Prague (and a Parisian hotel) December 30, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
writing this in an internet cafe in Paris so will be a brief wrap up of the highlights etc… 
to be honest the train trip to prague was boring. the country side was not very interesting, and seeing as we were the only ones in our cabin we locked the door and slept most of the way between krakow and prague. i woke up to look out the window to see so,e gross heavy industrial factories just before we rolled into Prague. and just like Villinius tyhe actual city is spectacular even if the suburbs are gross.
the old town square in Prague is huge and impressive, what you could see through all the xmas market stalls
for xmas eve dinner (trad xmas is celebrated on xmas eve rather than day in eastern europe) we went to a traditional(?) czech pub called U Kalicha (the chalice) – it was fine and fun in a kind of over the top way; over exuberant waiters, tuba and accordian players walking around, a big room jammed full of tourists (the only trad czechs in the place were the staff).
so apart from the BIG beers and strong apertifs what did we have for our xmas dinner far from home (look out he’s talking about food again…) J had smoked ham and homemade poultry pate which she reports was festive and fun if not a great culinary delight. I had a very yummy czech onion soup followed by roast piglet, not gourmet but certainly good enough for a nice xmas dinner.
on xmas day we went and saw a couple of exhibitions and had a general look around the city. the two exhibitions were a ‘best of’ of the photographer Jan Saudek and a collection of works by the artist Alfons Mucha both in the same building. The Saudek was a bit hit and miss but generally good, Mucha was surprising in the diversity of his work, really good to see. We also visited the Sex Machine Museum, slightly bizarre and strangely intruiging. A brief wander through the old Jewish quarter (ask me later to tell you my theory of the origins of the Golem legend if you want, J thinks it is ridiculous (to use a politer version of what she says)); an amble across the Charles Bridge and a look at the Astronomical clock (less interesting than expected).
We also took a brief tour of the old Jesuit astronomical tower and amazing baroque library (yes we are both library nerds – but it was fantastic to see). The 3 foot tall karate chopping guide was amusing inn his own special way, allegedly he was speaking english but was so fast and rabid it was hard to tell.
On our last full day in Prague we went on a 6 hour walking tour highlights of which included: Prague Castle, boat ride on the river, St Vitus Cathederal, St Nicholas church, St Wenceslas chapel, in addition to some other areas we had already covered ourselves but a bit more detail; Prague is preserved very well as during the second world war it was bombed only twice; once by the allies who mistook it for Dresden, Germany??? and once by the retreating Nazis. The walking tour was good but not as good as the one we did in Berlin a couple of years back, more touristy less historical meat.
Speaking of historical meat, we went the next day on the Communism walking tour of Prague, or rather we walked about 20 metres before stopping and listening to a rather dodgy version of history for a bit before telling the guide we were not going to bother contiuing on his tour (yes that average – ‘the jews left voluntarily before the second world war so not an issue for them when the communists started compulsory property acquisitions’). J had a brief argument with the guide before we went our seperate ways.
So instead of the tour we went and saw some more exhibitions in the lavish art nouveau municipal hall – Grete Popper photos from Prague between the two world wars, v. interesting and a collection of paintings and sculpture under the banner of Dekadance which was ok.
that will do for now – later we will blog about the dramas we have had upon arrival in Paris but see the excerpt of j’s lawyerish email to hotel booking agency to get a bit of a feel for the situation…
Dear Customer Service;
we are extremely unhappy with the hotel we booked through you. we registered a complaint yesterday and you contacted the hotel because our room had
- intolerable smell of mould
- mould growing down the walls
- initially no running water which we realised when we could not flush the toilet
- hole in ceiling
- water coming through the wall to such an extent that my bag was wet in the morning, not damp but wet
- water droplets running down the wall and sitting on skirting board in amongst yet more green mould
- when asked to move us, the hotel needed to go to rooms to ascertain if the rooms were in use. This suggests to me that they do not even know who is in their hotel
- we could not be moved that night and so we stayed in this fetid room for a night
- yesterday we got new room but it did not have a working heater (its winter in Paris); the carpet was wet in places; and there was dried vomit stain that i could still smell on the carpet right beside the bed
- the blankets were stained and more than that with visible food or god knows what on them. Consequently we had a cold night.
- Additionally the ceiling is being held together with tape
- in the breakfast room there are multiple holes in the ceiling with exposed wires
- staff was quite rude this morning when we again spoke with them about it.
I have taken photos of these problems above when I have been able, and will forward them to you when i have returned home.
