We totally ended up there by change. When I picked up my rental car today at noon, I just happened to ask the German woman behind the counter where I should go tonight. She asked, "Do you want to eat or do you want to party?" "Well both of course." She recommended some local city and could tell from the look on my face that a modern city was not what I was looking for. "Well, it is further, but you may like Parkstein."
So we loaded up the car and headed to town. From miles away you could see this mountain with a distinctive church placed at the crest. As we drove into the town, it was like we have found many other German towns, abandoned. There was not a soul on the streets. We drove up the cobblestone streets that wound around and up the mountain. Our first stop was a bakerei, but it was 6:00 P.M. and they were closing for the day. A couple of houses down was what appeared to be a restaurant. It was dark inside, but the door was unlocked so I walked in. A woman came rushing into the poorly lit room surprised to see me there. "Are you open?", I asked. "Yes, for bier only". This is getting to be a recurring theme. We all sat down as she pulled us some drafts in giant German glasses and then she vanished into the darkness.
We just settled in like it was our own house. As a matter of fact, I wondered if we were not just sitting in some ladies kitchen having a bier. We saw a deck of cards on the counter, sorted them out and played a couple of games of Euchre. It was challenging because the cards were German marked. The only suit that looked familiar was hearts. It was difficult even to determine the jacks from the queens or kings. No matter, the lady came back, refilled our glasses and smiled at us.
At about that time a band began to jam in the room above us. "Say, hey! Hear the sound of the falling rain Coming down like an Armageddon flame (Hey!) The shame ..." She looked up and said, "My son, he practices for a [concert]". I said, "Green Day". "Yes, Green Day." I thought American Idiot was unique on Broadway when Laura and I want to see it in New York last month. I have to tell you, it German it has a pretty unique sound too. I thought it would make Sami smile. The kid jammed a few more songs then came down to join us in the dining room, but not quite join us, he stood at the bar and just looked at us - for a long time.
After a while we asked the lady where we could get something to eat. She gave us that look of "You know I don't speak English and you damn sure don't understand German. "My son, he speaks English". Well not really. I think maybe he had the class in high school, but I had German in high school and there we sat attempting to understand how to get up the hill and eat at the "vegetable haus". Now I am not real big on vegetables, but hey, sometimes you take what you can get. Back into the car we went as a group of old men joyously rambled into the restaurant.
On up the hill we went. Eventually we found the vegetable house, which happily served lots of sausages loaded with saurcraut and sauce. There were no vegetables on the plate. As we entered we noted the town was setting up for an outdoor play at the base of the church and just outside of the restaurant. To be brief the food was great and I should not that since we were well away from the military and away from tourism, quite reasonibly priced. As we left we walked out into the rain. It has rained for 3-4 days straight here. I was certain that the outdoor play would be rained out. Not a chance. There they were, dressed in their traditional clothing, passionately delivering their lines as the rain streaked the stage lit air.
It has been a good first week. We have experienced much and have completed some good stories. A large group of us are headed to Berlin in the morning. We plan to continue to work hard but to also thoroughly enjoy ourselves. So far I have a bunch of happy soldiers.
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