Beer Hall
St. Goar
Heidelberg
Hoshenschwangau
Photos
PROST!!!!!! Nothing says Germany to me now as a stein raised and clashed with other steins while
shouting PROST!!!! My dear friends and family. Ah beer…a friend told me once that beer is a full
meal on its own, especially the ones that come from Bavaria. And I must agree with him now after
going through Munich.
The beer hall. We went to a beer hall of no importance and there I ate my worst wurst , but drank
my best beer in a one litre stein, got entertained by heavily bustiered fraus and entertained
myself and my dinner companions with tales of debauchery. The beer hall was nothing like I
thought it would be. Instead of the long wooden tables and chairs that can seat 100 people, we
were shoved into spaces that can comfortably dine four people. We felt alienated by the seating
arrangement and thus cliques were properly formed and sealed. I found my long lost bitch-at-heart
sister in April. Now this lady has a mean streak to her what will put me to shame on any
given day. But first let me tell the tale of the food at the beer hall.
There was a huge order for pork knuckle (April and her man, Diaz shared one) and I was the
only freak who said I did not get to sample the wursts in Austria, so let me have it now in
Bavaria. Well, in a word, the wurst was disappointing… and I am being kind here. It was bland
and pale. Unlike the big, long, robust, golden brown (wink wink) Kielbasa I am so familiar with,
the wurst served me looked like an uncooked wiener (the kind Oscar Meyer makes) limp, thin and
skinny ( nudge nudge). Yuck! And double yuck! Thank God for me we were waited on by an old
crabby host who kept on forgetting things like…well, he neglected to take our beer orders at
first, then left out cutlery from our table. He took payment for Summer’s and Cameron’s meal, but
promptly forgot to charge me for mine. And yes, I did not remind him…why should I? I hated the
meal! But I felt bad, so I ordered two types of desserts…apple strudel which proved to be like
home-deliciously-made and the ice cream (again!). The dinner was bad, but the dessert made up
the difference.
So now for the entertainment. Indeed the fraus who were up on the stage twirling and jumping
about were bustiered to the max. They were teeny tiny girls who needed that extra push up and
out, double tied knot and take-a –deep- breath- in-girls! for a more pronounced top. The other
older fraus, serving the meals and the beers, have more rights to say “entertainment is the
ability to perform almost impossible tasks like carrying 10 steins at one serving” and they did,
indeed! Those pretty young things had no right parading their boobless bodies and claiming they
were the entertainment of the night! BOO! Boo! Boo! Sure they were limber…sure they had faces
like that of angels…sure their hair were teased and came in blonde ringlets…sure they can twirl
and ring their cowbells to the tune of “Happy Birthday” (but so can everybody else!)…sure their
legs extended for miles and their smiles were sweet and innocent…do I sound peeved? I THINK NOT!
Ha ha ha ha…seriously though the entertainment was uninteresting at best, but what saved them were
the old men in their lederhosen and accordion singing “Edelweiss”. Now that’s entertainment!
There was a table full of drunk old German gentlemen and a few of us tried our legs at dancing
with them. I said this before, and will say it again, older men are better at dancing…slow couple
dancing that is. The reason for their obvious expertise, I believe, is that they know how to
lead. And so they did lead, and so, I did follow as well. Good dancing. All good dancing.
Indeed.
The beer. Ah!!!! Now that was a refreshing sound. Burrrpp…oh excuse me. Beer. I drank my Ein
Helles, thank you very much! It was clear, light-coloured even and very refreshing. A true
thirst quencher and pee initiator. I think I spent most of my time in the loo and outside the
hall for fresh air. And while outside, April and I, concocted our fabulous juvenile tales.
We came up with aliases for our more prolific tour mates. There was Bouncing Bobby and Prancing
Franz. You can tell what they do, right? There was Hot To Trot Heather and Wild Willie. I
should stop now…April is not here and somehow doing caricatures of tour mates is not the same
without her. But what really got us rolling on the ground laughing until our sides hurt, is her
idea of putting your first pet’s name and your street address together to come up with
your very own porno name. My porno name as it turned out is Sunny (first dog) Avenger (street address). Not bad, aye?! Now would you watch a skin flick starring Sunny Avenger? There was a camera
on board and one night…..( smiley face here).
St. Goar. The Rhine River runs through this valley. Here I sampled what they call the nectar from
the vineyards of god…ice wine (or ice vhine as its pronounced ). The proprietor of Weigut Carl
Fricke explained to us the significance of the Riesling grapes to the wine making tradition in
this region. He had slides to show and wines to pour for us to sample, and cheese and crackers
to nibble on under the glow of candle lights. The cellar was cold yet cosy, the wooden chairs
and tables hard but comfortable, the company was rowdy yet charming. Let the wine tasting begin!
