Eisstockschiessen (Bavarian Curling)

One of the biggest lessons I've learned living in Munich (as someone who grew up in the Southern U.S.) is to make the most of every season.  Especially Winter, my area of least expertise.  Winter activities like skiing and sledding have been fun, but there was something new we hadn't tried yet.  It's an activity that dates to at least the 16th Century, has European and World championships, and has been "demonstrated" at the Winter Olympics two times.  It's called eissstockschiessen.

Below, you see the Nymphenburg Palace and a worker preparing the ice for eisstockschiessen and skating.

We'd wanted to try eisstockschiessen before, but somehow never made it in the last years.  It needs to be consistently cold so the water freezes to a safe thickness - at the mercy of nature, lanes open and close with little warning.  There are lanes all over the city, but the ones on the Nymphenburger Kanal (near the Nymphenburg Palace and Gardens) are the most popular.  They have the capacity for 40 lanes (marked by the end boards on the ice) from the castle all the way to the bridge where the local tram stops.

Here is a view down the canal:

 

Since the temperature had averaged -10°C for the previous two weeks, we checked online and the lanes were open. Not knowing how crowded it gets on weekends, we called ahead and reserved one at 9am.  We arrived a little late (9:15) but the rental shack was closed and the one person who seemed associated with it was out on the canal ice, driving a mini Zamboni to clear the lanes (see this in the first photo above).  That is not very German (imprecise!), so we killed some time taking photos of the palace.

After 30 minutes and no indications that he would be finished soon, we ducked into a cute little corner cafe and warmed up with cappuccino, a krapfen (filled doughnut) and piece of marmorkuchen (marble loaf cake).

Now fuelled up and with full feeling in hands and face again, we headed back to see if we could rent the equipment and get our lane. The trailer was finally open for business.  A lane costs €4 per person, for 4 hours - very reasonable.

Required equipment includes the Eisstöcke (plural of Eisstock) to toss/slide (like the "stone" in Canadian curling) and the Dauben (targets).  The kanal lanes include end boards to contain throws that would send an Eisstock into the next lane.  We saw many people come later (we were still the first that cold morning) with their own sets of Eisstöcke and Dauben - serious players indeed.  Theirs were often bright metal, whereas the rental Eisstöcke are wooden (but good enough for us!).  The rental Dauben were simply rectangular blocks of wood dusted with orange paint.

Here is Frau A showing the bottom of a stock.

 

The game is a lot like bocce or shuffleboard.  The goal is to slide your Eisstock closest to the Daube.  It's a great group activity -- especially the arguing about who is closest and the fun of knocking someone else's Eisstock away.

We played 1-on-1 this morning, but it's usually played with 2 teams of 4 people.  This means that in each round, 8 Eisstöcke are thrown.  The points are tallied at the end, and the next round starts from the other end of the lane.  Usually the team that captured the most points on the prior round goes first, so the other team has the last chance this time to knock their Eisstock away from the Daube and score the points.

There are official rules to the game, since it is played competitively (and internationally).  However, most people tend to have their own variation on the rules.  For example:

First to 10:

In each round, the team with the Eisstock closest to the Daube receives 1 point.  First team to 10 points wins. 

Quick First to 10:

In each round, the team with the Eisstock closest to the Daube receives 1 point.  If that same team also has the Eisstock that is second-closest to the Daube, they receive 2 points.

4 Rounds:

There are only 4 rounds, and the team with the most points at the end wins.  In this case, the scoring is like in Quick First to 10 but not limited to 2 points.  A team can receive up to 4 points (if all 4 of their Eisstöcke were closer than the opponents' closest one).

6 Rounds:

There are only 6 rounds, and the team with the most points wins.  The closest Eisstock receives 3 points, and for each other Eisstock that is still closer than the opponents' closest toss, the team receives 2 points (up to 9).  This is usually part of tournament play, so that a win after 6 Rounds gives a team 2 points (a draw 1, and a loss 0).  Then teams move on to other competitors for the next games.

The official rules are, of course, much more precise and include a target area around the Daube.  Only Eisstöcke within the target can get points, and the Daube can only be struck and moved within the target area (if it is pushed outside the target area, it is brought back to its position before the contact).

We took a video... I had to swing as hard as I could to toss the Eisstock, staying relatively low on the ice so not to fall!  We saw many Germans who wore strap-on spikes while they played for stability.

