Johnny Cash...in German!

Since I'd missed most of the Christmas markets, I was determined to get a small dose of German Christmas wonderfulness while I still can. Sunday evening we made a quick run to the World's Largest Feuerzangebowle at Isartor. It's small, but the square is filled with stands selling crepes, wurst, and pommes, and of course feuerzangebowle.

Isartor Feuerzangebowle

What we enjoy about this one (besides the fact that they remain open through Jan 6!), is that they show the classic movie die Feuerzangebowle on the Isartor walls. The also usually pipe in older American music.

Which is exactly why we found ourselves wondering, that sounds like Johnny Cash, but is it really him singing in German?

Yep, it is.

I'm not sure whether or not if he had any special motivation since he spent 3 years near Landsberg with the military, but Johnny Cash apparently recorded a few songs in German.

His 1978 compilation album The Unissued Johnny Cash of previously unreleased recordings (made in 1958-62) includes 2 tracks in German: Wo Ist Zu Hause, Mama (Five Feet High and Rising) and Viel Zu Sp ät (I Got Stripes). Apparently he recorded these when his songs became popular in German. Pretty forward-thinking for the time!

He also later recorded a German version of I Walk the Line. As you can see from the lyrics below, it's quite a different song. But it still sounds good and is probably better than trying to directly translate a song that has a lot of sayings in it.

Wer kennt den Weg Am allerschonsten war es doch zu Haus Und doch zog's mich einst in die Welt hinaus Und in der Ferne suchte ich mein Glück Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck Sie schenkte mir die Liebe und ihr Herz Doch ich bracht' ihr nur Tranen, Leid und Schmerz Denn ich verliesie und damit mein Gluck Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck Wer kennt den Weg zuruck in jene Zeit Den Weg zuruck in die Vergangenheit Den Weg nach Hause und zum ersten Glück Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck

(Translated) Who knows the way The most beautiful thing was to be at home And I was drawn out into the world And in the distance I sought my luck Who knows the way, the way back She gave me love and her heart But I brought her only tears, sorrow and pain So I lost her and with her my luck Who knows the way, the way back Who knows the way back in those days The way back to the past The way home and to that first luck Who knows the way, the way back

(Original) I Walk the Line I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds. Because you're mine, I walk the line. I find it very, very easy to be true. I find myself alone when each day is through. Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you. Because you're mine, I walk the line. As sure as night is dark and day is light. I keep you on my mind both day and night. And happiness I've known proves that it's right Because you're mine, I walk the line. You've got a way to keep me on your side. You give me cause for love that I can't hide. For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide. Because you're mine, I walk the line.

He also appeared on the popular German show Wetten dass...? in 1983. Though he performed two songs in English, he did speak a bit to the audience in German between songs. Sure, he stumbles through it, but I certainly can't criticize anyone's attempts to speak a foreign language! I'm impressed he made the effort.

Wer kennt den Weg   Am allerschonsten war es doch zu Haus Und doch zog's mich einst in die Welt hinaus Und in der Ferne suchte ich mein Glück Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck   Sie schenkte mir die Liebe und ihr Herz Doch ich bracht' ihr nur Tranen, Leid und Schmerz Denn ich verliesie und damit mein Gluck Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck   Wer kennt den Weg zuruck in jene Zeit Den Weg zuruck in die Vergangenheit Den Weg nach Hause und zum ersten Glück Wer kennt den Weg, den Weg zuruck

(Translated) Who knows the way The most beautiful thing was to be at home AndI was drawn out into the world And in the distance I sought my luck Who knows the way, the way back   She gave me love and her heart But I brought her only tears, sorrow and pain So I lost her and with her my luck Who knows the way, the way back Who knows the way back in those days The way back to the past The way home and to that first luck Who knows the way, the way back

(Original) I Walk the Line I keep a close watch on this heart of mine. I keep my eyes wide open all the time. I keep the ends out for the tie that binds. Because you're mine, I walk the line. I find it very, very easy to be true. I find myself alone when each day is through. Yes, I'll admit that I'm a fool for you. Because you're mine, I walk the line. As sure as night is dark and day is light. I keep you on my mind both day and night. And happiness I've known proves that it's right Because you're mine, I walk the line. You've got a way to keep me on your side. You give me cause for love that I can't hide. For you I know I'd even try to turn the tide. Because you're mine, I walk the line.

