Friday Photo Favorite: Ice

On the Ferry to Suomenlinna, Finland. 

Sauna Ettiquette

When I opened up the internet last week, the Yahoo!Deutschland homepage immediately caught my eye with it's front page article "Sauna Ettiquette: How Naked is Too Naked?"

While I'm a little bit too old to giggle simply at the sight of the word "naked," I did laugh at realizing that the uncertainty over what to do in the sauna isn't just a question for tourists and expats.   

My first visit to a German sauna was a bit of the opposite experience...I'd been so forewarned by other Americans that the German saunas are textilfrei (i.e., no bathing suits allowed) that I didn't bother to take one with me at all when I visited the Therme Erding in Munich.  After I travelled quite a ways on public transportation to get there, there was no way I was going back to get a bathing suit after I finding out that there was a textilfrei part and another part that allowed bathing suits!  

I have to say, it was an empowering experience. Of course, I went alone and didn't know anyone there, so it was a bit easier when everyone is a stranger! But I also realized that no one has a perfect body and probably most people are either (1) not caring what you or they look like, or (2) so worried about how they look that they don't even notice you. 

But, given my general confusion about what are the rules of the sauna, it's pretty amusing to see a German story about the same questions. I guess I'd just assumed that everyone here knows the rules and we tourists or new arrivals were the only ones confused!

So, out of curiosity, what are the rules of sauna ettiquette according to this article? 

• Proper Preparation 

Whether it's just a quick shower outside the sauna or avoiding garlic/onions for a few days prior, take steps to ensure you don't smell bad. And don't wear perfume.

• Proper Attire

Funny when you don't wear anything, but be sure to bring a small towel (for the pre-sauna shower), a large towel (to sit on in the sauna), and flip flops. (And they mention that using the towel to reserve a chair in the relaxation room is frowned upon)

• Good Courtesy

Just like in an elevator or waiting room, you should politely greet everyone upon entrance. And avoid being a space-invader by asking "is this space free?" before sitting next to someone. 

• No Chattering or Staring

While most saunas allow some talking (some are strictly for silent relaxing), it does seem like good common sense to refrain from too much talking, especially gossipping, talking about work (not relaxing) or talking about how hot that guy/girl over there is. And of course, while you don't have to stare at the floor, don't let your gaze linger on anyone. Very few like to be stared at while they're naked!

• Sweat in Style

I'm a little surprised that this has to be said, but I do hear complaints so it must be true. Don't do anything that others might find disgusting. Meaning, a public sauna isn't the place for shaving, clipping toenails, sweat-scraping, or other personal grooming. 

• Your boss in the sauna

My personal favorite on the list, since I avoided the sauna in my gym due to the fact that so many male co-workers worked out there. But, what do you do if you run into your boss or coworker in the sauna? Just greet him/her politely and try to find a place where you're both looking in the same direction. And above all, maintain the #1 rule: What happens in the sauna, stays in the sauna. Not that anything significant can happen in the sauna when sticking to prescribed ettiquette....but wise advice not to go back to work and talk about your colleague's cellulite or the size of anything. 

 

Many of these rules came from the site of the German ettiquette authority, Knigge.de. If you're curious about a particular social situation, or just feel like browsing and looking for interesting items, it's a good resource. 

Wedding Week - Part I

After much anticipation and planning from abroad, we finally made it to our wedding in early September. It was a bit of a logistical feat, but in the end everything came together and was even better than I'd hoped. 

Photo by Marni RothschildWe decided to get married near Charleston, SC, which is not only where my family lives, but also just a beautiful spot for a wedding or a vacation...or in the case of many guests, both!  While visiting my parents last Christmas, we were able to book the church and a reception venue, and then were able to book everything else through a combination of internet, telephone, and a quick trip last May. Thank goodness for the internet and major help from my parents! 

 

We had a pretty clear vision of what we wanted - something combining the natural beauty of the low country with some aspects from our life together in Munich. And above all, we wanted it to be fun for our guests and a chance to get together with family and friends who we unfortunately do not see often enough.