Here are some of those more experienced players on the lane next to us.  You can seel ice skaters taking advantage of the open space at the end of the eisstockschiessen lanes.  (The shack rents ice skates too.)  And again, the nice view with the Nymphenburg palace in the background.

They were pretty serious, and brought out the measuring tape a few times to settle a debate (we were too slow with the camera, unfortunately).

As with most Winter activities here, the proper way to finish is with a hot mug of glühwein (mulled wine).  The shack was happy to sell this too, but oddly theirs included raspberries.  This is unusual, but tasted nice -- although most raspberries ended up tossed onto the snow.

When we returned, we looked up the weather.  No wonder we were chilled -- it was -15°C at 9am, and the high that day was -10°C.

Which explains my attire.  Although it isn't easy to move, I recommend (for warm weather people like me) as many layers as you can manage.  After thermal underwear, fleece leggings, 2 fleeces undercoat, and a down jacket, I added Herr J's balaclava to protect my face.  (And you can't see the handwarmers inside my gloves.)  Yes, I'm slowly learning to deal with Winter, but Herr J will usually carry extra handwarmers just in case...

The ice has mostly melted now, but fortunately we returned the following weekend with a friend to get in a few more games that season.  We're looking forward to more next year.  (Or maybe we should try the Summer version!)

Pyrenees vacation - Hike 3, Coll de Noell to Amélie-les-Bains

Despite a few unclear hiking directions on Day 2, we felt pretty good heading into Day 3.  We again got up early, thoroughly translated the instructions from German at breakfast, and put water in the backpacks.

Today we would be heading mostly north, further into France.  On the Google Map below, you can already start to see the Mediterranean Sea and our final destination of Banyul sur Mer.

One unique part of this day's agenda was that the hike would start outside of town -- they provided a taxi to get us to the starting point.  Day 2 ended in Prats-de-Mollo, but Day 3 started in Coll de Noell.

The taxi basically dropped us off in the middle of a dirt road.  50m further, a hiking path veered off right.

The first hour or so had a completely different environment than the pine forests of Day 1 and 2.  It seemed much drier here, dominated by grasses, wildflowers, and shrubs.  And the sun was really beating down.

For a while were were hiking along farmer's paths, and slong some woods that were small deciduous trees.

Eventually, we ascended beyond the farms and up to the peaks that we had to cross in order to reach the next town.  These mountains were a little more dramatic that what we had seen so far.  You can see the narrow trail heading up to the first apex - we would have to do two of these today.

Looking back, the hiking path snakes its way back and disappears over the ridge we had just climbed.

The second peak was even more photogenic.. and we had some company!  Two Frenchmen had already arrived and were having lunch.  We said hello, and opened our packs for food and water too.  The guys were NOT doing the Wikireisen tour -- they just lived in the area and were having a nice day in the mountains.

As we started the descent towards Amelie-les-Bains, the way became quite rocky.  Oddly, this was more difficult to do that a grudging incline.  But we took it slow and steady, and so far all directions looked good!  No problems... yet.

Eventually, through a clearing we could see a town in the valley below - presumably our destination.

Unfortunately, this is where the directions failed us again.  For you doubters out there, check out all the hiking we have done in Germany and Austria - and I promise we double check and backtracked twice... but there was a turnoff the directions noted we should take that did not exist.  So we kept on the main trail and headed down towards the town (that's Frau A coming down the trail, below).

We did arrive in town... but unfortunately about an hour walk from the part of town where our hotel was.  We asked a man driving along the road to clarify directions - not so easy with our terrible French.  However, his eyes lit up when he saw the name of our hotel, and he motioned to get in the car.  Why not?

Yet again, fate dealt us a great hand.  This man was friendly (singing to himself in the car) and dropped us off right at the hotel!  That was nice, because it gave us some time to shower before dinner.  I took the chance to take photos of the locals playing bocce next to the river, outside of our hotel window.  My favorite is the man in yellow shirt, tie, and hat.  He liked to be the judge rather than play the game.

So ended Day 3.  Mostly on track, with an instructions problem towards the end of the day that landed us an hour outside our destination.  But we had some luck again, and all worked out well.  It was another day of hiking 12km, ascending 650m, experiencing the Pyrenees, and ending with a nice dinner - we slept well again that night.

As you'll read in the next post, Day 4 had more dramatic surprises in store for us...

