Waiting All Afternoon for the Churchbell to Ring

We released the troops after lunch today so they could enjoy some of the local German culture and because it is a four-day weekend for the military.  Apparently yesterday was a German holiday - Assumption Day - Yeah, you got me.  The post is pretty much deserted, so it is a bit difficult to produce news stories about training that is not going on. 

So we cut the troops loose.  They were happy of course.  Most of them anyway - some soldiers bitch no matter what, but that is part of being in the military.  But for most, they are happy when they are free.  But little do they recognize, that I am free too. 

Let me take you back a little.  Yesterday I headed over to Bamburg to check out the city and especially to eat at a gesthaus that has been operating since the 15th century.  Now a place that has been serving food for that long must have their food down.  Besides, they still brew bier the way they did back in the 15th century.  Now a lot of breweries claim to hold onto the ancient ways, but this place goes so far as to dry their hops over coals they way it was originally done.  The result, smokey bier.  It sounds kind of gross, but again, they have been doing it for 600 years and they have it down.  It was smooth, with a smokieness, that was like a liquid bar-b-que.  Kind of a strange drink, but intersting all the same.  So since I had ordered what ended up being a huge chunk of pork, the smokiness went quite well.  Good meal.  And the couple of biers that followed were quite nice too.

Having a smokey rauchbier in Bamburg.

On the way to Bamburg we had deciede to take our time and enjoy the German countryside insead of rushing at 120 mph down the autobahn.  Don't get me wrong, driving as fast as you want is pretty cool, but we wanted to see something more than a blurrrrrrrr today.  The road we headed down went into a gorge with houses and castles build into the rocky crags that protruded from the mountains.  We decided that tomorrow we had to come back.

A rainy day in farming village of Pottstein.

Today we did.  Of course it rained.  It has rained for 15 days straight here.  It is some kind of Monsoon season in Germany.  They tell us it has something to do with the the crazy high temperatures and fires in Russia that is driving the rain this way.   I don't know about all of that but I do know we get soaked every day. 

But I digress -  We headed into Pottenstein to a brewery we had read about.  We walked into the brewery, but there was no one in there.  We just stood in the middle of the empty room.  We have learned that German's aren't real big on locking their doors when they are closed so we often find ourselves walking into closed German businesses, restaurants, and on a couple of occasions -  people's houses.  Damn rude Americans.  We realized the restaurant was closed and went to another gasthaus, and another, and yet another even going so far as to drive to another town just trying to get a bier at 5 p.m.  I asked in a couple of places and was told in fluent German, which I don't understand very well, that they don't serve meals or bier until after 6 p.m. and then went on to elaborate, in German, something about the church.   

Now this is crazy.  Every store closes at 5, and every restaurant does not open until at least 6.  What are you supposed to do with that hour.  Talk to people; who does that?  As we walked up to restaurants, people kept pointing to the church.  At first I thought they wanted me to go there to pray or give a donation.  Once we got to the second town, Grossweinstein - still seeking food and drink - we actually did go into the church. 

Grossweinstein is a tiny town, in the middle of a gorge in the middle of nowhere Germany and they have one of the most magnificent churches I have ever seen.  Wow!!  We walked around, took a few pictures, and even dropped all of our pocked change into the donation box.  Money well spent. 

Inside the Cathederal in the village of Grossweinstein.

As we walked out of the church, the bells began to ring.  It seemed the holiday was officially over and the gesthauses opened.  That was what the locals had been trying to tell us all afternoon, "We don't open until the bell rings".  So many rules in Germany to learn.  Who knew they  paid such attention to such things.  But we were happy - we could get some food.

We spotted a remote little hotel bakerei down the hill, walked in and were greeted by a German grandmother looking lady.  The entry of the restaurant was shelves of cookies, candies, and struedel.  I was thinking, who needs dinner and a bier.  But I am in Germany, so I ordered a nice snitzel, complete with pommes and salat.  A healthy meal as they go over here.  Grandma was happy with my choices, smiled and patted me on the shoulder.  This was a small place that apparently she and her husband owned.  So the cooking was "homemade".  Oh yeah.  To go with the meal I ordered a fantastic Weissbier made by some local monk.  Not a bad choice either.  Both the meal and the bier were excellent. 

Tonight's very German Cook.

To make it all perfect, we headed to the dessert counter and ordered a struedel.  One of my buddies ordered two.  Grandma laughed and said something in German about him getting fat.  After dinner we took the struedel back to the barracks.  I just finished mine.  Good stuff.

So today was another success.  We made some good contacts with training units, and even better we learned something new about Germany.  On a holiday, don't even think about dinner until the bell rings.

And what is Assumption Day you ask: It is the day that celebrates the rising of Mary into the heavens.