Winter Wonderland

I've decided to interrupt the recap of my Christmas vacation with an observation about the difference between snow storms in the US and in Germany.

I don't really feel like we've had any snow storms here.  It's been more like days upon days of snow.  I think places like Buffalo or Minnesota get snow like this, but most places I have lived get a singular snow storm, which freaks everyone out, and then spend a week trying to get back to "normal."  This is normal here.  I think we're going on 5 days right now - with a day long break in the middle somewhere. Early in December we had a few days of constant flurries, where nothing stuck, but there was white stuff floating down from the sky, but now we've got actual snow, and the temperatures have not gotten above freezing in a couple of weeks.  However, for all the constant snow, we have only gotten about 6-8 inches total, or at least that's the amount that is sitting on top of the picnic tables outside my academic building.

You might be wondering how people react to the snow here.  Well, unlike in the US, there are no people rushing to the grocery store to purchase milk and toilet paper.  Nothing has closed down, but again we only have about 6 inches of snow.  Only the major streets have been plowed with regularity.  The sidewalks are plowed occasionally.  In the old part of town with the cobblestones, it's every man for himself.  Every so often a street sweeper will come through and "sweep" the snow so that there's a thin layer of mushy brown slush everywhere.  It's not so much a Winter Wonderland as it is a slippery brown slushy nightmare.

Oh well.  At least we're getting a break and some above freezing temperatures!

Christmas Vacation: Part 2

The first weekend, we had plans to go to the Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt with my friend Andrea and her fiance, so Saturday I gave Andy a little tour of the university and the city.  Unfortunately that first weekend it was SUPER cold and snowy.


We went up to the building where I have most of my classes and grabbed a hot chocolate in the cafeteria there.  Well actually, it's a little trick that I found out the other day.  You press the cappuccino button and it gives you hot chocolate.  One day they are going to fix it and I'll actually get a cappuccino, but for now it's tasty hot chocolate.  And rather hot.  I showed him a couple of other buildings at the university before heading back to the Altstadt.  Then I let him see the two grocery stores where I do most of my shopping.  I think Andy was a little surprised by the lack of selection and the soviet style lines, but it was a Saturday and the stores would be closed on Sunday, so it made sense to me.  :)


That evening I made dinner and we headed out to grab a drink.  Collegium, the place right around the corner from my dorm was pretty packed.  We were going to go to a place that my friend Bobby recommended just down the street, but it was full too and most of the places on the Marktplatz were also full, so we decided to go to the Schlosscafe. We ran into a friend of mine there and after a drink or two headed back to my dorm since we had to get up early to go to Stuttgart the next morning.


On Sunday we met Andrea and Cap at the train station and headed off to Stuttgart.  The Stuttgarter Weihnachtsmarkt goes on for a couple of weeks (unlike the Tübingen one that is only for a weekend).  It was a 5 minute walk from the train station, but most of that was underground.  We wandered around, drank some Glühwein, ate some bratwurst and a Dampfknödel filled with cherries and covered in warm vanilla sauce and looked at the various stands.  It was however REALLY cold.  After almost freezing we headed to a pizza restaurant that Cap and Andrea had been to their last time in Stuttgart.  


The place is called Vapiano, and in looking at their Web site they apparently have a couple of locations in the DC area, so we'll have to check them out the next time we're up in DC.  The concept is fairly simple.  You get a card when you enter.  Then you decide what you want.  There are various stations where you can order pizza, pasta, salad or drinks, and if it's something that takes a little longer they will give you a buzzer to let you know when to pick it up.  We got a pizza and a salad to share along with a soda and an orangina.  I don't recall how much it was, but not overly expensive.  They also have fresh herbs on the tables so you can add basil, rosemary or whatever else to your pizza/pasta if you want.


We headed home on the train.  We rode there and back using a Baden-Württemberg ticket, which costs 26 Euros for up to 5 people.  Though there were only four of us, this meant that each of us rode round trip for 6.50 which is really reasonable.  With the ticket you can also ride on the public transportation systems in the cities as well, which means if we had wanted to go someplace else around Stuttgart we could have done that with the ticket as well.  Honestly it's a very reasonable way to travel.


The next day I was going to pick up the rental car so that we could have some other fun adventures around the area, so I got up early, took the train to Reutlingen, figured out what bus to take, and picked up the car.  I had ordered a manual transmission Seat Ibiza - which is a subcompact cheap little vehicle.  Instead they gave me an automatic 4 Door VW Golf.  This was actually really lucky because I had been looking at the Golf as a potential next car so it gave me an opportunity to drive it and see what I thought of it.  I picked it up, got a little lost getting out of Reutlingen, but made it back to the house in one piece.  


