Weiβwurst Frühstück!

So, last Sunday we hosted a traditional Bavarian breakfast at our apartment for about 10 of our friends. This tradition is known as a "Weiβwurst Frühstück," as weiβwurst is the name of the traditional type of sausage eaten ("white sausage") and "frühstück" is the German word for breakfast. The meal is supposed to be eaten before noon, according to an old Bavarian saying that says that the weiβwurst should not hear the church bells chiming at midday.

The "weiβwurst" sausage is made from very finely minced veal and pork. It's very mild, not like spicy Italian sausage. To cook the sausage, you must first boil water. Then, you remove it from the heat and put the sausages into the hot water for about 15 minutes. You don't want the water to be actually boiling when the sausages are in it, as they will split and then, according to the Bavarians, the sausages are ruined. When you eat the sausage, you must remove the casing. The traditional method is to actually suck the meat out of the casing, but this traditional method is rarely used anymore (thank goodness). Instead, you just make a small cut and peel the casing off. The sausage is really tasty.

The other essential components of the traditional Weiβwurst Frühstück are pretzels ("Brezen"), sweet mustard to go with the pretzels, Obatzda for the pretzels, and of course, Weiβbier. Obatzda is a Bavarian cheese delicacy that is a combination of two types of soft cheeses, butter, and various herbs. It's very tasty. Weiβbier is a Bavarian wheat beer. Since it is brewed with a large proportion of wheat, it is a very heavy beer. It is always served in a special, 500 mL, vase-shaped glass. It's not my favorite type of beer here in Munich, but it isn't too bad. It really goes great with the rest of the breakfast, as well.

Here are a few photos from the breakfast. We didn't take too many, but you get the idea from these. We had a really great time and we're looking forward to sharing this traditional meal with anyone who comes to visit us next year!

So it turns out a couple of Americans can successfully pull off this Bavarian tradition! Experiences like these are our favorites -- it's so cool to do things that are long-standing traditions of people from other countries. I think it will be the memories of these experiences that stay with us for years to come.

We hope everyone had a wonderful Thanksgiving. We missed seeing everyone, but we will be back in the States soon for Christmas! Speaking of Christmas, the infamous Munich Christmas markets will be opening next week, so look forward to a post with some photos within the next week or so. Until then...

Cheers!
Matt and Kristin




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Prague!

Hi everyone,

Again, sorry for the delay in between posts. Since Mom Sterdis was here last week, we were very busy and spent the remainder of this week catching up on stuff. We had a great time with her. We showed her around Munich a little, and we also spent the weekend in Prague, in the Czech Republic.

Prague was awesome. It's an amazingly beautiful city with a lot of interesting history. It is the capital of the Czech Republic, and the largest city with a population of about 2 million. The culture is pretty unique since the country was influenced by so many other cultures throughout the years. We arrived on Friday afternoon and spent most of the day just walking around and exploring the city on our own.

We finished up the day with an amazing dinner at a nice restaurant in the city. Thanks to the very favorable exchange rate (1 U.S. Dollar = about 20 Czech koruna), we were able to have an awesome dinner at a really great price. On Saturday, we spent most of the day on a walking tour so that we could learn more about the history of the city and the country of Czech Republic. The Czech Republic has only existed since 1993. Before then, it was a part of the country of Czechoslovakia. We learned about Prague's role in WWII (there was a large Jewish community in the city), as well as what it was like under Communist rule. I can't imagine living under the conditions that they had. One interesting story: Towards the end of the Communist rule, there were many protests by the Czech citizens. One young student even lit himself on fire to prove his point. It's pretty crazy when you think about how recent this all was. On the tour, we also learned about Prague's most famous landmark - the Astronomical Clock. This large clock, installed in 1410, has several components. Just by looking at it, you can tell the local time, the time of day (day or night), the date, and the lunar phase. There are also some figurines that move on every hour, but we didn't hang around to actually watch it in person. Apparently, it is not very exciting and is often referred to as one of the most disappointing sights in Europe. Our tour guide however, was quick to remind us that most of the disappointment results from tourists' modern expectations. Thus, it is important to remember that this clock dates back to the 15th century. So really, it is pretty cool.

