Random Thoughts 25 Aug 2017

I heard the Scorpions on the radio this morning and it got me thinking. I think I expected to hear much more Scorpions, Nena, Rammstein, Falco (sorry, I know he’s Austrian), Nena and Hasslehof while here. I also expected to hear more music in German, but most of what I hear are American or English songs.

As I was driving in this morning, I realized that here in Karlsruhe (at least in Waldstadt), the crosswalks where bikes and people cross the road are raised about a foot from the rest of the road creating a natural speed bump. Efficient.

I’m still amazed at how many types of sausage there are here, but I suppose that’s no surprise. What HAS surprised me is the wide variety of meat ‘loafs’. Unlike the meatloaf I’m used to (roughly ground beef formed into a loaf), the meat loafs (Leberkäse, or Fleischkäse) here are made from very finely ground meat. I think it’s almost always pork.

Leberkäse

Käseleberkäse (lit. cheese-liver-cheese, really pork and cheese)

Of course, there’s a huge variety of them, and many that include, um, bits of other things mixed in.

Pizzaleberkäse (literally Pizza liver cheese, but without the liver), often includes cheese, peppers, pickles and Salami. If only it had some tomato sauce, it would be very much like pizza. Oh, and pineapple.

Pizzaleberkäse

Zwiebelleberkäse (onion) is made with onions and seems to be a specialty down here in Swabia-land.  In fact, when I buy it, it usually seems to be raw.

Forgive me when I say, it reminds me of a very high quality spam. Cubed and fried with eggs, it makes a great spam-and-eggs substitute.

When I just want a hot-dog, it’s a bit hard to find a wurst (sausage) that tastes like I want it to. Of course, you can find _some_ hotdogs in a supermarket, but in our markets, they tend to come in kits (with a bun and weiner) that aren’t very good. We’ve tended to use käsewurst (port sausage with cheese mixed in) as a substitute. Not a real hotdog, but close enough.

Some of the Fleischkäse also tastes very, very much like a US hotdog. Which means I can put it on a bun and have a hot-dog-burger. 

TILIG 17 Aug 17 - Birthdays

This year, I learned some things about having a birthday in Germany.

It turns out that there are responsibilities that, as the birthday boy, I didn’t know I had. Keep in mind that these things may be regional.



The rules

1. Nobody mentions your birthday until your birthday. Nor do they give you a present or wish you a Happy Birthday in advance. It’s bad luck.


2. You buy your own cake. When people come by your office to wish you Alles Gutes zum Geburtstag (All the best for your birthday), you MUST to have a cake ready for them. I failed this one. There were many disappointed people. Luckily Hannes and Steffen came to my office with these weird donut-shaped rolls of paper to help me celebrate.

3. Having the cake ready in the office seems to also alleviate the potential embarrassment when someone doesn’t KNOW it’s your birthday when they come to your office. It’s a great hint for them.

4. People will come to your desk (or office) and wish you all the best, and then want to sit around and talk. They expect to be eating cake while they talk. Again. Failure.

5. You plan and pay for your own party. I didn’t have a party, maybe this was a win.

6. We saw a group of partiers in downtown Karlsruhe over the weekend, and not only did the general public seem annoyed that they were having fun, half of the party goers seemed to be a bit annoyed too.

7. I read somewhere that if you’re single and turning 30, you need to advertise your housekeeping skills. Men are given a messy stairway to sweep, and women clean doorknobs with toothbrushes. Not 100% sure about this one.

8. If you don’t do much to celebrate your birthday and come to the office the next day with no stories to tell, many people are very disappointed in you.

9. If you are out with others on your birthday, the bill is on YOU.

I’m sure I’ve missed a ton of birthday traditions in Germany. Feel free to comment below with your favorites.

Europapark, Part 1

 Last week, we spent two days at Europapark.  For those who don't know, it's here in south-western Germany, in a town called Rust (!) and is about 3-4x larger than Disneyland.  (2x larger than Knotts Berry Farm, and a little larger than Magic Mountain.)   Many of my notes below will compare it to DL, as that's perhaps the park I'm most familiar with.

Prices

The first thing we noticed is that the price of entry is 1/2 of the price of Disneyland. The second is that the on-site hotels were remarkably cheap (by comparison.)  The last time we went to Disney/California adventure, we had 4 people, and 1 day passes for us all that included both parks cost $600.  

At Europapark, we bought them with the hotel and paid $88/person for 2 day tickets for a total of about $270.

To compare, a 2 day park hopper ticket at Disneyland/CA costs $232/person.  So we'd have paid $700 for the same tickets at Disnley.

In the park, prices were higher than normal, but not quite as bad as I expected.   Prices at food stands were perhaps 30% more than prices for such things outside the park. 

The hotel was more reasonable as well. We paid about  250 euros per night for 3 people and  an upgraded (+100euros/night) room.  The Disneyland Hotel at the DL park is 510 Euros per night.

Hotel

When we got there, we were able to enter the park right away, and they texted us when the room was ready. Which was super nice.

The  hotel was fantastic. We booked the "American" hotel in the hopes that we could get some more American fare, however the dinner buffet was International themed, and the only "Americanisch" food was hamburgers from the kids section.

The breakfast buffet, however, was to die for.  At least 10 kinds of breakfast meats, mounds and mounds of bacon, sausage and eggs.  Truly fantastic.

The second night, we did the expensive Ala-Carte dinner, and I had a Delmonico Ribeye that was the best ribeye I've ever had. And it was only about 30 Euros, if I recall correctly.  18 Oz Argentinian beef that cut like butter.  

Layout

The park is laid out into "lands"  that cover the various countries/regions of Europe.  So there's an Ireland-land, Scandanavian land, etc. 

Getting around the park could be done by either taking little trains or the monorail.

The nice thing about the layout is you could always find one or two food "specialties" from each country.  Yes, they were somewhat limited, but still quite good. 

Priates of Batavia - Oddly similar to the Pirates of the Carribean ride at DL

The first day we saw about 60% of the park, and the second day, we saw the rest.  We came on the day after school was out for summer, and that day was actually not very crowded (a thursday.)  The next day was MUCH more crowded.  On thursday the average wait was 5 minutes. On friday, 30-40 minutes.

The Europa Park version of the Haunted Mansion.

On a busy day at Disneyland, waits were often well over an hour.

All-in-all, we had a great time, and work didn't intrude (much), so I got some rest. 

I'll post next time about the rides and eerie similarities to rides at Disneyland....

Cheers