After eating breakfast, we decided to head over to the Ritter Sport Factory to check out the factory store and the Museum.  Unfortunately the museum was closed, but the store was open so we bought some discounted chocolate. The prices are definitely better than what you find in the store, and in the back section they have their "irregular" chocolates that they can't sell in stores, but which taste just the same.  We ended up getting a 1 assortment of chocolate, some minis and a bag that I have wanted since I saw it the first time years ago.  Then we headed back to the city to meet up with friends for coffee.


We ran into my friends on the way home and they were headed to Kalendar for a döner, so we told them that we would meet them there.  We dropped everything off in my room and headed over to eat.  After eating we went to a bar/cafe called Tangente Jour.  It is here that Andy encountered Cherry Glühwein.  I think it kinda changed his life, because now it is going to be his fall/winter "thing."  He's decided that he wants to learn how to make really good Cherry Glühwein and we're going to have a fall/winter party this year and invite people over for treats and Cherry Glühwein.  I'm all for it.  It was damn tasty.


Not much to report after that.  We headed on a couple of driving trips to Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Neuschwanstein the next two days which will be the recap in the next post.

Restaurant: Wok-In Asia Imbiss

In keeping with my Chinese food theme, we thought we would try out the other Chinese place in Tübingen while Andy was here.  Wok-In Asia Imbiss is on the way from my dorm to campus and I've walked past it many times, but had not yet gone in.  

The decor is far less kitchy than at Asia Bambus, but to be honest I'm not sure if this is a plus or minus.  At any rate, there were plenty of tables, and the service was good.  My review of this place is tainted by the fact that I was coming down with a cold and that we didn't order what we usually do.  Typically we will order the Kung Pao chicken at a Chinese restaurant as a baseline, but since Andy had just eaten Kung Pao (Or Gung-Bao as they say in Germany) he wanted something different. 

We started out with soup.  Since I was starting to come down with something I figured a nice spicy soup was appropriate, so I got the Kung Fu Suppe, which was designated as "scharf" or spicy.  It was indeed spicy, but I attribute that to the chili oil that was liberally added to the soup and which basically sat on top of the broth.  I probably should have gone for the Peking Soup again - since that's the closest they have to Hot and Sour soup, but oh well.  Andy once again got Chicken soup with veggies, since they didn't have egg drop soup.  The soups were ok, but I think they were probably better at the other place.

For a main dish I got the #12 Knusprig gebackenes Schweinefleisch m. Gemüse (crispy pork with mixed vegetables) and Andy got the #57 Knuspriges Hühnerbrustfilet mit pikanter Erdnusssoße (crispy chicken with a piquant peanut sauce.  Mine was ok - it was basically chunks of pork fried in a batter and mixed with sauce and veggies.  Andy's was a whole chicken breast, fried and cut into slices, on top of veggies and a peanut sauce that wasn't terribly "piquant."  Both were interesting dishes, but ultimately fell short in terms of taste and presentation. I'm used to international foods in Germany being a little off, but these were just weird.

If I were to choose a Chinese place to go to in Tuebingen, I would probably choose Asia Bambus, but we may have just picked odd dishes.  It's not a bad place, and it is one of the only places where you can order online and pick up your food at the restaurant which is definitely a plus.

Restaurants: Asia Bambus

There are a couple of Asian restaurants in Tübingen and since I hadn't tried any of them yet, I figured it was about time.  I started with the one near the Döner stand that I usually go to.  It's in the old part of town between the Holzmarkt and the Marktplatz.  The restaurant is called Asia Bambus and it's located at Kirchgasse 6.

They seem to have a perpetual special which is 5 Euros for any main dish on the menu - or at least they've had this special for the last few months.  It's located on the first floor of the building - just above Asmara (the only after-hours bar in town) and an Italian place.  Once you go up the stairs it's through a very unassuming little door. and you can pretty much sit wherever you want.

In addition to the dishes being 5 Euros - which includes rice, you can add soup or egg rolls for either 1 or 2 Euro.  I had the Kung Pao Pork and the Peking soup.  Andrew had the Kung Pao Chicken and Eggdrop soup.  The Peking soup is kind of like Hot and Sour soup, but it's a little sweeter than you would expect.  I added some chili sauce to it to make it a little spicier.  It was pretty tasty.  Andrew's eggdrop soup also had some veggies and pieces of chicken in it.  He said it was pretty good as well.

As for the Kung Pao dishes, they were good, but as with most Asian foods in Europe they were just a little bit off - mostly because they were not really spicy.  Again, I added some chili sauce to spice it up.  Even without the spice though, they were very good dishes and I would definitely recommend the restaurant.

One thing of note:  I have noticed after having read the ingredients of other foods and having woken up the next day after eating at Asia Bambus with puffy hands and feet, that they use MSG in some foods here.  If you're allergic to MSG or just want to avoid it you may want to ask about it.