We are aware that we booked a 2 star cheaper end hotel however i am sure that you will agree that this is intolerable no matter the relative cheapness. we have stayed in better youth hostels than this.
it’s not all bad, don’t panic. will fill in later re the good stuff we are seeing here in Paris.
a brief note on Gluhwein December 19, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Germany.2 comments
Lately it seems like every corner you turn around here there is a Weihnachtsmarkt (xmas market); well not quite, in Mannheim there are two (in Berlin i saw at least 5). And at the Weihnachtsmarkts you will find all manner of stalls with xmas related (and competely unrelated) trinkets, decorations etc and lots of foodstalls but the most ubiquitous feature of them all is the Gluhwein (that’s supposed to have an umlaut over the u but i can’t work out how to do it in here) stalls that are everywhere.
Gluhwein is a cheap, hot red wine with herbs (cinnamon, cloves etc – think mulled wine) served in a small mug. The quality varies from stall to stall ranging from the ‘harsh’ to the ‘a bit too sweet’ but after about the third one you stop really ‘tasting’ it anyway (after about the fifth one you will probably have a nasty headache the next morning) but it is a good way to keep warm on a cold evening or lunchtime or…
if you are really adventurous of course you could try the 80 proof “turbo” variety that i have seen signposted at some stalls, personally i have passed on that option.
on another xmas but otherwise unrelated note we went to the MCL xmas party at the uni last night and i won the “Schrottwichtel” game. The game is essentially a version of secret santa except the gift is supposed to be as junkish /crappish / “kitsch” / useless / cheesy / annoying as possible. And my winning entry, well it is hard to describe but was a circular lamp thing that you plug in and has swirling different coloured lights that spin around and a cheesy santa picture smack in the middle of the whole thing- kinda had to see it to understand, very tasteful indeed… (although not as good as some of the other options i considered while trawling through a cheapo store in Ludwigshafen but didn’t get in case they offended anyone’s religious sensibilities at the party – like the lime green plastic alarm clock in the shape of a mosque or the light up faux crystal crucifix with changing ambient colours or the mirror with a lopsided crucifix in the middle and flashing lights around the outside).
the other thing i have really been enjoying about the leadup to xmas here has been the overall lack of crass commercialism thatseems to pervade everything in Australia at thistime of year. sure, there are the xmasmarkts and xmaslights in the streets and decorations in the department stores but it is not nearly as over the top and you can walk into a shop without being blasted with endless loops of christmas carols being played everywhere you go (i hate those – i especially used to hate it when i worked in retail and spent many a xmasseason in a busy shopping centre behind a counter having to hear the same bloody carols over and over and over and over all day).
anyway, gotta go and pack my bag as tomorrow we are off on our last jaunt around before packing up and heading home – Krakow, Prague, Paris. So may not be much blogging action here over the next couple of weeks but check in anyway as we may update if we get the chance.
cheers and have a good festive season whichever way you want to celebrate it.
One room, one income, twice the price December 10, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Food, Germany.add a comment
A few people have asked us what its been like living here for an extended period as opposed to being on holidays. So we thought we’d provide a snapshot for you.
As the title to this post suggests – its rather expensive over here and we don’t have a lot of room. But one thing at a time…
How much do you get for your money?
Basically, at the supermarket things look about the same price as they are in Adelaide – just remember that its in Euros. It’s not quite double the cost – more like 2/3 again to 3/4 again after the exchange rate. At first I balked at paying the higher prices, but after a while I stopped doing conversions as it was a pointless exercise and served only to make me worry about money which I have always refused to do. Don’t misunderstand me – it’s not like I behave like a millionaire when we’re not, but rather I like to be practical and sensible with money and work with what I’ve got rather than stressing about what I might not have. It’s been an essential psyhological state while we’ve been here.
So how much money do we survive on each week?
We budget for 80E a week in groceries for the 2 of us – for all groceries, and any food that may be bought out at the uni cafeteria. That’s about $140.00. Noting the above exchange rate, it requires som juggling at the supermarket! Noteably, the Germans do somethings more cheaply and sensibly – like selling half loaves of bread, and a lot of food gets packaged in smaller serves so you waste less and have to buy less in the first place. Also, recycling is such a big thing here that bottles can be ‘cashed’ in at the store, and taken off the price of your groceries – which is great (and creates a bin lady style eye for random discarded bottles at uni – when you can charge the amount back to your photocopying cash on the student card!)
Other things that are expensive include the washing machines (by way of example) – its about $2 50 per wash, which is expensive when there are 2 of us, and more than one load needs to be done. So admittedly I have copied other residents, and rig the washing machine with dental floss (I’ll explain later if you want to know) so that my washing token can be reused for multiple washes.