Pyrenees vacation - Hike 2, Molló (Spain) to Prats-de-Mollo (France)

After the experience on our first day of hiking with the Wikireisen package, we decided to be a bit more careful.  In retrospect, were are spoiled by the incredibly well marked and managed hiking trails in Germany, Austria, and Switzerland.  We blindly assumed that hiking trails everywhere are so well signed.  Of course, the problemn could lie with the Wikireisen directions themselves... we'll see.

The second day's hike would take us across the border from Spain and into France's Pyrenees.  There is a nature reserve nearby (see map below) and the scenery promised to continue to be gorgeous.

In the spirit of caution, Frau A and I got up even earlier and spent a long breakfast translating in detail the hiking instructions.  We would manage the twists and turns more carefully today, even if it took some of the relaxation out of the experience.  Better than being lost in the mountains.

After we had made copious notes, we departed from the hotel in Mollo.  Incredibly, the very first instruction was unclear.  It said to "exit the hotel and turn right".  The problem:  the hotel sits on a street corner, and there are two exits!  Therefore, depending on which exit you took, you would take a different direction.  We weren't sure if this was hilarious or depressing, but it was casting doubt more and more on the directions from Wikireisen.

Fortunately, we figured it out quickly and headed down into the valley - with pretty views of the town church.

Today, we would be heading downwards first, and then go up and across a mountain to Prats-de-Mollo.

For the first hour -- after the first instruction, anyway -- things were going smoothly.  We identified every intersection and turn, and were rewarded with signs comfirming our path and position.

Unfortunately, we came to an instruction that said to turn right and follow the covered path.  Of course, the covered path went left at the Y-junction.  We guess correctly that the covered path was more important than right/left indication, but confidence was not high in the directions at this point.

The covered path was very rocky but beautiful.  At least that was worth the moment of confusion.

We emerged by an old mill alongside a small river.  Really nice.  Like the day before, we were basically alone on the trails, with complete peace and quiet (but nobody to ask for confirming directions either).

After crossing the river, we started the day's ascent.  After 1.5 hours we could look back over the valley.

Sure enough, we ran into more mountain horses.  (I.e., another stop for Frau A to take photos!)

After another hour ascending in the woods, we reached an elevation that was clear and grassy.  Right in front of us was a stone marker -- we had reached the Spanish-French border!  Still on track for that day too.

The weather was again beautiful, so we decided to have our lunch here along the border, in the sun.

Even better, signs continued to confirm that we were following directions correctly.

So we crossed into France and started the descent into Prats-de-Mollo, again going through the woods.

An hour later we walked by a farm with two donkeys - wish we had brought sugar cubes for them.
They were much more curious than the horses or cows, and not afraid to come right to the fence. 

Then in the early afternoon, we emerged from the woods with a view of our destination.  We could see the church and fortress dominating the hill on which the town sits.  Very satisfying.

We entered the town through the old stone wall & gate.  Very cool.  Frau A had to take some photos here.

Walking past the old walls was a great reward for the day's hike...

...plus there were some smaller churches that looked lovely.

We had one more arch to go through, and then on to the hotel, for showers and then dinner.

Day 2 was pretty satisfying.  There were some glitches in the hiking instructions that continued to give us pause.  But we made it, had gorgeous scenery and photos, and lots of fresh air.  Just a great day.

As you'll see in the next posts, the ominous signs of bad instructions turned into real problems... but we found a way.

Pyrenees vacation - Hike 1, Setcases to Molló

In the prior blog entry, we introduced our "individualized" trip:  an organized 5-day hike from the edge of the Pyrenees to the Mediterranean coast.  It was structured by a travel company (a different hotel booked each night), but we would actually execute it on our own - no guides or groups.

The first hike was from Setcases to Mollo, both in Spain.  (Although you can already see the French border on the Google Map below.)  It's not the high Pyrenees, but still a hike of 650m ascent over 13km in that day's plan.

Below was the sign that greeted us at the start of the day.  This trail section is part of the major GR11 route across the Pyrenees, so we hoped that it would be well marked with the red/white stripes the whole way.

Our first steps were across a mountain stream, with the same flowers we saw in town (Setcases) on the bridge.

After 30-45 minutes of immediate incline, we reached a relatively wide, flat, grassy track through the woods.
We stopped frequently to take photos of the peaks across the way.  It was a beautiful, blue day in Spain.

The woods here were dominated by pine trees and rough shrubs along the trailside.

