Happy Midsummer!

Or, for my Swedish and Finnish friends, hope you are having a lovely midsommar, or Juhannus.

We celebrated by riding bikes into the English Garden, Munich's big city park. We rode up to a beer garden at the northern border of the park and had dinner, and of course beer. It stayed light until after 10 PM.

Then we rode our bikes home into the city, through the garden, in the dark. All along the river there were groups of people, hundreds of them gathered around fires and candles, eating and drinking and enjoying the evening. There were fireflies in the bushes along the path. And our bike lights were flickering as we rode along.

We made it home safely, despite the beer. What a gorgeous night.

Times are Changing

I just came in from downtown, where I was doing some shopping. The whole pedestrian zone around Marienplatz (the center of town) is full of shoppers, and all the department stores are still open -- several hours after 4:00 PM on a Saturday. Actually, starting a couple of weeks ago, stores are allowed to stay open until 8:00 PM on Saturdays, and many of the big ones are taking advantage of it. Everyone's shopping! Because really, it's so much more convenient than having to get everything done before 4. Of course, that's the American in me talking, but judging by the crowds, I'm obviously not the only one who likes the later hours. (Of course, they're still all closed on Sundays.)

Yesterday was Midsummer's Eve. Today's the longest day of the year. And we have had gorgeous weather. I love the summertime, y'all. In fact, today I bought a bathing suit! Whoo!

This weekend is my family reunion in Mississippi. Marty and I are both so sorry we can't be there, because it's always a really fun weekend. But to make up for it, two of my cousins arrive next Thursday for a visit! I can't wait. I know we are going to have a blast.

Think we should go to Salzburg? Hee hee.

As I said to Katynka this morning...

And we thought La Boheme in GERMAN was funny? Tonight they are performing opera in BAVARIAN here in Munich.

Hahaha!!!

Hohenschwangau and Neuschwanstein, from across the Alpsee. Schwangau, Germany. (Click to enlarge.)

Weekend Fun

Yesterday we drove down to Füssen for a hike. On the way, we bought the most delicious fresh strawberries at a roadside stand. The berries were great, but the best part was the stand itself. I'll put a picture at the end of this entry.

The hike was great, too. We had beautiful weather -- sunny and in the 80s. We walked up to Neuschwanstein and then on to the Marienbrücke (a bridge over a waterfall up above the castle that gives a great view). That's where I took the second picture, below. Then we hiked along a trail around a small lake nearby (the Alpsee), from where I took the picture of Hohenschwangau (the yellow castle). After we finished the hike, Marty jumped in the lake for a swim!

It took about three hours to do all that. Then we drove over to Oberammergau, a little town I first visited a few weeks ago when a friend came to stay. When I was there before, I had the BEST ice cream I'd had since arriving in Germany. Seriously! So we went there and had ice cream yesterday afternoon. (It wasn't far out of our way, but the place is definitely worth a detour.) I had zwei Kugeln (two scoops), one stracciatella (like chocolate chip, kinda) and one amarena (and I don't even know how to describe that stuff, but I think it has cherries in it). Oh, my goodness. It was heavenly. If you are ever in Oberammergau, do not miss the Eis Cafe Paradiso. I'm completely serious, y'all. (Marty agreed that it was great.)

And that was our day! Today Marty went rollerblading at the Olympic park (you may remember that the 1972 Olympics were held in Munich) and tonight we're going to dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe. I'm in the mood for a hamburger...

Click on the pictures to see a larger version:

Spargelzeit!

When we were in Berlin back in April, I saw a big newspaper headline screaming, "Will the asparagus come late this year?" That was my first clue of the madness to come.

Spargelzeit (asparagus time) runs roughly from the end of April to sometime in June, although May is the Spargel heyday. Once Spargelzeit begins, it's common to walk past restaurant after restaurant with signs outside saying nothing more than "Spargel!" What that usually means is that the restaurant offers an entire Spargelkarte (asparagus menu) where you can order everything from soups and salads to main dishes to dessert featuring Spargel. (Actually, the only dessert I saw was Spargeleis, or asparagus ice cream, which I can only imagine is more of a novelty item than an actual delicacy.) But generally people order it just like this, as a main dish, with buttered and parslied potatoes.

I know what you're thinking. "That doesn't look much like asparagus." The thing is, the most popular Spargel here is the white Spargel. It doesn't have as strong a flavor as the green asparagus common in the US, and it also doesn't have the same nutritional value. It's white because the asparagus stalks are not exposed to light during the growth process, hence a lack of chlorophyll, and so they never turn green. It also tends to be allowed to grow much larger than the green asparagus -- but it's not as tough as the green asparagus, either. I have seen entire stalls in the marketplace stacked full of this white asparagus.

I am not generally a big asparagus fan, but I have eaten quite a lot of Spargel this year. It's almost impossible not to, if you eat out at all (although I haven't been tempted by the ice cream). It's good. It has a more delicate flavor than the green asparagus, and when it's not overcooked, it's crisp rather than mushy or tough. But they give you so much of it. Huge platters of Spargel with nothing more than a few potatoes on the side. It's truly a case of giving people what they want. One evening at the beginning of Spargelzeit, I was seated next to a long table of people, probably fifteen or twenty, and at least ten of them ordered the Spargel. When the plates came out, there were audible oohs and ahhs from the entire group. Spargel is very, very popular.

Spargelzeit is just about past, now, for this year. But I enjoyed it thoroughly. It was so much fun to see how people went a little crazy over it for awhile. Spargel took over the culture, with television shows, magazines, newspaper articles, and books. And people were eating it, everywhere I went.

It's summer!

Oh, my goodness, is it ever summer.

It's hot here every day now, and we get those afternoon thundershowers like in Valdosta, Georgia. And it's steamy! Even at night! So today I went out and bought a fan -- and Marty has it in the bedroom where he just went to bed a few minutes ago. I am sweltering in the study and thinking about going in there to steal it from him while he sleeps!

I got my hair cut pretty short today, so maybe that'll help me cool off some. I hope!

Things have been going well here. We're getting out and going places on the weekends, and it feels like the weeks are just flying by. Munich is a great place to be in the summertime. I ride my bike all over the place!

Marty's in training for his big hiking trip later this summer -- he is climbing the Zugspitze (the highest mountain in Germany) with the same guys he climbed the Watzmann with last year. "Training" means a lot of hikes and bike rides. So tomorrow I think we are going down to Füssen to do a hike around the lake there. Maybe we can get some nice pictures of the scaffolding on Neuschwanstein. Let's hope!