Munich Day Trip - hiking in Kufstein (Austria)

We've previously blogged about our winter sledding day-trip to Kufstein in Austria.  It's close to Munich, has beautiful mountain views, and of course hiking up and sledding down.  Perfect for a Saturday or Sunday.

I will be taking Frau A back this summer too, because it only gets better.  Snow is nice, but now we'll get the classic fir trees and meadow flowers in the Tirolean Alps.  Pictured below, I'm looking back north onto the mountains of the Wilder Kaiser which are actually located in Germany.  The trail has a lot of nice viewpoints like this, looking down into the valley and small village below.  Shorts are fine for hiking here when the weather is good; I take a fleece for when the sun hides or wind comes up at altitude, and water in the backpack until we reach the hut.

Further along the path you get a more extended view of the valley, again the Wilder Kaiser in the distance, and a small river running through the town now.  I think this water eventually connects with the Isar on it's way to Munich.  As the sun burns off the morning haze the peaks get a little sharper in the distance.  Nice view. 

 

This time, before reaching a hut, we go up to a peak called the Pendling Gipfelkreuz (gipfel = peak and kreuz = cross).  Not a really high destination relative to most in the Alps, but feels great to be on top.  The fleece is off at this point - worked up a sweat on the last incline.  Even changed baseball hats!

Not far from the summit is the Pendlinghaus (also known as Kufsteiner Haus, see the yellow sign above the door), another typical hut that offers food and drink to hikers.  The sign in the foreground says "wilkommen" -- welcome.  Now if you look closely at the antenna on the house, you'll see a glider behind it!  The pilot was circling around for over a half-hour and would zoom past the house, so I was able to snap the photo just as he passed my field of view.  On the right, you can see the same valley as the previous photogtraph.  That's the view when you have lunch here.  And you can rent a room for overnight too!  But I didn't eat here, because I wanted to get back to the hut from our winter hike, the Kala Alm.

So I headed back toward the Kala Alm, where we rented the sleds in winter.  It was in the Spring, and some peaks still had their snowcap.  In this direction we are seeing the Tirolean Alps vs. the Wilder Kaiser range in the previous photos.  They are a little larger and more dramatic.

When you arrive at the Kala Alm, it looks basically the same this time, just no snow.  People outside having food and drink, enjoying the weather... but then you notice something.  They can't rent sleds without snow, but they can rent Mountaincarts!  There's a whole row of them on the right below.  (Actually, you can still see some residual snow too, the last remnants of winter up here.)

A mountain cart is like a Big Wheel for grown-ups.  German (Austrian?) engineered, they are not powered (gravity is all you need, and more) but the do have two hand brakes like on a bicycle.  The right brake works the right rear wheel, the left brake the left rear wheel.  Therefore, they're not just for reducing speed, but to help navigate the winding corners of the path down.  When you slightly brake a wheel, it rotates more slowly than the other wheel does, therefore your cart will turn in that direction.  Brake a little with the right, you will will get a little help turning right.  The best riders use this to literally "skid" through the corners.  It is so much fun.

The two photos above are taken from (and link to) a site with more Mountaincart information.  I was too busy having fun to take photos of my own.  However, Frau A and I will be back and try to take some video too! 

German Ads (Part 3)

We kept looking after our first posts on German ads, and there is yet more interesting German media and copy out there.  There were photos flying around the Web of the German trucks with almost trompe l'oeil-like paintings on them... it turns out that these were not real.  They were, however, real advertising concepts submitted to a competition.

The urban legend was debunked, as always, by Snopes.

The competition is called the Rhino Awards, and the results were from 2005.   There are other submissions to be seen on their web site, and later competitions from 2007 as well.  But these are still the best. 

Hanging Pepsi...

Double sided / wrong way truck...  ("On the wrong track/path?")

Canvas bag... 

Germans use the word for bread ("brot") to denote fresh bakery loaves, often oval in shape.  For the mass-produced, square-ish, white-bread loaves they use the word "toast", probably because they would never eat this without toasting it first (and it fits perfectly in the toaster).  This is the msot common brand of "toast" in Bavaria, possibly all of Germany.

