Dining in Würzburg

On November 30, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes4 Comments

We mentioned this the other day, but we were very fortunate to find a wonderful little restaurant in Würzburg over the past weekend. We were walking some of the side streets, trying to get away from the larger crowds around the Christmas markets when we found Stachel, a restaurant established in 1413. The atmosphere was relaxing with wonderful stained glass windows and very unique chandeliers. In fact, we have found a lot of places to have beautiful chandeliers, which we have enjoyed seeing.

We don’t usually do starters as well as an entrée, which we shared of course, but we decided to do so this particular day. Game food is definitely on the specialty menus these days, rabbit, duck, goose, and venison can be found at almost every authentic German restaurant. There are also a variety of seasonal soups, including chestnuts, Riesling, and potato soups. We decided to go ahead and get the black pudding, also known as blood pudding, which was served with roasted potatoes.

Trio of Soup, Potato, Beef Broth, Creamy Riesling

For the entrée, we chose the half duck, which was definitely a lot of food for the two of us, but it was exquisite. Tender and moist, but the crispy skin was the highlight of the meal. We have had potato dumplings before and the ones that accompanied our duck were very similar, although it is hard to describe the texture of these springy sponges. A local beer was definitely the perfect pairing for the gamey taste of the duck.

Speaking of beer, our day started by stopping in a small pub as we arrived in town. We would later learn that there is a difference in how the people from the Bayern region view having a beer early in the day versus those in the Hessen region where Frankfurt sits. This was definitely the local watering hole and although it was only noon, there were not any empty seats as the local men gathered to share stories from the week and most likely talk politics and life.

It isn’t all about beer, though, Germany has wonderful wines and we have enjoyed many of those as well. We ended our day by stopping by a wine bar, Weinstube, which carried local red and white wines. Their logo is a monkey drinking wine with a pretzel in his hand, so we shouldn’t have been surprised when our wine glasses arrived with a plastic monkey hanging from the lip. Some cheese covered bread to go with the wine made our food day complete. We probably won’t have a chance to visit Würzburg again, but we definitely enjoyed the food and drinks that we were able to have during our brief visit.

The Good and Bad of Our Weekend

On November 28, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany18 Comments

It has been an interesting few days here in Germany to say the least. First of all, we had been greatly anticipating our youngest daughter’s arrival here in Frankfurt as she and a friend were going to Rome and Naples before coming to spend the “holiday” weekend with us in Germany. First of all, obviously Thanksgiving doesn’t exist here in Germany, but we had taken time off of work, partially because it is a holiday in the US, but mostly because of the arrival of our daughter and friend. The day before they were supposed to fly from Naples to Frankfurt, we received a phone call letting us know that her friend had fallen and they were on the way to the hospital. Obviously not the phone call any parent wants to receive when you have children traveling abroad, but she is an adult, so all we could do was support her the best way that we could.

The Dom as You Walk Back from the Bridge

After a few hours, we received another phone call letting us know that her friend had broken her ankle and that they needed to get home to Chicago to receive further treatment. Immediately we began the search for flights that would get them home, forgoing them coming to Frankfurt, but instead just trying to get them from Naples back to Chicago. To make matters worse, Lufthansa pilots had chosen to strike, so finding flights was just about impossible and those that could be found had several stops and prices that were outrageous. After several conversations, they decided to take their previously scheduled flight from Naples to Frankfurt where they would have more options available, but obviously it would delay their return by a day. Perhaps because it was a holiday in the US, they were able to find a non-stop United flight that got them back to Chicago on Thanksgiving day.

That gave us about a half a day to spend with them, albeit not going anyplace other than our apartment, but we did at least get to see our daughter. Sometimes you just have to make the most of what life offers you and take it with a smile. We had a nice time visiting, but certainly not the experience that we had hoped for. One of the things that we had planned was a visit to Würzburg, a smaller city that has a wonderful palace called the Residenz as well as a fortress that looms over the town across the old bridge. We specifically chose this town because it was smaller and we wanted them to see something other than a larger city like Frankfurt or Cologne. With somewhat sad hearts, we went ahead and visited Würzburg over the weekend even though they weren’t with us. It was everything that we had hoped that it would be. The town was festive and busy, but not the shoulder-to-shoulder crowds that we have seen in other cities with Christmas markets.

We toured the Residenz, which was truly magnificent and spent most of our time just walking the tiny side streets. We found a restaurant called Stachel that was over 600 years old and served incredible food. There was a wonderful Dom (Cathedral), which was, of course, surrounded by Christmas markets. We truly did enjoy our time in Würzburg, but we were definitely a little sad that we didn’t get to share it with our daughter as we had hoped. After a few stressful and eventful days, followed by a couple of days of relaxation, we are back to our normal routines and should be posting again on a regular basis. We have shared a few photos from Würzburg, but will talk more about this wonderful town in a future post (although it seems like we are way behind on fully sharing our experiences 😀).

Delicious Goose Dinner

On November 16, 2016 By Isobar ExpeditionsIn Germany, Recipes4 Comments

We were told the other day that it is goose season here in Germany at the moment. We decided to go ahead and have the goose dinner at our local restaurant and we couldn’t have been more pleased. The goose was succulent and moist and was accompanied by red cabbage with apple and potato dumplings. Needless to say, pictures don’t provide justice to how good this meal truly was. We have cooked goose and duck at home ourselves and it can be a tricky meal to make due to the fattiness of the skin, but this goose was cooked to perfection. We have had some wonderful German meals since our arrival, but perhaps this might have been the best for a traditional German dinner.