More signs of the Apocalypse

Twilight branded hair styling equipment.

Sorry, Twilight "Sparkle" hair styling equipment. Even scarier.

As seen at Best Buy

Hello, 2012!

These aren't really New Year's resolutions, but a few things we'd like to do this year.  We know we won't do them all, but we know we'll also find some cool things to that we haven't thought of yet!

Travel:

Since we'll be using all of our vacation to organize or attend our wedding and honeymoon, we'll be trying to take trips that we can do on weekends or days from Munich.

Suleyman MosqueEaster in Istanbul - For an annual trip with friends from business school, we plan to meet this year in Istanbul. Last year's trip to Japan had to be cancelled at the last minute, but we're expecting Istanbul to work out this time. I went many years ago but that was before having a good camera and knowing about HDR!

The Ice Church - This ice church in Mitterfirmiansreut (near the Polish border) looks interesting and like a great photo op. Now that we've been to our Igloo, it's only fitting we visit "God's Igloo," as it is called.

photo from http://www.eisriesenwelt.atEisriesenwelt Werfen - The largest ice cave in the world is conveniently located just south of Salzburg.  It opens again in May.

Slyrs & Lantenhammer Distillery - After tasting some of their whisky and liquers, we'd love to visit the distillery. It's only an hour train ride away and conveniently located within walking distance of a BOB station!

Bamberg - We almost visited last year, but it wasn't worth going when most of the sites were still closed for winter. We'd love to see its charming old town and taste some good Franconian beer!

Skiing! No need to explain. Though it would also be fun to try the waterskiing place in Ascheim. I haven't been in years and love it

SchoberhütteWe'd love to go back and do different routes on two of this year's hikes. We'd love to hike to the Schoberhütte at Fuschl (we hiked only to the Frauenkopf because we had afternoon plans). And I have a masochistic desire to hike UP the Höllentallerklamm to the Alpspix. We hiked down, and I don't think my muscles have ever hurt so long from a hike! I suspect the up will be more difficult, but result in less pain the next day.

Munich Sights & Events:

Above all, we'd like to spend more time taking advantage of all of the local museums. The Deutsches Museum would be great for cold, rainy days. And we're so close to the Münchener Stadtmuseum (City museum) and the Jewish Museum. And we've seen too few of the city's art museums!

Beer gardens & Euro 2012 - While we have 2 more years to wait for the World Cup, Germany takes the UEFA European Football Championship (Europameisterschaft) just as seriously.  It also coincides with beer garden weather...

If the city again offers free Bavarian folkdancing lessons leading up to the Kocherlball, I'd love to learn a little and go do the Kocherlball right this year. We'll have to arrive much earlier this year...

There's just so much to see here. We'll probably still go to the same festivals, but hope to try some of the smaller ones this year and take more advantage of what Munich has to offer.

Hobbies:

Finish the half-sewn dirndl that had to be put away when work got too busy - perhaps in time for a Starkbierfest outing! The top and bottom are both made, but have not been sewn together. Time to take the plunge! And of course finish my scarf. But that will take just one or two train trips to Frankfurt!

Photoshop - I received a great book on Photoshop for Christmas and I'd love to get better in using it. More importantly, to take the time to go through the thousands of pictures sitting in folders on my hard drive.

Kitchen experiments - I have dreams of trying to create some German fusion dishes. In fact, I might just try something this week. Stay tuned! Plus I'd love to make use of the cake decorating tips and the cute little Bavarian cookie cutters I bought last year.

Other:

Christmas in July - I say this every year, but I'd love to do a Christmas party in summer. If we can keep it alive, we'll decorate the tree (he's potted, not cut, but the last one didn't survive summer on my balcony).  Make some Christmas cookies and feuerzangebowle.... It's always too busy around the holidays to actually do any baking and decorating, but I'm tired of that stopping me. So, we'll just have Christmas again when there's plenty of time to enjoy!

Perhaps the biggest to-do this year for us will be the small matter of planning a wedding in the US. With a lot of legwork from my wonderful parents, Herr J and I were able to set the date, church, and reception over a few days of our Christmas trip and I found a wonderful dress. Now for all of the other details....