And an acquarium...

 

Again, check out the web site of the Rhino Awards for more. 

Photoblog - Munich through a zoom lens

We blogged earlier about trying to look at your home city from a new, fresh perspective.  In that case, it was actually paying attention to the detailed figures on some of Munich's fountains and buildings rather than take the typical touristy wide-angle skyline photo.

With a nice zoom lens (in this case, the simple 10x on my now deceased Canon SX200IS) we can also look up, to find more detail in places where the eyes don't travel as often.

The first pic is the front-top of the Justizpalast (justice building), home of the Landgericht (judiciary system).  It's located at the popular Karlsplatz where people like to sit by the fountain and enjoy nice weather like the blue sky we see here.  As in the prior post, I rarely know the meaning behind the statues or relief, but we can make out a figure with the scales of justice, and another with a caduceus representing commerce and trade (probably the desire for fair dealings).

Now that I have my Olympus micro-four-thirds camera, I will definitely be back for more of this building. 

The next building is a poor thing -- the Old City Hall (Altes Rathaus) on Marienplatz.  Because the New City Hall (Neues Rathaus) is so famous with its glockenspiel the Altes Rathaus almost never gets any attention!  The sun reflecting off the clock caught my attention, and it turned out to be a nice subject.  Many town halls in Germany have a clock with astronomical symbols (signs of the zodiac) and I think that's what we see here as well.

Staying at Marienplatz, I then tackled the column that is "in the way" of tourists getting an unobstructed photo of the Neues Rathaus -- the Mariensaeule (Marian column), right in the middle of the square.  As Wikipedia explains: the column is topped by a golden statue of the Virgin Mary standing on a crescent moon as the Queen of Heaven.  I'm guessing it's her royal sceptre that she's holding in the hand opposite the baby Jesus?  And that's quite a crown too...

Finally, I went after another gold & gleaming piece, this time atop the Heiliggeistkirche (Church of the Holy Ghost).  Of course there is the mandatory depiction of Mary again (bottom, with a similar crown and sceptre).  But at the top, I believe this is the Eye of Providence, which represents God watching over humankind.  Remind you of something?  A version is also on the Great Seal of the United States and also on the U.S. One Dollar Bill.

It's funny... you see something new, and then realize it's been around you in other forms all the time.

Funny Austria

On our weekend getaway in Vienna, we photographed some beautiful places in the city and at Schoenbrunn.  The items below definitely are not so nice.  Here are some of the funny and strange things we saw instead...

We went past the Prater Amusement Park (one of the oldest in the world) and noticed this bank machine ("geldautomat" in German).  Is somebody trying to tell us something, perhaps a scathing message about gross consumption?  What exactly is in the pig's right, um, hoof?  And why is he winking at us???  I have absolutely no explanation as to why the bank, neighborhood, or city would erect and keep this thing, but there it is!

OK, so these chips (sorry, crisps) are not Austrian, but they decided to stock them so they're fair game.  The brand is called Real Crisps and they certainly know how to get attention.  They offer flavors (sorry, flavours) like Roast Ox and Ham & English Mustard (seen below).  It's a little hidden, but the black bag with the picture of a rugby player is a flavor called Real Strong Cheese & Onion.  Probably want to brush the teeth after those.  By the way, they deliver worldwide!

We're still on food and drink, but this time it's not the item itself, but the presentation.  We were at Wine & Co looking for some Austrian wine to take back with us.  (Gruner Veltliner is a favorite of ours because it tastes great and is such a bargain.)  Frau A noticed that the "international" section had the wines from Germany!  OK, technically that's correct, but we think it's just a jab at their larger neighbors.

 

We had already tried "Pope Beer" (Papst Bier) but since Benedict XVI hails from Germany, the Austrians had to do something.  So they have the Twelve Apostles Wine.  The label also says "Papst Besuch Wien 2007" so perhaps it was vinted for the Pope's visit to Vienna that year?  It's a "special edition" per the label, and at six euros for the bottle you at least know God isn't trying to rip you off.