One thing we did NOT expect was to see cows in the mountains.  We learned, in fact, that the locals let them graze freely and just round them up a few times each year.  They were quite skittish and afraid of people.

The next surprise was to see horses in the mountains, also roaming freely.  As with the cows, people here let them take care of themselves and find them a few times each year.  What was a little disturbing to Frau A is that the horses are used for food!  (We'd seen Spanish dried horse meat on menus in Munich, and here they were.)

They were very nervous as well, but we snuck through the trees for a few closer photos.  This one was young and liked to stay close to mom... but still curious of us nonetheless.

To help people track them down, many horses wear bells like the one in the photo below.

In the next photo, you get a much better view of the wide, grassy train we were following.  No problems so far.  Until this point, we were following the GR11 and would see the red & white stripes marker periodically.

We caught this guy sharing our path, but he beat it as soon as we came around the corner toward him.

At this point, we could look back and see how the trail wound its way around the side of the mountain.

We then came to a point with a great view across the Pyrenees - peaks are far as the eye could see.  This is where the instructions told us to leave the GR11 (to take a path down to the next town).

Frau A took this chance to pose with the horses that were sharing our lookout point.

Unfortunately, things started to go poorly from here.  Our printed map and turn-by-turn guide sent us onto this narrow dirt track.  That was fine, except the instruction (remember, printed in German) told us to look for a fence on the left, go through the gate, and continue on the trail to Mollo.

We never found the fence, and therefore not the gate, and therefore not the path to Mollo.  We backtracked twice and checked each direction carefully, but just could not figure it out.  These cows couldn't help, unfortunately.  At least the weather was perfect - not too cold or hot for extended hiking.

It's funny.  Even though she's tired, somewhat lost, and it's getting on towards dusk, Frau A still wants to take photos of animals!  She would have taken one home with her, if it were possible.

At this point, it was starting to get dark.  We spent a LOT of time taking photos, and after backtracking twice to try and find the turnoff that the instruction said we should follow, we put away the cameras and headed to one place we knew existed and hopefully find some help.

Because this was already early October, peak season for hiking was over.  There were almost no people on the trails with us.  Fortunately we remembered passing a small turnoff into a national park, where earlier we had seen a few cars.  We hiked there as fast as possible... and luckily found one family left.  They were having a picnic.  Frau A asked them for help in Spanish.

Unbelievably, they offered to drive us to Mollo - where they are from.  They did not know the fence and gate the instructions mentioned, but since we had already hiked 15km (and probably 1100m total ascent) we didn't feel guilty about accepting their offer.  We had hiked more than in the plan anyway!

Ironically, it was a great way to end the day.  Their kindness was a reaffirmation of how nice people can be.  On the other side, we learned that we cannot trust the given directions from Wikireisen blindly.

The next hikes proved to be just as "interesting"... coming soon.

Pyrenees vacation - a self-guided experiment

(Sorry for the lapses in posting here - I'm back in action.  Thanks for understanding - Herr J)

Do you remember that I asked Frau A to marry me at Oktoberfest?  She said Yes, and the very next day we left for a week-long hiking trip.  This trip was destined to be interesting because it was a hybrid between a guided tour and a do-it-yourself vacation.  Here's how it worked:

A German travel company called Wikireisen offers multi-day hiking packages that go from hotel to hotel (or hut to hut) through the Alps or Pyrenees.  They offer other trips as well (biking, walking, etc.) in many different countries around Europe.  The idea is that they provide the structure of the trip, but you're not constrained to being herded with a group each day.  They call it "individualized travel".  They book the hotels (your start and end points each day), provide maps and outline the hiking routes, but you hike the route on your terms.

What made it appealing to us is that the plan details are (supposedly) fully and professionally prepared, but you execute it as you want.  Are you a late sleeper?  Most hikes each day are 5-6 hours, so just start at 10:30 and you'll be in the next town by dinner.  Frau A and I planned to start earlier, because we take so many photos that it slows us down.  In the heavy tourist season, many people will be booked in the same hotels, but would depart and arrive according to their hiking speed and preferences.  A pretty interesting concept, right?

So the next morning after the Oktoberfest proposal, we flew from Munich to Barcelona.

