Germany: What to do in a land of vinegar, electronica, beer and strudels?
A non-exhaustive exploration of German alcohol reveals Pilsner, Helles, Dunkles, Kölsch, Altbier, Weißbier, Schwarzbier, Märzen, Oktoberfestbier, Gose, Zwickl and Rauchbier, Jägermeister, Reisling and Spätburgunder… It would be possible for me to spend the entire German week under the table and I still wouldn’t have scratched the surface of the 5,500 different German beers awaiting my taste-buds. In an attempt to focus I headed to Stirchley Wines and forced myself to only buy the beers that would add new crown caps to my collection. It took strength to hold back, especially when the shop-owner told me you can get a smoked liquor to help wash down the Rauchbier.
In the end I only tried four beers, each of which were delicious in their own way, which is good as once we finished eating this week’s homemade meal, my wife looked me dead in the eye and said “that was the worst meal we’ve had.” Harsh, but fair as I had just fed her vegan schnitzel with sauerkraut, vinegar cucumber salad, and a vinegar potato salad (Swabian style). I tried to make amends for this sour experience by taking her to the succinctly named “The German Café” which, despite being just down the road, I had never visited. It’s a lovely little place full of regulars which is a good sign, and so we decided to stay for lunch and cake. Sadly other than the delicious lentil soup the vegan options were non-Teutonic and so we went vegetarian again, plumping for Tiroler Grosti and apple cake. Both were superb, better, I think, than the also fantastic food served at Alberts Schloss who claim that “Bham ist wunderbar.” We ate mushroom Spätzle, vegan wurst, salat and Bavarian potatoes as well as a crispy apfel strudel. We washed it down with flights of beer all of which I’d recommend highly.
I’m not sure, however whether I would recommend the book What you can see from here, a surreal, magic realist trip to a small German town that could be pretty much anywhere in the world. It was an easy read which I chose as it was a German best seller, but it didn’t really scream Germany at me, so I followed up with Alone in Berlin, which is quite clearly a work of genius and a fantastic reminder of the ordinary people who resisted the Nazis despite the overwhelming danger in doing so. I guess it is telling that in Germany the title is Every man dies alone!
Talking of which, with All quiet on the western front up for an Oscar, I couldn’t stop myself from choosing that as this week’s film, even though that makes the blog pretty war heavy. It is truly a horrible thing to watch, honest about the cruelty, naivete and brutality of war and not-shying away from the hell that all sides go through, as well as the seeming distaste for life that drives some of those in power. Anti-war yes, powerful, yes, but if I had my time again, I may well choose something different, especially as I have a great love of Fassbinder and Wim Wenders, as well as films such as Run Lola Run, Goodbye Lenin and the Lives of Others.
One of the things that I really didn’t expect to find on this Germanic adventure is that I still don’t really know what the hell Germany is! I really need to spend more time there to understand the concept of Bavarian, Swabian, Franconian, and what was Prussia? Germany history before it was unified in 1871 seems overwhelmingly confusing… as shown in this map of Germany’s constantly moving borders. Watching it is was a great reminder of the difference in mindset that an island person can have, especially when our borders mainly end at the sea… this is a very long explanation of why my German playlist has so many non-Germans on it! I figured that to truly show the spirit of the nation it was important to include music made in Berlin as it seems to have regularly been at the heart of the musical world. Which is why I have still promised myself I will watch the film Berlin Calling at some point soon! But for now I say farewell to Germany and head south to Ghana.