If anyone has other recommendations for fun and interesting things to do in the area, we'd love to hear them - or better, your plans for 2012!

Wishing you all a very happy New Year, or as we say here Einen guten Rutsch!

Goodbye, 2011!

2011 has been a challenging year, but looking back through our photos and posts I realize just how much we've done this year - and that it really was quite a good year!

What have we been up to this year? Here's a walk through the year at Schnitzelbahn through photos.

We began the year with a snowy walk through the English Garden, where the surfers and football players didn't let the cold spoil their New Year's fun.

Surfing at the Eisbach

English Garden

Armed with some new warm winter clothing from our Christmas trip to the US (thanks, Herr J!), I tried to really enjoy winter...and totally suceeded for the first year ever. Skiing definitely helps, as do these incredible Alpine views.

For Valentine's Day, we checked out some real skiiers and watched Lindsey Vonn take 2nd in the World Cup downhill event in Garmisch-Partenkirchen.

Stacey Cook (team USA)

And then rounded out the weekend with a Cuban-Bavarian folk concert and a lovely dinner at the Charles Hotel with cake and tiki drinks.

die Cuba Boarischen

 

Munich had a few fun events in winter, such as the mini ski slope on Wittelsbacher Platz and we amused ourselves in the dreary February days by investigating Germany's supposed love affair with David Hasselhof:

Siemens Snow City

Yes, the Hoff is Back!

But for the most part, winter slow in Munich, since most people go to the mountains on weekend. The festivals and special events run mainly from spring to Christmas. We took advantage of the low period here to spend a long weekend in Vienna. We ate wienerschnitzel and goulash, drank Austrian beer and wine, and of course had cake and coffee.

Dinner and Doppelmalz at the Zwölf Apostelkeller

Café Landtmann

Building upon our recent cultural exporations, we saw a German schlager musical (based on songs of Udo Jurgens), visited Schönbrunn Palace, and explored all of the crazy instrument innovations at Vienna's Technical Museum.

Schönbrunn Palace Gardens

Player piano/violin

And, in one of 2011's high points, I received a call late Saturday night offering me a new job. No more haggling over paperwork with the Arbeitsamt!

With that news, March became a month of constant (and sometimes overlapping) travel. We fit in weekend trips to Stuttgart and Thuringia before I went to New York for my first two weeks of work. 

Though it was still winter in Munich, spring and crocuses were just starting to peek through in Baden-Wurtemburg and we saw these beautiful sun rays bursting through the clouds.

view from Stuttgart Hauptbahnhof tower

We of course hit both the Mercedes and Porsche Museums, as well as getting our fill of wonderful Schwäbisch food. A zweibelrostbraten type dish with spätzle AND maultaschen? I couldn't pass it up!!

Porsche MuseumMercedes Museum

Between trips, we held the finals of the Schnitzelbahn German Beer Tournament, where Andechs Weissbier beat out Andechs Bergbock Hell for the championship.

And then headed off to Thuringen, where we were greeted with another beautiful set of sun rays.

We covered quite a lot of ground on this trip. The main purpose was to see Roger Hodgson play in one of the coolest concert venues anywhere - 500m below ground in the the former salt mines of Erlebnis Bergwerk Merkers.

From this base, we sampled some of the region's attractions. We visited Wartburg Castle, with its beautiful inlaid rooms and rich history. This is one of the few remaining castles from the feudal period and is also where Martin Luther translated the Bible into German after his excommunication.

We also visited Point Alpha, one of the more infamous checkpoints of the East-West German border.

Border at Point AlphaAnd of course, we sampled some of Thuringen's famously good food (here in Eisenach). The Thuringen sausages were good, as expected, but the pork cheeks with dumplings were and excellent surprise!

And finally, we stopped through the adorable baroque town of Fulda on the way home. Its old city is well-preserved, with churches and building from many time periods, and gardens reminiscent of Paris'. 

Fulda Cathedral (L) and St. Michael's Church (R)
And the next morning, I was off to New York to start the new job. Luckily I had the middle weekend of the trip to wander through the city with Herr J's new camera (and enjoy the art filters!) and to meet up with friends.

Strangely, New York couldn't decide whether it was time for spring, or whether it was still winter!

