Spatzle here I come

My loyal fans I have not forgotten about you, I promise!!  Sorry it has taken me so long to fill you in on my travels but due to lack of time, expense, and internet issues I have not been able to sit down and write.  But never fear today is catch up so be prepared to spend a little while reading.

So after I left crowded crazy London at the crack of dawn I flew to almost Frankfurt also known as Hahn airport out in the middle of nowhere.  I was able to get a bus directly to Heidelberg's main bus station for the fee of like 11 euros.  It was about 8 in the morning and freezing cold in Germany and I had to wait outside for close to a half hour before the bus even showed up.  Then got on the bus after loading my very heavy (almost 22 kilo or 55 lbs) bag into the luggage bin and found a seat.  Of course there was some kind of mysterious issue with the door to the Luggage compartment which the driver tried to figure out for like and hour before calling someone.  More then an hour after our scheduled departure time another bus pulled up and we were asked to move everything into that one so that we could get on our merry way.  Some people were really irritated, me in my sleep deprived state and on no schedule could really have cared less.  Once we got moving I sat and slept more the most part and when I wasn't sleeping I was enjoying the beautiful German countryside.  I got to the Heidelberg main bus station a grabbed the first taxi I could find and gave him the address of the hotel I had booked online only to find out it was not actually in Heidelberg but in a village about 15 minutes away called Bammental.  At that point I was like "I was like I don't care, take me there anyway."  So we drove over the river and through the woods and over the friggin mountain to Bammental.  Luckily I had an extremely cheery taxi driver who spoke some english and was tried to be very helpful.  I got to my hotel and checked in.  It was actually a pretty nice little hotel and I even had CNN and MTV in english!!!!!  I unpacked and sorted through my stuff. I decided to head out see the village or at least what was there and find out about how to get back to Heidelberg.  I found the local grocery store literally behind my hotel and got one of m favorite things, a large german soft pretzel from the bakery in the store and proceeded to carry and eat it during my exploration of the town.  I walked all the way around it in like 20 minutes.  I peaked is some of the shops.  Attempted to find a payphone and call home so say I made it.  I had a hard time adjusting my brain to German especially after spending so many days in London with an Argentinean girl and practicing my spanglish.  After about a hour of general wandering and finding out that the T-Mobile pay phone didn't like me or my credit card and I opted to find a substantial dinner before it got to late.  I had already walked around town and checked out the menus for the 3, yes 3 restaurants.  Believe it or not Bammental had 3 restaurants but like 6 bakeries/cafes.  I went to my first choice and a restaurant in the local Gasthaus but it was closed so I headed off to my second choice.

Yes, this experience gets its own paragraph.  I unfortunately can not remember the name of the restaurant/bar that I went to but I was an oddity to say the least.  I walked in to find a group of about 6 old guys sitting around a table drinking wine or beer with a lone woman drinking tea.  I had seriously shocked faces looking at me when I walked in.  They were all trying to figure out who the hell I was and why I was in their local bar I'm sure.  The woman got up and in german asked me the polite version "what do ya want".  I pointed at a menu and after a quick perusal selected the schnitzel and pomme frite (aka french fries) as well as a big german Hefeweizen.  My saying about eating in Germany is "when in doubt go with the schnitzel" so I did.  Two more men came in after a hard days work and looked at me with a very quizzical expression.  The bartender woman looked at me and said British.  I said American they all nodded.  One of the men tried to talk to me and I attempted to explain I know very little german, attempted being the key word.  But he obviously figured it out and stopped trying after a couple of minutes.  But I did get a smile and toast out of him the rest of the bar.  I ate quietly and had a fun time listening to the German banter going on around me.  After I stuffed myself with food and beer I got the bill and paid.  I thanked the bartender in very broken german and headed out.  I had not even made it down the 4 stairs to the pavement before the rush of talking and laughing started.  So needless to say I caused a stir in Bammental.

