Cibo in Germania

Finally I have some time to complete my little series about the trip to Germany! The last post was meant to be dedicated to German food.
I was quite impressed by the quality of the food found in all the restaurants I went to in Germany. When I was by myself in Cologne I was really mostly randomly choosing places to go, and I always found something good. However, I didn't go to many 'traditional German' places. It is quite true that traditionally, German people like a lot of meat (sausages especially) and potatoes, which is for example what we were given all the time at the conference in Mainz. Since I'm not too much of a fan of this food, I went to different places. For example, in Cologne there were restaurants presenting food from all over the world, and I tried both a Thai and a Spanish place which were really good. Such a variety would be impossible to find in Italy, for example.
More in details, in Mainz, Vardha and I went to a really good 'international' restaurant, called 'The Holy Spirit', which was in a building that used to be a church, and I had a delicious trout, while Vardha had a quite good pizza. Both the atmosphere and the food were very pleasant.
I had the best food with Michael, in Constance. He knew where to go! When I arrived, we went in a nice little place which had very good wine, and where I tried a traditional German dish which wasn't meat-centered, and made me very happy: 'Kässpätzle'. Spatzle is a type of hand-made pasta, shaped similarly to the Italian trofie, in small bits, and that contains eggs. The version I had was served with a lot of cheese and onions on top. It was really delicious! Too bad I forgot to take a picture of it.
Then, when we went on Richenau, we had the best fish dish ever in a small place on the island. There was such a nice atmosphere: they grilled the fish on the spot, and everybody was seated together with the other customers, at long tables. Again, I was too hungry to remember to take a picture.. :(
But actually, some of the best food was what Michael gave me for dinner at his place. He said that in Germany people usually eat just some open-face sandwiches with ham and cheese and butter. The bread he had and the one we bought at Richeanu were just amazing. And the cheese and ham,.. too good to seem true, especially after living in the US for such a long time! Of course I forgot to take pictures again, but in this case, I asked Michael if he could be so kind and take some pictures for me next time he had his supper. :) And here is an example of a wonderful dark bread (I didn't try this particular type, but dark bread is one of my favorite). Thank you Michael! :)
I must admit: German bread is better than Italian bread!! I would have never thought I could say something like this, but it's really true. The variety of breads that they have is just tremendously superior to what we make in Italy as our daily bread.
Another really good German food are the cakes. Michael got me to try a delicious 'Mohn cuken', i.e. a cake made with a lot of poppy seeds. It was really good! Again, no picture :(
But here is an example of a typical window of a bakery in Germany (this is in Cologne).
This place was specialized in strawberry cakes, so I tried a slice just before leaving. Wonderful. :)
Another specialty in Germany are cheesecakes:
I usually don't like cheesecakes in the US. They are too sweet and rich for my taste. But I had to try one in Cologne, because they told me that they were a specialty. So I tried a cheesecake with cherry, and to my surprise, it was light and tasted a little like flan, instead of a heavy cheesecake. I really enjoyed it.
As a last food-related thing, I will show here 'currywurst'. I had to try this. It's the most typical street food that you can find in Germany. It's hard for me to imagine how they came up with this combination: it's a big sausage, which they serve with what they define 'curry', meaning a thickish sauce with the spice that everybody in Italy (and evidently also in Germany) think of when the word 'curry' is mentioned. Now that I know something about Indian cuisine, I understand what a weird concept this is. Nevertheless, there is a 'curry' spice, and it's the one used to top this sausage. Obviously, you have to have 'curry-wurst' with beer. So here was my order:
I must say that I really enjoyed both the curry-wurst and the beer. I usually don't like beer and can never finish a whole glass (not to speak about a pint..). But this beer was light and not too bitter and was perfect with the food, on a sunny day. I was so happy while eating this street food, so different from what I usually like :)
So this is basically it with my food experiences in Germany. I tried also an ice-cream in a 'gelateria italiana'. The owner and the waiters were really Italian (it turns out that most places that claim to be Italian in Cologne are really owned by and employ mostly Italian people). But the gelato.. quite disappointing :( - I guess one really has to go to Italy for a good gelato :)