NB. This of course can only happen if one can actually get a washing machine to use – as we have 3 when all are working for about 200 rooms – some of which are doubles – so about 250 people. Sunday afternoon is never a good time! It costs extra to dry clothes (when the driers work) so we decided to lash out and buy and 8E clothes airer which I have fallen in love with – and stagger our washing over the week. The end result is that our room looks and smells like a laundry.
So could you live for 6 months in one room?
and share it with another person, and share the shower, toilet and kitchen with 4 others that you don’t know?
We have – and frankly its been fine. See pictures for visual reference. Cosy but fine.
So what have we learned about ourselves as a result of all of this?
That we have had a great time with a lot less and have not ever felt deprived. Sure, every now and then I want a pretty top, or shoes or to go out for dinner and we can’t – but that is no different to when we were in Adelaide with 2 incomes and things were half the price. In other words we have been shown that
(a) without realising it we (and the rest of the western world) waste money on things that seem essential. We think we need big houses, backyards, a cupboard of food that could sustain you for a month, that certain essentials like more than one towel each, more than one frying pan or knife are too terrible to contemplate. It’s not. A berliner bun for a pat on the back after an exam is fine – I don’t need more than an 80c reward.
(b) We have really come to like no tv. And we don’t have a radio either (my world receiver is poo and gathering dust). It’s really lovely to live an uncluttered life (in a very cluttered room). I like coming ‘home’ and talking to Michael about what he did, and telling him about what I learnt at uni, or making plans together, or reading the same books and then talking about what we liked or didn’t. TV is a scourge, and distracts, and dumbs everything down -every thing is given to you and you just stare at it – hypnotically. TV wastes time – in the true sense of the word – as in treats a valuable resource as though it was rubbish.
So are we going to get an eco loo, throw out the tv and never switch on the radio?
No – but we’re certainly different for this trip – and certainly more likely to recycle, less likely to want and want and want, and think that if can’t have what we want then we are suffering or poor. We’re not – not even remotely. It’s not how much you have got – its what you do with it. And before any one says – that’s easy for a lawyer to say as you earn a million bucks a year – I don’t – how much exactly I earn is frankly no one’s business but – lets put it this way – Michael earns more than me. Now you didn’t expect that did you??
How did we manage to go travelling?
We saved like crazy before we came and have budgetted well since we got here – there is no pot of gold just a diminishing bank account and increasing credit card debt. And we don’t regret any of it.
The Xmas Gerkin – in lieu of a tree – much better for the environment!
Baltic Adventures pt. III – Food December 2, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Random Observations, Travel.2 comments
Q:how do you know if the food in a restaurant is good?
A:Jerusha breaks out in a sweat while eating and Michael spends half the meal unconsciously smiling at his plate. (at least according to J).
First off, let me just say appearances to the contrary i am not obsessed with food. However when traveling it is part of the bigger experience and in the case of the Baltic states we visited part of my bigger belly too… i am not going to bore you with a list of everything we ate while in Latvia and Lithuania but a few observations and one recommendation for anyone who is interested.
Riga
while walking around near the park on the edge of Old Town we decided to get a snack mid-morning, partly for a snack and partly to try and warm up a bit in the cold – so we ducked into the nearest snack bar/cafe place and ordered the first thing we saw which happened to be hot, sweet quark and cranberries stuffed into a butter pastry (sort of like a croissant), i mention it because it tasted bloody good.
For our anniversary we had dinner at a place called Black Monks – very swanky. J ordered pork knuckle with brown sugar and mustard – and was a little surprised when that turned out to be most of a pig’s foot (minus the gelatinous toes bit) and roasted garlic and mushroom soup followed by lemon sorbet (in a whole frozen lemon), soaked prunes, berries and cardamon. I had cream of broccoli soup with a big cheese/egg puffed lid topping that for some reason J found quite amusing, bourbon roast pork (yummmmm) and some apparently famous french chef’s tri-chocolate terrine with mint custard. All in all a splendidly fine meal befitting an anniversary dinner. (This was also the first night of sitting one table away from Dating Man who was mentioned in a previous blog entry).