First was the Riesling white dry wine. Harvested in October; the colour once raised to the light
of a burning candle is clear; the smell, less fruity and the taste, once given the swirl around
the tongue is less sweet. The second type of wine is also a Riesling but semi sweet. Harvested
in November, its colour yellowish, its scent fruity and its taste is semi sweet. The third is yet
another Riesling, semi sweet, late harvest (last two weeks of November) and its colour is
yellowish, its smell fruity and the taste is semi-sweet. The last and the best of all the
Rieslings I sampled is the ice wine. Reason for it being called like so is the way it is
harvested. Only under strict conditions can the Rhine Valley winemakers produce ice wine. The
harvest needs to be done during the first 10 days of December, the temperature should be minus 8
degrees, the picking of the grapes have to be conducted in the early early morning (3 or 4 AM)
and the grapes need to be frozen while being picked and while being processed. The colour of ice
wine is clear, the smell, heavily heavenly fruity, the taste is the sweet nectar from the
vineyards of god! Sweet. Sweet. Sweet. Fit to be enjoyed as a dessert. May I have some more
please! Oh! Oh! Oh! You may say Prost!!! But what the warm people of the Rhine Valley truly
appreciates is when you raise your glass to them and say, “Stum Vohl!” or “to your health!” And
with that my friends, I drink to your health! (Steve, I am taking double shots for you buddy! And
yes, it is 4:30 right now…beer please, Frau!)
St. Goar also is the most picturesque town we ever drove through. The River Rhine cuts across
this town and on both sides of the river are rows of grapevines in family owned vineyards. The
houses were small but made of a deep dark brown wood and there were boxed flowers of red, orange,
blue and white on the window sill. There were old crumbling castles on top of hills. And on an
island in the middle of the river sits the statue of Lorelei…she is said to be looking after the
boats cruising down the river. A tragic figure, but a romantic one nonetheless.
Heidelberg. University town. We stayed long enough to soak in the culture of the city and for me
to have lo mein at a Chinese Fast Food place…don’t laugh! I might be enjoying the different
tastes of European cuisine, but nothing says home more like a heaping plate of noodles cooked
Chinese style! And for 6 Duetch marks, I did eat my soul’s food. Delicious! Actually, it was
also because Tracy and I had only 10 Duetch marks left, that the decision to eat Chinese was
made. Oh boy…the budget holiday continues…
We did not have enough time to explore the city. We were dropped off at the centre of town, the
Marktplatz and saw the old gothic church which we could never pronounce the name, but is spelled
Heiliggeistkirche. We were too churched-out at that point so we decided to just stroll and walk
about the cobbled streets of Heidelberg. We did not reach the University nor the castle on top of
the hill. But we did walk along the Nektar River and crossed some really gorgeous bridge…can’t
recall the name right now.
To my Pinoy and Pinay friends, if you remember your Philippine History, Gat (what does Gat mean,
Racy?)…Gat Jose Rizal studied here in Heidelberg. He also has a statue built here, unfortunately
I didn’t see it nor was my heart really set on finding it. It would have been a nice surprise if
in my walks along the Nektar River, I happened to have stumbled upon it…but no, I did not. Oh
well.
Another figure which I was surprised to have seen in Heidelberg is the picture of Mark Twain
prominently displayed and hung in bookstores. Seems that the oft-irreverent Mr. Twain spent years
here and wrote essays about Heidelberg. I wished I picked up his book…it would have been a most
amusing read for Germany. Yet again, I say oh well. Let it be.
On our way out of Germany to go to back to Austria (don’t ask me why we had to enter and exit
Germany and Austria twice…that is the Contiki program I suppose) our tour manager decided that
since our timing was off for the white water rafting, we should make a detour. We headed for Mad
King Ludwig’s castle! Oh boy! More castles to see…
We cruised into the small but charming town of Hoshenschwangau. King Ludwig built his castle
Neuschwanstein on top of a hill and watched it being constructed from the window of his Queen
Mum’s castle called something Schwangau. Anyway, according to Jen, Disney’s Fantasyland castle
was patterned after Neuschwanstein. It was a 30 minute walk up that hill where King Ludwig had
his castle, so we opted to hike up the other hill (10 minute walk up) to King Ludwig’s mum’s
place. And boy was it a great place to see! Huge centre table pieces abound, chandeliers of gold
and silver, noble family crests and coat of arms, velvets and silks, ivory and precious gems
placed on miniature models of castles…this place is truly a castle straight out of my child hood
fairy tale books! But what got to me was not the opulent decors and displays, but the view from
the dressing room of the one guest rooms. To wake up in the morning hearing the birds chirp, to
view the lake with swans and the mountains is more precious to me that all the riches found inside
the castle. The view was spectacular and dreamy.
The best Gummy bears Tita Maria once told me are the ones from Germany. I believe her now.
Ok, now back to Gummy bears…they were sweet and gummy. Red apples, lime green, lemon yellow,
orange and cherry…they were the flavours of the bears. Truly a wonderful German treat!
This gummy beary candy. Gummy bears! Yum!
Yet another unreal place we drove through is the famous German Auto-Bahn. OH MY GOD! The dreamy
quality of Bavarian castles, romantic Rhine wine valley, intellectual towns like Heidelberg were
turned to almost a nightmare by the speeding devils on the Auto-bahn. Our Contiki coach can
cruise up to 100 mph, but there were little cars that go flying by, zipping their way past us!
Unbelievable! Oh well. I guess for a non-driver like me I think they are taking far too much of a
risk just to get to a beer hall.
PROST!!!!!
I am Mary Grace, a.k.a. Sunny Avenger in Germany!
Oct 18, 1999