Turista a Colonia

I have now some time to continue to post about my trip in Germany, after a few days of interruption.
After visiting Michael in Constance, I left for Cologne by train. The sceneries were beautiful, again. I was particularly struck by the intense yellow of some fields that were visible here and there on the hills we were going by. Here is a picture I took from the train window, which captures at least some of this beautiful color.
I arrived in Cologne in the early afternoon, and went to my bed and breakfast to deposit my luggage. It was an inexpensive and yet quite nice room, in a very lively neighborhood at walking distance from the Cathedral and the Rhine. Here is the room:
If you ever want to reserve a bed and breakfast in Germany, I recommend using this website. It worked really nicely for me, and you can pay less than half of what you would pay if you went to a regular hotel. Plus, you will feel at least a little bit immersed in the normal life of the city you’re visiting, as the rooms are simply part of apartments were people live.
Walking up the stairways in the building where my room was reminded me a little of visiting a friend in Torino. There is something similar in the way buildings are built everywhere in Europe, which is very distinct from the apartments and houses in the US. I must say, there is something about walking in a city in Europe that makes me feel instantly at home. Possibly this is just a superficial feeling, and I’m not sure if I would really feel more at home in a city in Germany compared to Berkeley. In the end, I’m Italian, and the unity of Europe as a nation has not really sunk in the hearts of the people, so that nobody would ever define himself or herself ‘European’. Yet, it is something that I have noticed quite a few times. It must be the architecture, the many people walking around in the streets, all the shops, cafes, restaurants. And the churches, the museums, and in general, that feeling of history that I only recently realized saturates the air of Europe.
During my first afternoon I walked around downtown and visited the impressive Cathedral that makes Cologne famous. It’s an amazing building. Its façade is so tall that it was impossible for me to take a picture of the whole of it. So, here is the upper part:
And here is the lower part, with the monumental entrances.
All its facades are quite impressive. Here is another of them, seen from the square where two of the main museums of Cologne are. In particular, on the left side of the picture you can see the museum of Germany history, and on the right side, the Ludwig museum of modern and contemporary art.
During my day and nights in Cologne I was completely by myself. This was a new experience for me, and I was somewhat happy and concerned at the same time about it. In the end, it was good, although I must admit that I do prefer traveling in the company of a good friend or two. On the bright side, being by myself, I was able to visit a number of museums, churches, and parts of the cities that I wouldn't otherwise have had the possibility of seeing. I don't know how many people would have agreed with my rhythm.. on the other hand, I would have probably enjoyed more the nice atmosphere of cafes and restaurants, had I been with someone nice to talk to. I did a lot of people watching and tried to live in the present as much as possible, but in the end, the best was always for me to explore new things rather than sitting somewhere. So, here are some of the wonderful things I saw.
On my first afternoon, I had a stroll around the cathedral and on the Rhine river before dinner. The atmosphere is really nice:
I love cities built around a river.. obviously that's one of the things I like of my own hometown..
After dinner, I explored a lot of the city. I was particularly impressed by how lively it is. There are groups of people everywhere, sitting at restaurants or pubs, outside. In a particular square (Altmarket) there are tables with small stands, where people have wine and cheese and bread, sitting friendly close to each other. And when I went home, around 11 pm, the streets were even more crowded than in the middle of the day.
The day after, I spent most of my morning inside the Cathedral. I decided I wanted to climb up the tower, even though I read that there were 520 steps and no elevator. I decided my knees would have to bear it, because who knows in how many years would I go back to this wonderful place? I wasn't disappointed. The view is breath-taking, both when you're still inside and when you finally get outside.