Riga seems to have a thing for theme restuarants. We went to two during our stay. The first one (and the second appearance of Dating Man) was called dADa. The theme was the dada art movement and was represented by things like mismatched tables, chairs, cutlery etc and the waitresses all wearing ‘unique’ outfits which largely consisted of shirts worn backwards or bras/corsets on the outside etc
The food at dADa was fine but nothing special, what was more interesting was watching the way it was run. To our (admittedly ignorant and speculative eyes) it looked like it was probably owned by young Russian mafia types. While we where there we could see a small group of young Russian blokes, all dressed in expensive/flash (but not necessarily ‘nice’) clothes clearly watching the proceedings and giving out occasional orders then going over and taking a wad of cash out of the till before leaving and hopping into a shiny big black SUV parked outside. That and the barman had a tattoo on his neck that looked suspiciously close to the sort of thing i had seen in a book of Russian prison tattoos. Now it may all be coincidence or wild inaccurate speculation on our part so if you live in Riga and read this don’t get offended and track me down or anything…
oh and for afters we had a cocktail that was made of hot cranberry juice and the local ’Riga Black Balsam’ which is apparently made with 24 different herbs and such and was first concocted in 1752. Supposedly it is credited with curing Catherine the Great of Russia who fell ill while visiting Riga, i expect the 45% alcohol content may have had something to do with that.
The other theme resturant we visited was called Red Fred – this was a steak and beer place (something like 24 different beers on tap) and had a fireman theme. kind of odd but the steak was good.
The other food place in Riga that i should mention, only because J got so excited by it, was the Cinnamon Cafe which had an endless array of goodies flavoured with J’s favourite spice.
Vilnius
In Vilnius we had a number of good meals but i will limit this already long and boring account to 3 specific mentions.
Gras’as – this restaurant was notable mostly for its wacky decor. The top area had astroturf all over the walls and ceiling and glass topped tables resting on giant seated garden gnomes, and the lower area was all brick tunnels/caverns with light shades that had pictures of gherkins all over them. That and the radio was tuned to an all 80s station (was weird being in Lithuania and hearing Crowded House). The food was fine with the standout (at least for me) being the baked potato cut in half and stuffed with mashed potato, mashed garlic and sour cream.
And now the recommendation. If you are ever find yourself in Vilnius make sure you go for a meal at Ukrainos Vakarai! As you can probably guess by the name this is a Ukranian restaurant. They serve really, really good, uncomplicated, traditional homestyle food. Very hearty and the perfect thing for a couple of cold and tired travellers on a Lithuanian winters eve.
So what did we have; J had Ukranian borsch followed by ‘rustic veal’ which came in a earthern-ware pot and was full of veal, carrot, onion, peas, cream etc with a bread ‘puff’ lid on top. I had potavian borsch (the main difference i could ascertain was mine also had potato dumplings in it), and for main i had a fantastically melt-in-your-mouth tender beef tenderloin rolled and stuffed with bacon, onion etc with an amazing chunky white sauce. All mouth wateringly good in a simple, hearty ‘slow’ food way.
To go with this we of course could not bypass the Nemiroff Ukranian vodka with chili and honey – very very smooth and a nice after burn, this stuff could be very dangerous as it goes down so easy but has a mighty kick. J suggested we have this for dessert, i seriously considered this as a reasonable suggestion… for at least 15 seconds, we had it with our meals instead. For dessert we actually had ‘Cake the Evening Ukraine’ (at least that’s what it was called on the menu) – a hot carrot and fruit type cake which was great.
Our last night in Vilnius we had dinner at Cili Kaima – a theme type resturant that looked like a big barn with lots of farm equipment and wait staff in silly checkered uniforms. There were also a couple of live chooks guarding the front door, at least one of which seemed confused as to what time of day it was as it kept crowing. J had chicken cutlet, i wonder if it was related to the door chooks, maybe that was the cause of the crowing?? I had giant mince dumpling things with a creamy bacon sauce. The size and number of the dumpling things nearly did me in but somehow i struggled through…
A dishonourable mention goes out to the lying waiter at the cafe we had lunch at on the second day who thought because we were tourists who didn’t speak Lithuanian or Russian that he could take advantage and rip us off.
Well that’s enough prattle from me about food for the moment, all this writing is making me hungry… i’m sure that it won’t be the last blog entry about gastronomic minutiae though, i’ll probably write something about the Mannheim xmas markt and the local gluhwein we sampled last night soon.
fondue and other stuff November 15, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Germany, Live Music, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
well this entry is something of a grab bag report on a few recent activities ’round these parts… here’s my take on stuff (i occasionally waffle on so apologies for the length of this post – i am trying to catch up while i still remember stuff) and i think J will also have a few words to say about some of this as well.