The entire tour was very interesting and we enjoyed it, despite the chilly weather. Afterwards, we enjoyed a lovely cheese plate and some Czech beers at a cozy pub. Of course, Matt enjoyed sampling the Czech beer. We found two kinds that he approved of haha. Later, we even had some time to do a little shopping. We had another great dinner at a French-ish restaurant in the city. Despite Matt's doubts (the restaurant is closing within a month and thus, had a very limited wine list), we had another fantastic dinner. The Czech cuisine (similar to German cuisine) seems to have an emphasis on meat dishes, especially pork, duck, and even rabbit. Both restaurants that we dined at served delicious variations of these. On Sunday, we took a bus back to Munich.

Here are some more Prague photos:

We had hoped for better weather and more time to show Mom Sterdis how beautiful Munich truly is, but alas, we will have to wait until her next visit in the Spring or Summer to do so. Our first time hosting a visitor from overseas was a great success (so we think haha), and we are looking forward to having more visitors in the Spring and Summer!

On Sunday, we are hosting a traditional Bavarian breakfast known as a "Weisswurst Fruehstueck." We'll take some photos and post more about that next week.

Until then... Cheers!

Regensburg

Sorry for the delay in posting, yet again. As usual, we have been quite busy and my blogging "duties" just got away from me.

Anyway... Although Halloween is not a very popular holiday here in Germany (read: it is celebrated by next to no one), there are a handful of "parties" held at bars throughout the city. We accompanied two of our friends (they're married, she's American)to an Irish pub (aptly named "Kennedy's") for the evening's festivities. It seems that the majority of Germans (or English and American ex-pats) who choose to celebrate Halloween, prefer to dress up in scary, ghoulish costumes, as opposed to many of the comedic ones that you find in the U.S. The few people that decided to participate and come in costume were all covered in paint or make-up to resemble gashes, bruises, blood, guts, and the like. We did not choose to dress up (shocker, I know). After years of grudgingly dressing up simply to appease friends at annual Halloween parties, we were both ELATED to be relieved of this duty. It was so nice to not have to celebrate our least favorite holiday, for once. But let's not pretend we weren't disappointed in the lack of free candy. Overall, we had a good time at the bar. To be honest, other than a handful of people dressed up as zombies, it really wasn't much of a Halloween party. However, it was karaoke night, which is always a good time. Especially when Germans pick the most random English songs to sing. We also discovered that our friend Katie is an awesome singer. So we will be going to karaoke with them much more often...

We also had November 1st off for All Saints Day. Bavaria (southern Germany) has a strong Catholic influence, so everything is closed on just about every Catholic holy day. Since we were out late the night before, we decided to stay and relax in our cozy apartment.

On Saturday, we traveled by train to Regensburg, Germany. It's also located in Bavaria, right on the Danube River. The large, medieval city center is a UNESCO World Heritage Site (read: supposed to be really beautiful, historic, etc.). Regensburg is "special" in that, unlike many of the other major German cities, it suffered little damage during WWII. As a result, many of the buildings are very old, as opposed to Munich where many of the buildings were rebuilt following the war. Though the day was a bit chilly, we had a nice time wandering around, window shopping, and enjoying a traditional Bavarian meal with Regensburg beer. Here are a few pics.

I'm sure you are all surprised to see photos with us drinking beer. But let's be serious, is there anything better than sausage, sauerkraut, and beer on a chilly day in Autumn? (der Herbst for all of you aspiring-German speakers out there)

Tonight, we will be waking up at 3 AM to watch election coverage. That's dedication, right there (or insanity, take your pick).

We're anxiously awaiting the arrival of Mom Sterdis on Thursday morning!! She will be our first visitor. We are so excited to show her all that Munich has to offer. We're also taking her to Prague this weekend, so we will post some photos from the trip next week.

Until then... Cheers!