Bryant Park

We had planned to fly to Japan several hours after my return from NY. Given this schedule of back-to-back trips, I'd carefully packed suitcases for Thuringen, NY, and Japan - all of which required quite different attire. This would have worked quite well, had there not been a major disaster in Japan that forced us to cancel the Kyoto/Japan trip. But Herr J took charge and booked us on a trip to Finland we'd been eyeing since last year. Luckily the tour provided our gear, so I could easily pack and run back to the airport.

Our weekend in Helsinki and week of new winter sports and nature in Finland are definitely one of my best trips ever. In additional to trying dogsledding, cross-country skiing, snowmobiliing, ice climbing, and showshoeing, we can now say we built and slept in an igloo! While I'd like to try most of those again, I'd probably be OK sleeping indoors next time it's -25 C outside. The igloo isn't so bad inside, but it's the walk outside that hurts!

Suomenlinna fortress (Helsinki)Dogsledding near the Arctic CircleIce ClimbingEarly morning in our igloofireside dinner of reindeer stew and Finnish beerWe arrived back just in time for Starkbierfest and the beginning of spring in Munich!

Starkbierfest at Paulaner am Nockherberg

To get in one last bit of winter, we made a late April trip to the Stubai glacier, where there's powder on top and beautiful spring in the valley.

We spent most of spring and summer doing what good southern Bavarians do - enjoying nature and festivals. We attended the major local festivals, hiked in the Alps, and made many walks in the Nymphenburg and English gardens. With so many cute baby animals, it was hard not to go check on their progress every week!

Raising the Maypole at Augustiner

Frühlingsfest

Dachauer Volksfest

Picnic and football in the park

We also took avantage of the gorgeous weather for some sunrise photowalks and experimenting with HDR photography. (On a weekend morning when half the city is on holiday or sleeping off the previous night's partying, you can get some great shots without too many people walking across your shot)

Bayerisch Staatskanzlei

Morning in the Hofgarten

Sunrise at Olympiapark

As with fruits and veggies, everything has a season here.  Adult beverages are no exception, so Munich residents turn to radlers, spritzers, and rosé wines in the summer (along with the normal light helles)

This year we finally made it to the Kocherlball, where we donned our new trachten and watched people dancing traditional dances.

I love my new dirndl!

We had a great visit from some Dallas friends, who we took hiking and then mountain-carting in Austria.  This was one of my favorite hikes so far - an amazing view (and from only halfway up!).

Fuschl am See

Walking dogs at the animal shelter

With the local economy booming, we see scaffolding all over the city - for both new buildings and restoring historical sites.  Despite a tough campaign, Munich was not awarded the 2018 Winter Olympics. But there were huge parties and public viewings of the official announcement.

In addition to culture and nature, we tried to enjoy the sports here too. We were able to attend 3 of the Women's World Cup matches (in Augsburg and Frankfurt), as well as a couple of Munich Cowboys' American football games.  Since we've been searching for Munich's best burger, we also sampled the flame-grilled burgers there. Not bad, but still not beating Hard Rock! On that front, we've also been enjoying tasting whisky and  schnapps, new Mexican restaurants, pizza, and of course beer.

Japan vs Sweden

Munich Cowboys vs. Schwäbisch Hall Unicorns

And we visited the BMW museum, to round off 3 of the 5 top German automakers' museums. Their Art Cars exhibit was worth a visit.

On the professional front, Herr J's division was sold and he was moved into a (literally) crappy office with a spectacular view of the Alps. My contract was extended another 9 months and I started spending a lot of time in Frankfurt and on the train. 

The view from Herr J's offic
My "2nd Office" (in diorama filter)

Given all of the work committments, we weren't able to take a long summer vacation. To stave off my restlestness, Herr J planned some fun weekend excursions in the area, as well as some great day hikes and a trip to a nearby ropes course.

Waldkletterpark (ropes course)Another walk with the Tierheim dogsthrough the Höllentalklamm (Garmisch)
Using my awesome new (birthday) backpack!Best of all was a trip to the Hopfenland (in the Hallertau area). Since we'd been learning about beer, we wanted to learn more about the ingredients - especially since they were less than an hour from home. Not only was it educational, but also just a really beautiful part of the country. When our morning began with sunlight streaming through the trees, we knew it was going to be a great weekend!