Heidelberg revisited x 2
we’ve been back to Heidelberg twice in recent weeks and both times the trip home which should have taken 45 mins or so blew out to 2+ hours each time (late night trams with unusual routes or missed connections etc). the first visit was one sunday arvo when we went across the river from the schloss/old town and hiked up the side of the hill along a path called the Philosophenweg (Philosopher’s Way) – apparently the views from here were inspirational for Hegel, personally i found them nice but lacking any prompting of profound philosophical inspiration (between wheezing and trying to catch my breath). The initial path up to the philosophenweg is called the schlangeweg(snake way) and is a steep narrow walled in windy path which should be named neck-breaker way, lots of cobblestones and very steep steps, especially dangerous at night – and that’s just the physical danger – on the way back down in the fast receding light later in the day J was grabbed by a dirty old perv as he walked past.
Beyond the main walkway we headed further up the hill looking for an ampitheatre i’d read about and discovered the area (around the top of the hill) was the site of a celtic tribal fortified/walled settlement, then later a Roman temple and still later a monastery (named Michael Kloster no less!) We also found the ampitheatre or ‘Thingstatte‘ built by the Nazis in 1934/35 which was impressive looking for an outdoor ampitheatre on the side/top of a hill. After nearly killing J (asthma) climbing up the side of the hill to the ampitheatre and kloster ruins we headed back across the river to the old town and had a great dinner in a pub which brews it’s own beers including one which holds the Guinness Book World Record for strongest alcohol content at 33% – i didn’t actually try this one opting instead for a seasonal dark winter beer which still had a pretty strong kick – dinner for me (i know i keep banging on about food but seriously it has been too good to not mention) was wild goulash with cranberry followed by an insanely good apple in vanilla sauce concoction. The second visit was to a different pub with a bunch from the uni for dinner which was also good, again more on site brewed seasonal beers (i again opting for the dark winter house beers – yummy), along with ‘grandmother’s’ roast pork with a side serve of red cabbage (and by side serve i mean a whole plate which i demolished in quick fashion and groaned about several hours later).
Jazz
we also went along to another gig as part of the Enjoy Jazzfestival (slightly kicking myself for not getting to more shows but limited time, funds and organisational ability/laziness all played a part). This show was also at the Old Firestation in Mannheim which is actually a really cool venue. we saw Nouvelle Vaguewho after the first few songs warmed up and were better than i expected them to be. their schtick is breathy French accented vocals, poppy, jazzy covers of new wave standards such as ‘Love Will Tear Us Apart’ etc (The support duo were appaling however).
Cinema
On saturday the new English language movie started in Mannheim (they seem to show about one a month) so we went and saw ‘Children of Men’which was surprisingly good if a little slow to start and a bit heavy handed on ‘making a point’, nice gritty look about it with some quite graphic violence all done with an artsy bent. Set in near future London after the whole world’s population has become sterile i won’t say anymore in case you want to go see it. Also it has Julianne Moore who is usually good (this being no exception) and Clive Owen (J was disappointed at not getting to see him nekkid) with Michael Caine (using the same voice he uses for every character he has ever played). still quite a good flick mostly – i’d give it 3.5 out of 5.
xmas
the xmas decorations and advent calendars are out in full force in all the shops so to prove i am not a total bah-humbug scrooge i bought J an advent calendar and agreed to the purchase of a xmas decoration for our room. (just quietly the advent calendar was purchased with a small ulterier motive – it is full of lindt chocolates and i have gallantly offered my assistance in eating them – purely to save J from lactose belly if she eats too many herself…) and also it looks kind of cool, a giant Babushka (click pic below to see bigger version). given the cosiness of our room a xmas tree is completely out of the question but we have settled on a decoration of a local made handcrafted blown glass christmas gherkin, now we just need to find somewhere to hang it…
Switzerland
and to bring us up to date we have just returned from 3 days in Geneva. Geneva itself is pretty but kind of bland and lacking in personality i felt. very much a transitory sort of town with a high turnover of population. and it’s expensive(for example a 500ml bottle of coke in a local convenience store was 3.80 Swiss Francs which equates to roughly about 4 Australian dollars, a McDonalds Big Mac meal (small) was about 14 or 15 Swiss Francs – not that i ate Macca’s but gives you an idea).
this trip was organised by the Mannheim Uni MCL course and i’m sure J will talk more about the UN visit she went on and the quiz night at the pub (i had a migraine so spent monday night curled up in the hostel – and i think the resulting next morning dopiness was partially to blame for the honest mistake of standing around for 5 minutes in the girls shower room – i didn’t see the sign and for some reason thought there was only one unisex shower block).
In Geneva on the monday we went to the Red Cross and Red Cresent Museum which was very good but i failed to fully appreciate as the aforementioned migraine was already starting to kick in at that point.