We selected a hiking plan through the Pyrenees, so upon arriving in Barcelona we took the train from the airport to the main station.  We bought tickets, and hopped the next train to Setcases, Spain:

The adventure we bought from Wikireisen included 5 hikes:

Day 1:  Setcases (Spain) to Mollo (Spain)

Day 2:  Mollo (Spain) to Prats de Mollo (France)

Day 3:  Taxi from Mollo to Coll de Noell (France), from there to Amelie le Bains (France)

Day 4:  Amelie le Bains (France) to Ceret (France)

Day 5:  Ceret (France) to Banyuls sur Mer (France)

In short, this would take us over 5 days from the Pyrenees to the French Mediterranean coast.  Very cool. 

We were quite excited when we finally arrived in Setcases, so before dinner we walked around the small town a bit.

In addition to the stone buildings, there were some water passages that (we think) help direct mountain run off.

A few stores were open, but we weren't there for shopping.  (Although the olive oil looked quite tempting.)

We weren't sure if this was the home of someone who loves plants and flowers, or a closed flower shop.

Setcases is quaint, but we took a quick dinner so we would be ready to start early the next morning.  The hiking directions were in German, so that made things a bit more complicated.  Frau A speaks Spanish, but neither of us speak French, so local help could be an issue at some point...

In the next posts, we'll share a hike-by-hike account of the adventure.  Lots of photos.  Stay tuned,.

A New Favorite Holiday!

Today is World Nutella Day!!

A holiday to celebrate one of Europe's greatest contribution to the world. 

Apart from the obvious Nutella on toast (or better yet, on buttery warm croissants), here are a few recipes I need to try soon. The Nutella waffles were a great experiment, but we have so many more to try!

Unfortunately we have no Nutella in the house for a picture: it's Sunday in Germany and I really can't keep Nutella around - it mysteriously disappears (Herr J???). 

Nutella and Sea Salt Cookies

Gluten-free Nutella Donuts

No-bake Nutella Cookies...dangerously easy!

very simple Nutella Cookies

Or there's always good old, homemade Nutella...or red velvet Nutella

Favorite New Kitchen Gadget

Both Herr J and I may independently have a "problem" with ktichen gadgets. Though we do actually use them, so it's yet to be decided if it's really a problem....

But there's a new one I'm really loving.  One of the best Christmas gifts this year was a gift certificate to Williams Sonoma. And being a gift, I decided to buy stuff I wanted but didn't really need or might not buy for myself. And I've been wanting the Zoku popsicle maker for a while now.

The big problem was the space it takes up in the European freezers and the weight it would take up in my suitcase on the flight home. Well, they now come in 1 and 2 popsicle sizes, which seemed more manageable.

I had wondered if these really work as well as claimed. Past attempts at popsicles using the plastic molds didn't work as well. Those pops were more icy than the soft popsicle texture that you get with the ones from the store. But, as (1) they don't have popsicles in the store here, and (2) I don't want to have all that sugar, making popsicles seemed to be a good idea.  I was a little sceptical of the claim that all you had to do was pour in fruit juice, but there were so many great recipes available online that I figured it would be useful.

The first batch we tried was a strawberry yogurt pop. I just put strawberries, sugar, nonfat yogurt, and a little lemon juice in the blender. Apparently you need to have a more liquid texture for the freezing to work, so I added skim milk to make it more liquid. They were great!

There's a little removal tool that screws into the hole in the handle and then lifts it out of the mold.

Then I bought some pomegranate juice at the store to test out if it really works with just plain juice. And it does - pomegranate was great! A little different taste, and a good balance of sweet with a little tart.

I'm sure the same is probably true in the US now, but Germany has a wonderful abundance of juice varieties. And though you can buy the expensive ones at the bio stores, they have some impressive range in the affordable section (i.e., under €3 for a box). There so many more to try, and to try mixing. But I brought home the Amarena Cherry and the Pineapple-Coconut for a taste test.

Yum!  I'm a huge fan of cherry, so I liked this one. It's very tart, though, so is a good lesson. If you don't like tart flavors, you should test the juice and then possibly add some sugar or honey. But loved it!

It's hard to pick a favorite - all 3 of the juice ones have been favorites so far. But there's something special about the Pineapple-Coconut...probably because it tastes like a beach holiday!

 

We'll be back in the US for a wedding soon and I'm seriously considering getting another one, especially since I have a $20 coupon at Williams Sonoma. I'm using it almost every day! Great for summer and also for winter sore throats!  

I'm sure we'll eventually try some of the more creative pops you can make...chili-chocolate paletas, pops with different color layers, or a different flavor center. But it's hard to beat the simplicity of just pouring juice out of the box into the mold.