Restaurants: Padeffke

Padeffke is a bakery and cafe on the way from the train station to the old part of town.  In the front you can order various baked goods - from bread to pastries.  In the back you can sit at any table of your choice.  It's basically self serve, so you get your baked goods and coffee from the cashier and then find your table and sit down.  The prices are reasonable, and the space is really nice.  I've been there twice now.  The first time was to grab coffee for a friend's birthday and the second time I went to read.

I'll start with the good parts and transition into the not so great.  First, it's very easy to find a place to sit.  They've got booths, high tables, low tables, tables with funky chairs, areas where you sit on pillows and hang out - basically whatever space you want to be in, you can find it there.  In fact, if you have a specific desire for a firmness of the pillow upon which you sit, you can choose from a variety in the back.  They also have a little library back there where you can find a book and do some reading.  It's probably the most "american" coffee shop I've been to.  Also, when I went they were having a special on some of their baked goods because hey had won some sort of award.

Here's the not so awesome.  I had cappuccino both times I went, and I found it to be a little lacking. There was too little foam, and the espresso part tasted a little watered down.  There may have been more that made it bad, but at this point I can't remember, all I remember is that it certainly wasn't the best cappuccino I'd ever had.  I'm sure some of the other drinks there are just fine, but I just know that I've had better cappuccino elsewhere.

The other not so awesome thing probably has more to do with me than with the location, but I was approached by a crazy woman while I was there.  She sat down at a table one away from me, and proceeded to drink her mini wine. (Yes...that kind of crazy person.)  She was clearly talking to herself, but you never know if someone is talking on a hands free device these days, so I just ignored that.

Then when a gentleman sat down at the table between us she got up and started talking to him.  I could tell she was saying something about someone attacking her but I wasn't sure what she was saying because of the background noise.  The guy just wanted to drink his coffee.  Eventually she went away, but came back and the guy left essentially telling her to leave him alone.  She pestered a few other people and eventually came to my table.  I was taking surreptitious pictures of the place when she came up and asked about my camera.  It seemed to disturb her, so I put it away.  I mean, there's no sense upsetting a crazy woman more than necessary.  She told me some crazy story and I seemed uninterested so she went away.  Eventually I finished my reading and left.

I would recommend the place as a study location, and that's about it.  The prices are comparable to other coffee shops and nobody on the staff is going to bother you about staying too long, but the coffee's not great and there is the possibility for crazy drunk people to harass you.

Neighborhood Tour - Hafengasse

Today I'm going to take you on a little tour around the neighborhood.  Each week I'll give you a little taste of what the neighborhood around my place looks like so you can get an idea of where I'm living.  Let's get started.

Restaurants: Stern

As a service to those who come to Tübingen after me I have decided to try to go to one restaurant a week and give a basic run down on it.  It works out well that my friend Steffi and I have gone to lunch for the last two weeks, so I've now gone to two different restaurants, on which I can report.  The first is Stern, and it's right around the corner from my dorm.

Stern is a small place that you would probably walk right past if you didn't know it was there.  But then again, there are a lot of places like that in small towns in Europe.  The inside area is very small, but they also have a back patio, which seats many more people.  Though with as cold as it's been lately I don't know if you could pay me to eat out on the patio.

From what I've eaten there, they have very tasty food, but the best part about Stern is their lunch menu.  Every day they have two dishes that they offer on their Tagesmenü which is available online. (I'm pretty sure that at least one, if not both, are vegetarian, but you'd want to check that if it's important to you.) The meal comes with a small drink and a salad for 6 Euros, which is a pretty good deal.  In addition, if you want coffee or espresso after your meal, it's only 1 Euro more.  While the food is more expensive than the Mensa, it's also better quality.  I wouldn't go there every day, but for a break from making your own meals and eating in the Mensa it's definitely a good option.   

It's also a bar in the evenings, and they have drink specials posted on the chalkboards outside the restaurant as well as inside.  I have yet to go there in the evenings, but I'll update the info if I do.  They have a sister restaurant named Unckel up by the university, that I have yet to visit, but they supposedly have good pizzas.  I'll report back once I've ventured on over.

8000 Rubber Duckies

Today was the Tuebinger Entenrennen which is basically a race of 8000 rubber duckies along the Neckar river.  People purchase entry into the race by buying a duck.  They don't get to keep the duck, but for the first 400 ducks there is some sort of prize, for the very first duck there is an even bigger prize.  The ducks - ie entry into the race - costs 3 Euros, and all of the money goes to help social programs in the area.

The photos aren't great, because it's hard to get good clear pictures of 8000 rubber ducks swimming down a river, but they will give you a sense of what the event was like.

In other news - I'm still sick.  My cold has moved into my sinuses - as they always do - but right now it's just pain and pressure, not an infection.  I tried to get the pharmacist to give me some sort of decongestant today, but she said that everything I was doing should work.  I talked to another american who came down with a cold shortly after she arrived, and found out the name of the product she got that actually has the same active ingredient as real sudafed, so on Monday, if it's not significantly better, I'll try to grab some of that.