Herr J in the hop fieldsLittle brewery.......BIG brewery!

And I spent another two weeks in New York working, coming back just in time for Oktoberfest (good timing, since we'd finally learned most of the songs). We had a couple of friends visit and join us, and then Herr J proposed (also at Oktoberfest) and made me an incredibly happy woman.

Central ParkOktoberfest - perfect excuse for a new hat!12 hours later, we flew to Spain for an adventure-filled hike from the Spanish Pyrennees to the French coast.  I believe the quote of the week was, Just so you know, we will NOT be hiking on our honeymoon! We had some amazing views, flora and fauna different than we see in the Alps, and a relaxing final couple of days in a French seaside resort. The rest, well...we'll save the story for another post.  But the little old Spanish and French towns were beautiful and the views worth the hike

fun with the macro lens
Our final destination: Banyuls sur Mer

And then we come to fall and early winter. Though we haven't posted much lately due to work, fractured ribs, and sickness, we did manage to fit in a bit of fun in late October and November.

We attended our first WEBMU (Whiny Expat Bloggers Meetup) in Cologne, where we made some new friends and toured Cologne's sites. I think this tiny chamber in the top of the Dom is my favorite place anywhere.

Cologne Dom rooftop tourThe bone chapel at St. Ursula's Beautiful fall day in CologneWe enjoyed one of my birthday presents (time with a falcon) in the gorgeous countryside near Bad Tölz and hiked with friends at the very end of fall (with some of the first frost on the ground).

hiking around StaffelseeLuckily we did get in one trip to the Christmas markets with our friends from German Gems and Deutschland Über Elvis and a weekend in London (where my stolen passport decided to stay) and saw the great comedy band Axis of Awesome.  We spent Christmas in the US with family and set a wedding date/location, and then spent the last few days of the year relaxing and catching up in Munich.

St. Nick

And in great news, I got a permanent contract at year end and now have some better job security! Looking back, 2011 was a pretty great year - and we're looking forward to an even better 2012!

Hopfenland - Kuchlbauer midsize brewery tour

In a prior post about our weekend in "Hopfenland Hallertau" we toured the Lamplbräu microbrewery.
Now, we'll share our walk through a mid-size weissbier brewer called Kuchlbauer, in the town of Abensberg.
The entire experience here is called Kuchlbauer's Bierwelt (beer world) with a brewery, biergarten, art and info.

Like Lamplbräu, Kuchlbauer is privately owned. The same family has run it for seven generations (since 1904).
Whereas Lamplbräu was basically in the country (bordered a farm), Kuchlbauer is near a town center.

Also, unlike our "tour" at Lamplbräu (where I just called the owner, set a time, and he ushered us around personally), you have to purchase tickets for a Kuchlbauer tour at a specific time, with a guide & 40 other people.

We arrived early and had some time to kill before our tour started.  Kuchlbauer has a biergarten too, so we went there.  From outside its brick walls, you immediately see something quite different -- a strange, tall tower looms:

Next photo (below) is the biergarten entrance... what exactly is that thing, and why is it here?  Stay tuned:

The inside of the biergarten is decorated much like the tower.  They have a colorful, unique personality:

The tower is fenced-off and not accessible from the public area / biergarten - only through the tour.

The first biergarten customers we saw:  nuns!  A good sign for things to come?  Absolutely.

After getting a snack, we went back to the "corporate" front entrance to find the tour's starting point.

The tour takes a couple of hours to complete and costs €11 for adults, €5 per child, and €7 per teen.
The intro video (in German) told us that we'll see the fusion of "beer and art" at Kuchlbauer.  (Art??)

We followed our guide into the brewery for the start of the tour.  First stop: the copper brewing kettles.
It's easy to see the size difference now between this operation and the Lamplbräu "Sudhaus":

Then, as at Lamplbräu, we saw the next step in the brewing process - nearby cooling and storage tanks:

Moving on through the tour (& brewing process) we saw antique equipment like this bottling machine...

