1: Until you come and get him, we're not to enter the room.
FATHER: No, no, no. You stay in the room and make sure 'e doesn't
leave.
GUARD #1: And you'll come and get him.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1: We don't need to do anything, apart from just stop him
entering the room.
FATHER: No, no. Leaving the room.
GUARD #1: Leaving the room, yes.
FATHER: All right?
GUARD #1: Right. Oh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if, uh, if-if-if we...
FATHER: Yes, what is it?
GUARD #1: Oh, if-if, oh--
FATHER: Look, it's quite simple.
GUARD #1: Uh...
FATHER: You just stay here, and make sure 'e doesn't leave the room.
All right?
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Right.
GUARD #1: Oh, I remember. Uh, can he leave the room with us?
FATHER: N- No no no. You just keep him in here, and make sure--
GUARD #1: Oh, yes, we'll keep him in here, obviously. But if he had
to leave and we were--
FATHER: No, no, just keep him in here--
GUARD #1: Until you, or anyone else,--
FATHER: No, not anyone else, just me--
GUARD #1: Just you.
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Get back.
GUARD #1: Get back.
FATHER: Right?
GUARD #1: Right, we'll stay here until you get back.
FATHER: And, uh, make sure he doesn't leave.
GUARD #1: What?
FATHER: Make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1: The Prince?
FATHER: Yes, make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1: Oh, yes, of course. I thought you meant him. Y'know, it
seemed a bit daft, me havin' to guard him when he's a guard.
FATHER: Is that clear?
GUARD #2: Hic!
GUARD #1: Oh, quite clear, no problems.
FATHER: Right.
[starts to leave]
Where are you going?
GUARD #1: We're coming with you.
FATHER: No no, I want you to stay 'ere and make sure 'e doesn't leave.
GUARD #1: Oh, I see. Right.
HERBERT: But, Father!
FATHER: Shut your noise, you! And get that suit on! And no singing!
GUARD #2: Hic!
FATHER: Oh, go get a glass of water.
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