This is the top of the tower, from its inside:
And here is a detail of a window, from inside:
And here is a view from outside! How beautiful this is. The big building you see in this picture is St. Martin, a beautiful church.
I love this picture with a detail of the Cathedral, and the modern shape of the roof of the Ludwig museum. It's amazing how the two constructions don't clash, even though they are so different and yet so close to each other!
Here is a better view of just the museum:
When I finally descended, I went back inside the cathedral, to breathe in once more this sacred Gothic atmosphere. Here is a picture that captures only a fraction of it:
I think this was one of the best parts of my visit. After this, I walked around, and "found myself" in front of the chocolate museum! How could I say no to a visit inside? It looked like a cool building, on a small island on the Rhine, and there were lots of people inside. In fact, it's a wonderful museum. There are lots of panels about the scientific facts related to cocoa growth and harvest and its transformation into chocolate, together with other panels describing the social issues related to the labor and the unfair wages of the people who grow cocoa in Africa and South America. I really liked these explanations, which were totally missing in the 'Death by chocolate' exposition that I went to some time ago in Napa Valley.
There are also some more fun parts, of course, like this amazing chocolate fountain:
We were given small pieces of wafers dipped in the liquid chocolate.. :)
What I also found amazing is that there is a whole floor dedicated to the industrial production of chocolates. After the liquid chocolate is poured into the molds, a particular machine 'shakes' the molds so that the chocolates become flat:
Then, the chocolates are dried, and moved by special machines:
The chocolates are then moved on a single line by a machine, then wrapped by another one, and finally placed in small bags and weighed by a person... quite a tiring job this must be:
My other favorite touristic activity (in Europe, at least) is to visit churches. In Cologne, there are a lot of really beautiful ones. I'll show you here some views of insides and outside of these sacred and wonderful buildings.
This is St. Andreas, with both Gothic and Romanesque arcs:
And this is a detail of the ceiling:
This is a statue that's inside, which really touched me:
And here is the beautiful organ.
German churches seem to have maintained their organs in wonderful working conditions. I heard some of them playing just while visiting the churches, then I heard the Cathedral organ playing during a Mass that I attended. I also specifically went to the St. Apostles basilica to listen to an organ and choir concert. It was the Derby choral union, and they played the Te Deum by Haydn and the Requiem by Faure. It was really wonderful. I hadn't been to a classical music concert in ages.
This is the inside of St. Severin:For some reason, its simple setting, and its circular apse really touched me and made me feel part of a higher reality.
This is a detail of the outside.
I saw one of the most wonderful views of the cathedral from a balcony in the Ludwig Museum. Nobody was on the balcony - I guess no one went all the way up to this hidden part of the museum, so I had it all for myself and took a lot of pictures. Here are the best.
Here is a detail of the facade:
And here is the back:
Then, since I was alone, I had a lot of fun taking pictures of myself with such a beautiful background. Here is the best shot I took (I was just stretching my arm and had the camera pointing towards me) :)
The Ludwing museum itself was very interesting. I am not a big lover of contemporary art, so I didn't appreciate all of it, but I did enjoy many parts. I think actually the part that I loved better was a temporary exposition, 'Paula Modersohn-Becker und die Agyptischen Mumienportraits'. It was a comparison between the portraits painted by Paula Modersohn-Becker and those found in Egyptian tombs. I didn't know this author before, and it was a big discovery for me. I loved her portraits. Here is a self-portrait of hers, that you can see if you visit the exposition:
(Image borrowed from the museum website)
This will end my post about my adventure in Cologne, I hope you enjoyed the little virtual tour. In summary, it's a beautiful and lively town, filled with history and art, a worthwhile stop if you're traveling throughout Germany. My next post will describe some of the food I had while I was in Germany!