On the tuesday while J and the other uni types were off at the UN observing Human Rights committee meetings i spent the day ambling aimlessly about the city. As i said, a nice but not hugely exciting city. Lake Geneva is visually pretty appealing to look at.
i did however get told off by some old nana in rapid fire French, until she realised i didn’t understand a word she was saying and switched to rapid fire English. i was taking a photo of some graffiti and she came running over (well hobbling but quickly); “these are terrible things written here, the young people they write them at night, it is awful, you should not take pictures of such things, you go now, take pictures of beautifull things in Geneva” followed by some walking – stick pointing/waving in the direction of the old part of town and a look that showed she was serious.
Tuesday night we went and had a traditional fondue dinner (well i had fondue, J opted out completely for health reasons) with the whole group and a guest judge or some high-falutin official from the UN, i’m sure J will fill you in on the details of why he was important. The cafe was small and cramped and when we first walked in the smell hit you like a wall, closest i can describe was like hot, sweaty old socks, but once i started dipping my bread chunks into that molten cheese, woo-hoo it was good (or at least what i could still taste after the first mouthful burnt off the top layer of my tongue).
On Wednesday morning before getting back on the train i went on the guided tour of the UN European HQ in the Palais d’Nations which was really good, very interesting and informative and definitley worthwhile. it was an hour tour but was full of info and saw quite a bit. a lot of serious world-affecting stuff goes on in that place and was cool to have a look around.
oh and yes we did buy some swiss chocolate, unfortuantley the use by date is some time in the next week or so i am sure, guess we’ll just have to eat it ourselves…
that’s it from me for now. on Saturday we head off for our anniversary trip (a year already, where the hell has that time gone???) and will be gone for 8 days so no updates probably till we get back with stories to tell of Baltic adventures… (Unless J wants to expand on her Geneva excursion and the like before then).
Frankfurt round-up November 6, 2006
Posted by michael in Art, Food, Germany, Random Observations, Travel.add a comment
so we have just spent two days ambling about Frankfurt am Main. in no particular order here are some haphazard notes and observations:
Frankfurt is known for 3 things; banking – didn’t do any, international trade fairs – weren’t any on, museums – managed to check out 4 (well 3 and one small exhibition space).
the first thing you notice is all the glass skyscrapers (Frankfurt was pretty much flattened in Allied bombing raids in WW II so post-war boom allowed for massive expansion – skywards…) and they seem to be quite proud of them judging by the number of postcards and posters i saw showing the city skyline with the heights of about 15 or 20 different buildings noted for comparison
the second thing you notice are the drug dealers. lots of very obvious deals being done very openly around the place. on Sunday night about 7pm on a very busy street i overheard one guy offering a menu “you want some Ecstasy, you want some speed, you want some…”
noticed quite a lot of beggers and a few homeless people too, including one couple in a makeshift lean-to complete with matteress under some bushes next to a major road. several of the homeless people were shouting very loudly to themselves, quite animated.
the whole city has a very transient feel about it and a distinct lack of personality which i guess makes sense given that it is a major travel hub with biggest or second biggest (i’m not sure) railway station and airport in Europe
there is also a pretty big red light district too. the city guide that we got for free at the hotel (a big chain hotel that was supposedly 4 star – we got cheap last minute rates – but i presume whoever did the rating didn’t stay in the same room we did – not that it was dreadful or anything but decidedly not 4 star) had pages of ads for escort services, maybe to cater for the guys on trade fair junkets…
we went and had a look through Alt Sachsenhausen which is one of the night-life spots apparently but after seeing a few dodgy looking characters and several pools of dried blood (seriously i mean pools – looked like enough to have come from a broken nose or a serious cut) that were still on the ground late sunday afternoon we decided to go walking elsewhere
saw the very effective Jewish memorial which consists of walls with metal cubes each showing the name of a Frankfurt born Jew that was murdered during the Holocaust. not nearly as interesting or moving were the two junkies shooting up on the park bench nearby.
and of course being a couple of nerds we went to art museums. there is a bunch of seriously good museums in Frankfurt but given limited time we managed the following:
Ikon Museum – collection of Russian religious paintings – v. interesting
Portikus – this small exhibition space is housed in a building stuck off the side of one of the many bridges across the river Main about 1/3 of the way across the river. on the day we went there was an installation piece by Paul Chan which walks that fine line of post-modern art between interesting and too-clever-for-its-own-good wank – sometimes of course the wankiness is of a just plaim dumb nature. J’s initial reaction – “is this some kind of joke?”. the piece made more sense after i read the explanation of what it supposedly represented but i’m still not sure which side of the line it fell on for me.