Finally, we have a little something from the Technical Museum.  We saw their awesome exhibit of musical instruments, but they also had extended section on music in general.  In this case, one room focused on music and pop culture, and it had "artifacts" from various pop stars or concerts.  The most interesting was this:  the McDonalds garbage that 50 Cent threw out after eating his meal on tour in 2004.  What can you say to this?  A museum immortalizing trash from 50 Cent?

 

Spring Skiing in Stubai (Austria)

Here in Germany, Easter is a prime time for vacation because everyone gets Good Friday and Easter Monday off (four day weekend!).  And it's not just a long weekend -- schools are out for 2-3 weeks so many of my colleagues are taking a holiday for the entire time.  Munich really empties out as families leave for Italy, Spain, Greece and Turkey.

Things are a bit different this year because Easter arrived so "late", on the 24th of April.  For those heading south, it doesn't matter, but many Bavarians like to use this time for one last ski trip.  Frau A and I decided to do this too (although only for a couple of days).  Since we're in late April, there is one place guaranteed to have decent slopes: the Stubai Glacier.

The snow is truly guaranteed -- you can buy a lift ticket online and they will refund your money if there is not enough snow to ski through Easter.  They offer the same guarantee in October too!  Here is a snippet of their website recently:

In the valley there is no snow left, but on the glacier at 3000+ meters they have 200cm of snow.

As you seen on the map above, the Stubai Alps are in the south of Austria, near Innsbruck, on the border with Italy.  The range has at least 9 peaks over 3000m, and the glacier is accessible via the Stubaital (Stubai Valley).  The valley stretches 40km with a single main road going through it, with a half-dozen "large" towns along the way catering to tourists year round (hiking and similar activities in the Summer).

There are many other ski areas in the Stubai region, but the glacier is the only one with the altitude and depth to support skiing so late into warm weather.  In fact, the season there usually starts in the middle of September and ends in early June!  (Of course, the snow quality starting in May is relatively low, with mostly slushy conditions... but addicts can get their fix.)

Here is a map of the pistes:

The glacier area has 110km of slopes, most of them (85km) are easy-to-medium difficulty.  There is a mix of gondolas (5 of them), chair lifts (7), and t-bars (9).  They also have a "fun park" like Defereggental.  What's really nice is that you can drop you equipment off in the "comfort center" at the base of the pistes and leave your skiis & boots overnight -- no lugging equipment back & forth from the hotel!

At the top of the highest lift, they have a great lookout platform - gorgeous place for photos.  Here is Frau A walking up to the top:

This is the view from down on the slopes, looking over the Fun Park...

 

... and the same view from the viewing platform -- you're standing on a small peak (snow in the foreground) looking over the same range in the background:

 

The pistes at the highest altitude had great snow, but with such blue skies and intense sun the runs near the bottom were getting a bit wet.  The scenery was beautiful and it was not too crowded as you can see in the photo below (taken from an open window in a gondola):

We would stop frequently to take more photos, because the weather was incredible.  This is one of the upper slopes, winding through the mountains:

They also had a short Super-G run, complete with a starting gate and appropriately spaced flags to weave through.  The timer was not working that day (sometimes they will even have a clock that shows you how fast you made it) but you still got a feel.  Here is Frau A ready to go:

It was simply a great, and unusual, Easter weekend.  We've already circled September dates on the calendar to get our first skiing next season in Stubai.

Easter Bunnies

In Germany, the secular side of Easter revolves around rabbits and eggs. I'm still a little unclear on the whole rabbits hatching from eggs part of Easter, but that's not something unique to Germany.

The chocolate bunnies here come in every shape and size and flavor, from white to dark chocolate, and from chocolate for kids with extra calcium to chocolate for adults with liqueur.

 

By far the most well-known are Lindt's Gold Hase, which have been made for more than 50 years. According to Lindt's site, 

One fine spring morning in March when the ground was still covered with a white blanket of snow, a master chocolatier from LINDT observed little rabbit in his garden.  His little son was completely fascinated when he saw the hare, but began to cry when the rabbit disappeared into the bushes.
Struck by the his son's sadness, the father suddenly had a great idea:

"I should make a rabbit like that of chocolate ..."