... then their larger, modern bottling facilities (they were not active - the current batch was not yet ready):

From the tower (hang on, info coming soon...) you could see the shipping yard and one of their trucks.
It's not InBev of course, but Kuchlbauer is clearly more commercial than a classic Bavarian microbrewer:

Unlike Lamplbräu - which cycles batches between helles (a lager), pilsner (another lager), and weissbier (an ale) -
Kuchlbauer brews exclusively weissbier.  The have six varieties available today (five are pictured below):

The varieties are, from left to right in the graphic above:
- "Sportsfreund" (sports friend)... basically a 'lite' dunkel weissbier, 40% less alcohol, 40% fewer calories
- "Alte Liebe" (old love)... a dunkel (dark) weissbier
- "Turmweisse" (turm = tower)... richer, uses a special malt, and has a higher 5.9% ABV (alcohol by volume)
- "Weisse" or "Helle Weisse"... a traditional Bavarian weisse, described as round and mild (vs. the Turm)
- "Aloysius"... named after a mythical Bavarian character, it's a dunkel bock weisse with a high 7.2% ABV
- [Not pictured] "Alkoholfrei"... alcohol free and low calorie weissbier

Note: Our friends at Regensblog told us Kuchlbauer *does* brew a helles (and they love it).  We found it on Google, but no link to it on KB's web site.  It must be brewed at another site and considered non-core to their brand.

The traditional weisse and the Turmweisse account for the vast majority of their output and branding.
The Turmweisse has the crazy tower on the label, and is available packaged with a unique weissbier glass:

           

(Keep reading -- we'll get to the "beer and art" explanation and tell the story behind the tower...)

This effectively ended the first part of the tour about the brewing process.  Next came some data and history.

You may have noticed, in the very first photo, that their logo on the side of the building said:  "since 1300".
Kuchlbauer is one of the oldest breweries in Germany.  They have a list (below) with the 15 oldest continuously operating breweries in Bavaria.  Kuchlbauer is 700+ years old (Munich's Weihenstephan is the oldest at 970).

They also had a map of all breweries in Bavaria (notice the bias towards Bavaria, and not Germany)...

... plus their wiessbier output (upper glass) relative to total Bavarian weissbier production (lower glass):

The lower glass made for quite a photo op by itself - Frau A could probably fit her head in the top of it: 

Between the weissbier output comparison and the long list of Bavarian weissbier brewers, you realize just how many local microbreweries Bavaria must have (and how many more visits, tours, and tastings Frau A and I need to do).

Now the tour shifted focus again, concentrating on the topic of "beer and art".  Getting closer to the tower...

Next, the guide led us down to a basement room in the main building, to a replica of Da Vinci's "Last Supper".
Yes, you read that correctly -- it's a half-scale reproduction of Leonardo Da Vinci's famous painting:

This replica is 8 meters wide and 3 meters high - the mounted television shows a short video to the group: 

The video and then the guide tried to pull symbolism from the Last Supper and link it to beer, brewing, etc..
We didn't understand the details of how they claimed to link the two, sorry.   But:  the head of the brewery and developer of the tower, Leonhard Salleck, has such a strong interest in Da Vinci and this specific work that he wrote a book on it titled Der Schlüssel (The Key), available on Amazon.de.  (No English translation available though.)

The next "beer and art" rooms/hallways were inspired by the artist who designed the tower. (Can you guess who?)  They weren't designed by him, but in his style, and done in the main building during the tower's construction:

The decor of the room above is unique enough, but one specific feature is important to our story:  dwarves.
The brewery owner likes dwarves, and uses them to tell visitors about the brewing ingredients, process, etc.
(Video below is about 3 minutes long, and a little dark, but gives you an idea of the Disney-esque feel.)
The dwarves will play an important role later in this post, about how the unique tower came into being:

The interesting designs continued into the next hallways & rooms, with beer bottler built into the walls:

Finally, we left the central building and went to the base of the tower (freestanding next to the brewery).
This is what everyone was waiting for -- the Kuchelbauer Tower  (plaque below:  "beer art tower"):

The tower has its own live webcam -- the latest photo is always available here.

As far as we could understand, here's the story behind the Kuchlbauer Turm:

Leonhard Salleck, head of the Kuchlbauer brewery, also has a strong personal interest in art.  In the late 1990s, he dreamed of erecting a beer+art tower (it'd be a tourist draw and marketing tool).  In 1998, Salleck contacted Austrian architect and painter Friedensreich Hundertwasser, asking him to design such a tower.
Hundertwasser initially declined.