Museum fur Moderne Kunst (Kunst is the German word for Art) – this is a really interesting building (apparently nicknamed ‘slice of cake’ by the locals because of its wedge shape) and a really interesting display space as well.there was a feature exhibition of pieces by an artist i can’t recall the name of which was rather underwhelming (falling on the wank side of the aforementioned equation largely in my opinion) and a selection of other works which were of variable appeal- some bad, some good, some really good. i have to admit for me the space itself was generally more interesting than most of the art. also we had lunch in the museum’s cafe and at the risk of banging on about food again i have to say mine was mighty, mighty fine (i may have been ranting about how good it was and making stupid food appreciation noises at the time) – for the record i had Creme of Water Chestnut with Pomegranate Soup (lip-smackingly good) and Ostrich Steaks with Lemon-Caramel sauce (the sauce was brilliant – the best way i can (badly) describe the (small) steaks was that they tasted like being lighter but with a similar texture to lamb minus the red meat taste).
Schirn – we saw two exhibitions here. ‘I Like America’ which documented 1820′s Germany’s obsession with the American Wild West which was only mildly interesting. And, ‘Anoynm’ which was a bit of a hit-and-miss affair with echoes of ‘the author is dead’ concept where the entire exhibition (artists and curator) is made up of pieces where the artists name is not disclosed. some of the pieces where interesting but nothing really stood out as exceptional to me.
maybe i’m a philistine/ignoramus or maybe i just had expectations that were too high but i found most of the art we managed to see in Frankfurt was pretty average. Just the luck of the draw for what exhibitions were showing while we happened to be there i guess or maybe, as i said, it’s just me…
the Schirn museum bookshop… well i may have gone a bit silly and spent up on few things but they did have a sale on and stuff was going cheap – the only thing that stopped me from walking out with armloads of gear was the cost of sending it all back home
on the sunday evening while we were out ambling about we came across a protest (we seem to make a habit of finding them accidentally while in Germany – it happened in 2004 in Berlin too) admittedly this was a very very small protest but still… Around one of the main Platz there was a group of hunters heralding in the new hunting season with their hunting horns (as in musical instruments you blow in not things that grow out of your head) and they were calling back and forth with another group of hunters in the next square over. And trying their damndest to drown them out (unsuccessfully) was a motley group of 5 or 6 protesters yelling, chanting and whistling holding up a few banners which said something along the lines of ‘hunting is murder’ (my German is not good enough to translate exactly – considering i know about 3 words total but that was the general gist). the protesters were giving it a good go but the large crowd that had gathered to watch were all applauding the hunters after each round of horn blowing. when we asked a nearby shopkeeper about it he said, “it happens every year”.
at least the horn blowers were mostly in tune which is more than can be said for the Asian guy who was in the main pedestrian shopping strip on sunday night with electric guitar (way out of tune – even to my cloth ears) and amplifier and mic who made up for his lack of ability with sheer enthusiasm, where he didn’t know the words he just screeched and his guitar playing i suppose came somewhere in the vicinity of chords occasionally. it was pretty funny, he even had the rock god stage moves down with lots of strutting and jumping etc. he had a small crowd developing when we went past. a bit further down the way was a hippy looking dude playing acoustic guitar and singing (both in tune) and he had no audience whatsoever. i preferred the dodgy screeching Asian guy by far as well.
and to wrap up just in case this all comes across the wrong way i want to point out that i did enjoy my time spent in Frankfurt (aside from worrying about sick relatives back home) and it probably has some very lovely areas but these were my general impressions of what i saw. J may wish to say more or different things later.
All Saints Curry Night November 2, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Food.add a comment
It may not be the most conventional way in which to honour the dead, but Mannheim was the host of the All Saints Curry Night at the IBZ (said eebeezed) communal kitchen. Some of the fabulous curry pastes from my mum were put to work and we had a feast! It was a public holiday here and very cold so a warm night of spicey food was perfect.
Of special note are the following:
Joanna’s Butter Chicken and her ‘hot like hell’ Bombay potatoes for all round best curries.
Phil made the ‘Ringburner’ of the evening – no mean feat seeing as I had had to explain what stir fry meant. It was suspected that he used half the amount of meat required, didn’t include all (or perhaps any) of the coconut milk. Consequently it was incredibly hot but still a very tasty rendition of Chicken Rendang.
I think that we might have cleared out Mannheim of all tins of coconut milk, and our arteries are clogging from the saturated fat, but it was worth it. Curry and German beer – not much of a better combination around.
Click on the photo for some curry makin’ action shots.
Belgium-a-rama October 25, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Food, Travel.add a comment
On Monday we returned from the land of waffles, beer and chocolate – poorer, fatter and happier.