He made a rabbit out of finest Lindt milk chocolate, wrapped it in gold paper and hung him a golden bell on a red ribbon around his neck so he would not be lost.

"When the bell rings, you can find it easily," the choclatier said to his young son. And so the first GOLDHASE had come into this world.

However the tradition began, the Goldhasen are now one of the best known international Easter sweets.  They emerge from eggs and come in sizes from baby up to 1 kg giants.

 

This year, Lindt introduced the dark chocolate (brown ribbon) and white chocolate (white ribbon) varieties to go with the traditional red-ribboned milk chocolate Goldhase.

Though chocolate is the main event, everyone else gets in on Easter bunny mania, too....we find rabbit shaped cookies and breads and rabbit-shaped versions of most candy bars.

Chocolate-dipped shortbread sandwich and rabbit bread

And it wouldn't be Easter in Germany without an elaborately creative themed educational display. In PEP (the closest thing in Munich to an American-style mall), they have displays throughout the mall using the fictional Rabbit Co. ("Hasen AG") to teach children how chocolate is made - from harvest to chocolate egg.

 Growing and Harvesting the cacao Beans 

Drying and Fermenting 

Shipping the beans

  Pulverizing and Processing the Beans                                     

Making Chocolate and Molding Chocolate Eggs

Painting, Wrapping, and Shipping Chocolate Eggs

The detail in these displays was amazing, down to planting flowers and aging the printing on the cacao bean bags. Of course there were signs at each display explaining the steps of the chocolate making process. And at the end, a cage full of adorable real rabbits to see. Unfortunately not a petting zoo, but still adorable!

German Easter Candy and Eggs

After months of chocolate and candy displays, the long-awaited day is here!

How do you celebrate Easter in Germany?

It varies, by family, by region, and of course by religious beliefs. The schools are on a 2 week break, so much of the country goes on vacation.  Italy and the New York/Florida combo are the most popular destinations, as are ski trips in years where Easter is earlier.  Easter here is second only to Christmas as a holiday - it's a pretty big deal.  In the Munich area, for those who don't go on holiday, a traditional fish lunch on Good Friday is common, as is church on Sunday, followed by a family dinner.  The church bells have been ringing frequently for the past 24 hours.  Or, these days many of the younger people who didn't travel for holiday or to see family will go out to the English Garden and enjoy sun, friends, and nature when the weather is nice.  And somehow, it's always nice on Easter.

But across Germany, the common traditions are similar to the US. Easter trees are big, as are displays of flowers and new life. Rabbits and eggs come in every form, spring cleaning is a popular "sport," and on Easter morning many families hide chocolate eggs and treats for the kids to find.  There are some older, more localized traditions such as the Easter bonfire and Saturday Easter Market, but we're talking city life in this blog today. And more importantly, we're talking sweets!

I had the chance to pop into a CVS in the US and check out the candy assortment. How do German and US Easter baskets differ?

American Easter Basket:      

Contents:
Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Bunny
Peeps
SweetTart Chicks, Ducks & Bunnies
Cadbury Creme Eggs and Caramel Eggs
Whopper's Robin Eggs
Cadbury Mini Eggs
Reese's Eggs
Milk Chocolate Bunny
Jelly beans (not shown)

German Easter Basket(s):

Contents:
Chocolate eggs, with a variety of fillings (marzipan, liquers, hazelnut, nougat, crispy butterfinger type things, etc)
Marzipan Loaf
Ferrero Eggs
Lindt's famous Gold Hase chocolate rabbits
Lindt chocolates in a variety of shapes...frogs, turtles, lambs, chicks, carrots
Chocolate-covered almonds
A real eggshell filled with nougat
Spring chocolate bars from Lindt
fondant fried eggs
Egg tree ornaments with chocolate eggs inside 

Lindt varies their chocolates by season. We see in Christmas chocolates featuring spices and a more warm mix. In Spring, they feature fruits, yogurt, and ice-cream type fillings - generally much lighter and fruiter than the heavy spiced chocolates of winter. These giant  Lindt truffles have a creamy stracciatella filling, similar to the bars that have a creamy filling. The bars are not true ice cream, but are recommended to be served cold and are like a cool bit of cream and fruit wrapped in tasty Lindt chocolate. Lindt has whole sections devoted to Easter and Spring chocolates, with lots of pastel and fruits. The Easter choclates will disappear now, but the Spring varieties will go on through the summer.

