The Great Railway Bazaar

Greetings from Bavaria! J and I are comfortably ensconced in first class on a train to Munich. J is reading Anna Karenina while I'm reading Michener's Tales from the South Pacific and blogging.

The past few days have been hectic, both in terms of travel and reintegration to "real life." J had to deal with numerous inprocessing tasks--weapons cleaning, reintegration briefings, and medical appointments--as well as with non-Air Force related stuff like responding to cell phone notices and paying Bahn card bills…all of which were in German. But we managed to get everything done and catch up with some friends before training it down to Heidelberg yesterday afternoon. At the Heidelberg train station, we bought an eight day Eurail Pass, which allows us to hop on and off trains throughout several countries in Europe and which essentially requires us to ride first class on all of our train travels. We'll take it! And let me tell you, traveling in first class is amazing. The individual cabins and capacious seating (especially when traveling with a bulky duffel bag) make the costly ticket price totally worthwhile.

A few quick thoughts on our travels thus far (more pictures to come, but we're now in Salzburg and my internet connection is really slow)--

1. I LOVE herring sandwiches. They're extremely fishy tasting, but I could eat them every day. Reminds me of mackerel sashimi. Luckily for me, they're offered at nearly every German airport and train station.

2. Kaiserslautern, where J lives, is quite the international city. We've been eating at all of our favorite restaurants over the past few days--Himalayan, Thai, Greek, German--and they've all been amazing. K-Town has attracted an incredible diversity of immigrants over the years and it shows in the authenticity of its food.

3. The town of Frankenstein is über quaint. It's only a ten minute drive from K-Town, so J and I made a quick afternoon trip this past Monday to check out the castle ruins that may or may not have inspired Mary Shelley's book.

On a completely unrelated note, someone actually spent time crocheting multi-colored covers for these parking poles--too cute!

4. Heidelberg is one of my favorite cities ever. Yesterday was our second time in Heidelberg (we visited the Christmas markets in 2010) and I loved it even more this time around. J and I spent an amazing afternoon and evening along the Neckar River and in the old city. We stayed at the Hotel Goldener Hecht, located directly across from the towers of the famed Old Bridge, and quite literally had the best view in town from our room.

After a leisurely dinner at an outdoor cafė on the walkplatz, we meandered back to the Old Bridge from where we watched the sun set on the river. Amazing.

5. When you order dumplings, whether they be potato or liver (my favorite), be prepared to find two giant balls on your plate. I've ordered dumplings in Germany on numerous occasions, yet for some reason, I'm surprised every time to find two giant balls (as opposed to lots of little dumplings) in front of me.

 Wild boar and potato dumplings with cranberry sauce,

biergarten at the Hotel Restaurant Bremerhof

 Liver dumplings with mashed potatoes and bacon

or some other fatty pork deliciousness,

Zum Franziskaner in Heidelberg

6. Clearly, I'm obsessed with food. I feel like we've been eating our way through Germany. While in Munich, we stopped at its amazing food market and bought hummus, bread, schnitzel, Lowenbraü beer, several kinds of cheeses and olives, and dried fruit. We had ourselves a grand feast for lunch. Munich, by the way, isn't the most interesting city given 1) most of its historical buildings were destroyed during World War II and 2) its focus on upscale clothing and department stores. Boring.

 (l-r): dried kiwi, dragon fruit, papaya, and melon -- they taste much better than they look, I promise