But in 1999 Salleck sent another request.  He wrote a short märchen (fairy tale) about the "weissbeer dwarves of Abensberg".  The work, life, and mindset of the dwarves in his fairy tale communicted themes of brewing as art, and how brewing aligns closely with nature.  (Hundertwasser was a nature lover; his buildings - like this tower - have trees growing in and through them).  Finally, Salleck said that the Abensberg dwarves need a home.

Fortunately, Hundertwasser had some affinity towards dwarves (maybe why his designs are so childishly playful?) and his new response to Salleck's request was something like:  "You guys in Abensberg are crazy... I'll do it".

Hundertwasser created the initial concept for the tower, but his apprentice Peter Pelikan handled the planning
(and eventual implementation).

Along the way, Salleck had trouble getting Abensberg to approve.  First, German tradition (and often law) holds that nothing can stand taller than the town's church steeple.  Second, local leaders thought it would be a blight on the town's aesthetics and history, and not a future landmark.  To overcome the strong opposition, Salleck & Pelikan cut the tower's originally planned height in half.  This was eventually approved.  (It was ultimately a stroke of luck, because after the experience Salleck said that the larger version might have bankrupted the brewery.)

Hundertwasser died in 2000, at 71 years old, during the planning phase and before construction even started.  Construction eventually began with the laying of the cornerstone in 2007.  The 12-ton "onion" dome was mounted on the top in 2008, and the tower was opened to visitors in January 2010, just 20 months before our visit.

The tower stands 35m (114ft) tall, is 10m (33ft) in diameter, with the curves and colors of classic Hundertwasser.
(Further interesting information about the German engineering firms and software involved can be found here.)

The biergarten was later implemented at the foot of the tower and its grounds designed in a similar style.
Every December, Kuchlbauer erects a typical German Christmas Market in the biergarten space as well.

We entered the tower at ground level and immediately went down the stairs to the lower level.
Here, the tour guide gave a final speech and left the group to explore the tower independently.

On the other side of the "basement" is a wall of weissbier glasses from brewers around the globe. 
With more than 4200 on display, it is the (claimed) largest collection of weissbier glasses in the world.
We took a short (24 second) video walking past the glasses, to give you an idea of exactly how many there are:

From this lower level, then you climb the stair to the top of the tower.  Each level has another mosaic area, depicting important aspects in beer brewing. We'll cover those in a separate post. And then you descend to the beer garden and turn in your ticket for a Kuchelbauer beer of your choosing.

What is there left to say?  This was one of the most, um, unique tours Frau A and I have experienced.

Of course, the last activity was heading to the gift shop and getting a six-pack (one of each kind)!
For a million+1 reasons, this is a great destination on any trip to non-Munich, non-Alpine Bavaria.

Munich Day Trip - Salzburg (Austria)

Another city that is sooooo close to Munich is Salzburg, Austria, perfect for a Saturday trip:

Wikipedia describes its appeal:  "Salzburg's "Old Town" (Altstadt) has internationally renowned baroque architecture and one of the best-preserved city centres north of the Alps. It was listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1997."

Just a few photos from a brief time there...

The view from the nearby Hohensalzburg Castle (on a small mountain overlooking the city) is lovely.
The castle itself it interesting too -- one of the largest medieval castles in Europe (built 1077-1519).

The two greenish spires in the cityscape above belong to the Salzburg Cathedral.  The crypt is my favorite part because it dates to 1020!  But the two towers and big dome get most of the photos:

 Here's the facade of the Cathedral:

Some of the small shopping streets are really charming.

Privacy with your Pilsner

Probably has something to do with the fact that it's the season of Christmas parties, but we've discussed several times recently how we're glad we didn't have smart phones when we were younger and less wise.

These days anyone can snap an embarrassing photo of themselves - or another person - and immediately upload it to Facebook or Twitter or any number of other sites. Kind of scary - at least in "the old days," there was a time lag of developing or downloading the photos the next day and usually realizing that sharing them was not a nice idea.

South American beer brand Cerveza Norte has come out with a solution: A beer cooler that keeps your beer cold and blocks photos of your party by responding to photo flashes with its own light that blurs our the photos.  According to Fast Company, it's a device for anyone "who values privacy along with their pilsner."

And of course it comes with another fun foreign commercial.

via FastCompany