Lindt's Spring assortment

  Lindt Easter bars(btw, I adore the Lindt chocolate lambs in the first basket, as they have one black sheep in the flock.)

What's the difference between German and American Easter candy?

The main differences I see is are:

1) American Easter candies are more based on pure sugar, whereas the Germans focus on chocolate (especially high quality chocolate), cute animal packaging, and lighter tasting (not lighter in caloric terms!) flavors such as fruit.

2) The American candies are mainly Easter shaped version of the same candy, but the German ones often vary the ingredients for Easter, as well as using different fillings and chocolate blends than they do year round.

In Germany, chocolate is the most popular Easter sweet by far, then bunnies and eggs the most popular shape of sweets. The sheer volume of chocolate rabbits in Germany is something we'll tackle separately in the next post....

Eggs:

Easter eggs come in all varieties....sets to dye your eggs (with natural dyes, of course) are widely available, as are real eggs from an assortment of fowl - Ostrich, goose, chicken, quail. They come dyed, raw, already hollowed out, etc.

colored quail eggs

Most stores will have a wide assortment of chocolate eggs....with various nut fillings, nougat, fruits, and liqueurs. However, marzipan eggs are an Easter specialty. Niederegger, the famous Lübeck based marzipan maker, offers all types of different marzipan eggs, as well as some nougat ones. They're good, but marzipan is a bit too sweet to eat in large quantities! Most of the marzipan eggs will be in different fruit flavors and dipped in chocolate. Dark chocolate dipped marzpian is a pretty tasty combon, but again...in small doses!

We were amused to find that Milka makes something looking suspiciously similar to Cadbury Creme Eggs, so of course we here at Schnitzelbahn investigated closely.

The Milka Löffel Ei ("Spoon Egg") comes in a 4-pack carton, with two spoons. It's an egg you crack open to eat the creamy sweet filling. Sounds a lot like a Cadbury Creme Egg, with a little ettitquette and fancy packaging.

Upon first examination, they look similar. The Cadbury egg is slightly smaller, vs the Milka egg's life-sized egg size. And the Milka directions show a little indentation where you bang the spoon to crack the egg open into a nice, clean shape to pull off the top.

The real difference is in the taste.  On the chocolate side, I think the Cadbury chocolate is a bit better tasting, but both are good. Cadbury just does milk chocolate really well! Milka does, too. But really here the chocolate is unimportant - it's about the filling.  Or we'd be eating Cadbury Mini-Eggs, a Milka bar, or some Lindt.

The filling is where we see the real difference. Cadbury eggs often get stale a bit quicker - the taste is still the same, but the filling gets a little drier and not so creamy. No matter, it still is vastly different from the Milka egg. Basically, the Cadbury egg is filled with sugar or fondant. It tastes extremely sweet, and you'll love it or hate it.

The Milka egg, on the other hand, is basically filled with buttercream frosting. Yum!! I know they say it's filled with fondant, but it taste like a sweet spoonful when you're scraping the bowl after making buttercream frosting. It's really good, and it's a much less sweet, sugary taste.

It of course doesn't have the cult following that the Creme Eggs have, nor does it inspire scientistific experiments, but it's a really tasty treat and it's much more manageable than making a batch of frosting or buying a can!

So, a Frohe Ostern to all, and hope you're all enjoying your Easter treats and holidays. Let us know if the Easter Bunny brought you anything special this year. He hid some great DVDs (American TV and BBC's Planet Earth blu-ray) around my apartment.