I walked back to my hotel with a stop off at the store to buy a soda and had no sooner gotten into my hotel room when it started raining.  Lucky me I was all ready to settle in for the night anyways.  I watched MTV, took a very long, very hot shower that didn't involve pushing a button every 30 seconds to keep the water coming.  I was in bed asleep before 11 with no intention of getting up early.  And I didn't!!  About 9 I finally decided to go do something so I got out of bed and dressed and to a corner bakery for a strange cinnamon roll thing and coffee.  I headed to try and find a train station.  Instead I found a travel agency with a girl who spoke wonderful english.  She set me up with a bus day pass and directed me to the bus stop.  I walked to the stop, which was literally across the street from my hotel and I completely missed it my first 5 laps around town.  And when I got there I discovered the next bus to Heidelberg was not until 1:30.  It was only 11.  So I retreated back to my hotel room and actually did something productive and read up on Greece from my Lonely Planet guide.  I'm still working out where I want to go and its only 10 days away now.  At 1:15 I ran down to the store and got a pretzel for the road and waited dutifully at the bus stop.  I hoped on and got yet another strange look from the driver and got off back where I started at the Heidelberg bus station.  I found the closest internet cafe in the station which was a total rip off (2 € for 30 minutes) so I got on the net and checked my email.  I had a message from my Mom saying I should call our old neighbor Eddie who is in the military and living in Heidelberg to say Hi.  She gave me his phone number along with the number and email address of our German relatives in Oppenau Helmut and Tante Klara who I would be seeing in a matter of days.  I emailed Helmut and asked him to pick me up from the Appenweier train station on Thursday afternoon to spend a couple extra days with the family.  Once that was done I called my mom on the local payphone using my credit card (maybe not such a good idea) and got the 411 on their arrival in Germany and the update on Eddie.  I called Eddie's house and spoke to his lovely wife Anna who informed me that Mavis (Eddie's mom and my old neighbor) had already told them I was in town and would be calling.  They were tied up hat night but would be available the next night for dinner.  We agreed to meet and I told her I was staying in Bammental that night but would be moving to a hotel in the city for my last night.  I told her I would call her the next day to arrange a when and where to meet.  After that I attempted to call Wolfgang, yes, Wolfgang one of the stomach splitting German trio Sam and I met in Killarney, Ireland.  After two attempted phone calls and two disconnects I figured it wasn't meant to be and went out to wander the downtown and find a hotel for the next night.  I walked up to Bismark Platz, one of the main squares of the new city and toured hotels getting prices and availability.  One hotel guy, at Hotel Denner, gave me a really handy map that showed a bunch of hotels and there prices.  I checked a few out on my walk back to the bus station with no such luck.  I used the last of my change to make 2 phone calls and finally found a single room in a hotel in the old city called Hotel Backmulde.  I only had 15 minutes before the bus came to take me back to Bammental so I was bad and grabbed a McDonald's cheeseburger and fries and went back to Bammental.  I wasn't prepared for another "cultural exchange in the bar".  I spent the rest of the night doing practically nothing of interest which was really great.

I was up relatively early the next morning and went out and had my breakfast in the bakery, then headed over to buy a day bus pass.  I walked back to my hotel checked out and made it to the bus in time to catch the 9:30 to Heidelberg.  I made it all the way to the main station then followed the directions and caught another bus to the hotel.  They were nice enough to let me check in at 10:30 in the morning.  I got into my room and settled in, did a little journaling then called Anna.  I ended up talking with Eddie and he said they would pick me up at my hotel at 6:00 and we would all go to dinner.  Once that was settled I headed out and walked through old town Heidelberg, then up to the castle.  Yes, I walked all 300 something steps to the castle and toured around.  I got a couple of picture and saw for the second time the world's largest wine barrel.  Then did the tour of the museum on german pharmacies.  I had a quiet day of walking and at 5 decided to head back and get ready for dinner.  I ended up taking a half hour cat nap, waking up just in time to get cleaned up and go downstairs to meet Eddie.  Eddie came and picked my up in front of my hotel and apologized for the walk back to the car but that he wasn't able to drive down the private street where my hotel was located.  We drove off (Eddie, Anna, their daughter Camilla and me) for a restaurant that thy go to in a village near where Eddie works.  They said it was easier for them because they don't know the downtown all that well.  I couldn't blame them and was happy to have company for dinner.  I had yet another schnitzel but more importantly I had my first taste of SPATZLE!!!!!!  And that was really all I cared about.

For those of you out there wondering what spatzle is it is a german side dish.  A really small dumpling of sort, not quite a noodle but not a full on dumpling.  It's batter you drop into boiling water and pull out when it starts floating then throw in a pan and fry with lots of butter.  It is one of my all time favorite foods and though my Mom can and occasionally does make it, its few and far between and the only other time I get it is in Germany or in a really German restaurant.  I think its more of a southern german thing.  But in any case I love it and would eat it almost everyday if i could.

I had a lovely dinner with Eddie,  Anna and Camilla when she woke up from her car nap.  We caught  up on the general family stuff.  Eddie was a friend of my older brothers.  So I gave him the rundown on them and my parents move.  I was back home by 9:00 as they needed to get little Camilla into bed.  I ended up walking over to get a Starbucks hot chocolate and went back to my hotel and watched Grey's Anatomy in german.   My coco was so thick it was like drinking liquid chocolate pudding.  I ended up pouring some out and watering it down to a normal consistency.

The next morning I was up bright and early and went down to my typical german breakfast included with my room which consisted of rolls, jam, butter, honey, nutella, meats and cheeses.  They also had fruit and cereal.  It was really pretty well rounded.  I ate then checked out and caught the bus to the train station.  Of course leave it to me to get on the bus going the wrong direction so I took the very long scenic route to the station.  But since I had time it was not that big a deal.  I hung out in the train station for an hour before boarding my bus to Appenweier were our cousin Helmut was scheduled to pick me up and take me to Oppenau and the bosom of my Deutsch family.

Special thanks to Eddie, Anna and Camilla for w wonderful dinner and company during my short stay in Heidelberg.