Prima volta in Germania

This past week I was in Germany, which explains why I haven’t replied to any comment or posted anything. I went to Mainz, close to Frankfurt, for a conference, from Monday to Wednesday. Then, instead of coming back on Thursday night, I decided to take one day off and go back on Sunday instead. This turned out to be a very good idea: I had never been to Germany before, and I really enjoyed it. The conference was also interesting, and it allowed me to meet scientists from both the US and Europe, which was very good. In the next few posts I will show you pictures and write a few things about the trip - Warning: I wrote these posts offline when I was at the airport and had lots of time, so they're pretty long!

The trip started in Mainz, where the conference was, and which I toured around on Sunday with Vardha and a colleague of his, Daniel. Mainz is a small town, mostly a college town, with some quite nice squares and an extremely beautiful cathedral. Here you can see the exterior of it:

Mainz (Magonza, in Italiano) is famous because of Gutenberg, who was born here. There is a museum dedicated to him and to the invention of printing machines, but unfortunately I didn’t have time to visit it.
On the second day of the conference, the organizers brought us to do a wonderful trip on the Rhine. This was really memorable: I had never seen such sceneries before, with beautiful green hills surrounding a river, and small fairy-like towns on the borders.
It was amazing. Also, every other hill, we could see a castle, which in Medieval times was protecting the village below it.

Moving along, the hills became higher and higher. In the picture below, on the right side, you can see what’s apparently the most photographed rock in Germany. It’s actually just a big rock, but there is a legend about it! The rock's name is Loralie, because of a beautiful lady who committed suicide by throwing herself in the river, in despair because of her faithless lover. She was then transformed into a siren, and sing from this rock, thus causing all the sailors to shipwreck when they passed by! When the boat stopped, we climbed on a hill and went inside one of these castles. I have been in castles before, in Italy and France, but I had never seen such an old castle in such good conditions. There were still lots of parts, which survived the cannon balls of the French in the XIV century. This is an example of what you see from the main tower: the castle itself, surrounded by beautiful hills:
And wonderful scenery, with another castle on the opposite side of the river:
I will finish this part of the story with a picture of Vardha and of our tour guide.
The guide was a very interesting person, who sang a medieval German song at every stop of the trip. However, when we arrived on the top of the highest tower, he started singing a Gospel song, and asked us to sing and snap our fingers with him. So, you can understand what Vardha is doing with his hands.. It was a strange and beautiful experience: sing a Gospel song on top of a Medieval German castle, with a bunch of scientists from all over the world and a tour guide with a pirate-like bandage on one eye..
The conference ended on Wednesday early afternoon, and after saying goodbye to at least a few of the people that I wanted to say goodbye to, I took a train and went South, to Constance, to meet Michael, a friend of my friend Eleanor. Eleanor introduced me to Michael when I sent out a last-minute email asking if somebody wanted to join me in Germany for a few days. Michael nicely invited me to visit him in Constance, and so I did. The idea of being on a beautiful lake immersed in the nature was very appealing, and in fact Michael and I spent a very nice day together. We took a boat ride to the island of Reichenau. Here you can see a picture of me on the boat:
And here is Michael:
Unfortunately the weather was quite overcast. Still, the lake was very beautiful and had a particular charm, which I tried to capture for example in this picture:
This place is the paradise of birdwatchers. The singing of the birds is very loud in some places. Swans swim beautifully on the lake:
The island of Richenau is famous for three monasteries, built before the X century. The day we arrived was a particular holiday, and there were floral mosaics on the floor at the entrance of one of the sanctuaries. I particularly liked this:
Isn’t this amazing? It’s made only with flower petals.
Back from the island, we visited a little of Constance. Constance has a few really strange statues. One of them is the new symbol of the city, a gigantic statue that rotates and is situated on the border of the lake. It represents a courtesan, holding a king and a bishop on the palms of her hands.... Mm.. guess what it's referring to..
There are also some really weird statues in two fountains. These are strange mixtures of fish, rabbits and humans:
And here is a chimp staring at the butt of a huge naked young lady, who’s also surrounded by sleazily-looking old men with the body of pigs (I’ll spare you the pictures of them):
I’m not exactly sure why this artwork was in the streets of the town, but I must admit, it’s pretty impressive and provocative.. Before the day was over, Michael and I still had some time to relax on the river of the lake. The melancholic atmosphere given by the weather was particularly beautiful in the evening:
Our last adventure was entering the garden-island of Mainau after sunset (theoretically forbidden, but no one seemed to mind too much). Apparently this island is among the most renowned places to visit in all Europe, and Michael told me that during the day there are hundreds of tourists from all over the world going there. Given this description, I was expecting to see an impressive array of flowers. Instead, it was mostly like a beautiful park, with some beautiful flowers here and there. Unfortunately it was too dark to capture their gorgeous colors, but you can go to Wikipedia if you want to have an idea of what we have seen. This is it for this first post. In the next posts, I will talk about my visit to Cologne and of the food in Germany!