We caught the train from Frankfurt to Brussels (3.5 hours on the Intercity Express). Belgium is a very interesting mix of French and Dutch languages and cultures – which was a nice break from German. On Saturday we went wandering the lovely streets – admiring the Dutch architecture and splendour built off the spoils from the rape and pillage of the Congo. There is also a lot of Art Nouveau – including fabulous stall at the local flea market selling bakelite jewellery and buttons and Art Deco glass jewellery too.
We had some of the BEST chocolate in the worldat Pierre Marcolinni’s- and I’m not just saying that. We have been trying not to eat the small selection we brought home all in one go – but I am afraid that there is ABSOLUTELY NO CHANCE of any of it coming back to Australia. Sorry … no not really actually.
We sampled the famous Belgium waffle – with Raspberry sauce which was exquisite – as was the Flemish tapestry and very fine lace. One night we had a 3 course set menu with Belgian specialities, on the famous restaurant strip in Brussels. Shrimp croquettes were for entree, I had a rabbit leg baked with vegies and cream, M had a beef stew cooked in dark beer. Of course everything was served with fries as the Belgians’ claim that they invented them (which of course George Bush was too stupid to know when French fries were renamed ‘Freedom Fries’ at the White House when the French refused to back his idiotic war in Iraq… anyway back to the point at hand…) we both passed on the HUGE bowls of mussels which are the Belgium national dish – cooked in white wine and cream. M doesn’t like seafood particularly (although he coped with the shrimp croquettes) and I find mussels gross for some reason. It was all topped off with vanilla icecream and cream and chocolate. We had a glass of Belgian dark beer (with an alcohol content comparable to wine) with dinner and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.
I have a tip for anyone travelling to Brussels – get a map – it is an impossibly rambling little alley way after little alleyway kind of city. Great for just ambling through – frustrating if you are trying to get home in the rain and you don’t have an umbrella, as we discovered. I was secretly enjoying it – M said I was dawdling like a Penguin! Rude!!
The next day we caught the train to Antwerp which is only 35mins away. Antwerp is super over the top re shops and glamour pusses – not very exciting for us it must be said but great if you want to buy really expensive clothes (very nice admittedly – just 600 E a pop) or their famous diamonds. We did however, find the Antwerp Zoo- which was full of really great 19th century enclosures that had been retained for their own interest or adapted very well to provide modern enclosures for the animals without losing their own special style. Of special interest was the elephant enclosure and the fact that they had an Okapi stud. Very exciting. I also saw a barbarosa, bongo antelope, warthog, more piranhas, yaks, sea otter, copyu rats (giant), tree porcupines, 2 gorilla and countless other animals that we don’t have in Australians zoos that I have been to. It was really good fun.
On Monday – our last day we travelled just north of Brussels to the Atomnium – a left over monument to 1950s kitsch – built for the world Expo held in Brussels in 1958. It is currently used for a museum – it’s a bit hard to explain other than it is a iron molecule enlarged 165 billion times. You’ll have to have a look at the picture below. That says it all really.
So apart from the general grottiness of European cities and the constant smell of urine in any enclosed space – boys just wee anywhere it seems – we had really great time and enjoyed the change of scene and pace. Brussels is really quite funky and fun without being at all forced or pretentious. A good place to pound the pavement and soak up the atmosphere and the waffles, and the beer and the…..
[Addendum by M]: there was also a prominent sticker/stencil street art scene evident in Brussels which was pretty cool.
How much does my mum love me? How much do I love her? October 20, 2006
Posted by jlsd in Food, Uncategorized.add a comment
Today I received what was described to me as a ‘small package’ by my mum. It was huge and stuffed to the brim with magnificent Asian curry pastes and chilli mixes and tasty tasty tastinesses. And all becausue I mentioned that Asian food is (a) expensive, (b) not very good (c) generally hard to come by over here. So I have now got as much satay sauce, and rendang paste as a girl could ever need or want. We are so impressed with it that M took a photo and we have arranged it to decorate our table in our room.
THANKYOU MUMMY!!! And Andy and Janey for assisting in the choosing and sending etc.
Oh – and how much would all of this have cost me if bought in Mannheim? At least 70 Euro – that’s about $120 Aussie bucks! If we don’t eat it all I shall sell it on the black market. Click on the image to see the contents below.
flavour of the week September 22, 2006
Posted by michael in Food, Germany.add a comment
this weeks new taste discovery at the markt…
espresso yoghurt pudding – yummmmmm!!
**update – oh i almost forgot – cinnamon icecream too!!!