 

And so with that goal in mind, we set out to bring a little of Munich and Oktoberfest to Charleston. Which is why I spent much of my free time this summer in front of the sewing machine. Not just finishing the dirndl I'd started last year, but making trachten treat bags for wedding favors.  I'd started by making little pouches out of dirndl fabric (blue gingham with flowers, green gingham with hearts, and a fun red, white and black pattern), and Herr J gave me a brilliant idea to make lederhosen shaped ones as well. This took some trial and error, but eventually they came out looking like little lederhosen. It was a fun project and I'm now intimately acquainted with the contents of several stores' sewing departments, and I got in some good practice with my sewing machine's embroidery stitches!!

 

We stuffed the treat bags with an assortment of German candies, boxed them up, and mailed them to the US in a few different shipments 4-6 weeks before the wedding. We sourced what we could in the US (beer mugs, etc), but certain things could only come from Germany and we shipped quite an assortment of German food products, candies, and a lot of lebkuchenherzen for decoration. 


And after shipping it all off we carefully packed for a complex itinerary (Herr J was visiting friends, attending the wedding, and then flying back to Munich; I was visiting family, going to the beach with friends, going to NYC for a week-long business trip, and then meeting him and another friend at the airport in Frankfurt to attend a friend's wedding before finally heading back to Munich).  Herr J left a couple days earlier than I. While I was excited to get on with the getting married, I found that I really missed him and it was strange flying over alone. Fitting that feeling, it was a cold, rainy day leaving Munich. 

It was neither cold nor rainy in South Carolina! 

For the first time in many, many years, I was able to celebrate my birthday with family.  I had a nice dinner with my parents and uncle, and then met the Dallas girls Sunday morning to start our Myrtle Beach adventure.  I hadn't been on a road trip or a girls' trip in a long time. It was so much fun to see everyone. We packed up the rental minivan, stopped for a good lunch on the way and then headed up to the beach.  

One of our friends was kind enough to get a week in a family member's condo near Myrtle Beach and several of the girls came for some or all of the week before the wedding. Relaxing and catching up with girlfriends was the perfect start to the week.  But before starting the bachelorette festivities, they surprised me with an ice cream cake and birthday presents! 



It was a fun but kind of odd birthday this year... Since my main focus was on the wedding and travel, I kept forgetting about my birthday. Since we would be apart on the day, Herr J surprised me the previous Sunday with a table full of great birthday presents (lots of great hiking and diving gear and a fisheye lens for my OMD). And then I'd forgotten again and got to enjoy the surpise yet again. 

But, back to the relaxing on the beach with trashy magazines.... 

In between a lot of much-needed relaxing and talking, we fit in a little bachelorette fun 

And there were more suprises and presents...including some lingerie and a sparkly "bachelorette" tiara which I of course wore out to dinner. 

We went out for a nice seafood dinner overlooking the pier, where our sweet young waiter brought us some extra key lime pie and gave us a tip on where to find a nice but not overly crowded beach. (Basically, he told us where the older people go...which I guess is now my demographic group!)

And then we went up to the rooftop deck for after dinner drinks. Nothing too crazy, but we did try to stay young with a round of shots (Coke for the pregnant friend/designated driver!)

And we couldn't leave Myrtle Beach without watching this classic. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend it. 

While I was catching up with the girls and getting in some pre-wedding beach time, Herr J was also visiting friends and catching up on American culture. Yes, he went to Georgia's first game of the season! He also introduced his friends' sons to the joys of German candy. 

After our respective pre-wedding trips, we met back up in Charleston on Wednesday morning.  We spent a lovely day with his parents, taking in some of the sights around Charleston.  Their first stop was the Angel Oak on Johns Island


After a quick stop at Fiery Ron's Home Team BBQ for some of their great pulled pork and mac and cheese (subtly flavored with a hint of mustard), we headed down to Patriot's Point to catch our tour to Ft. Sumter. (Given all the things that we wanted and needed to do in a short time, Herr J had a very detailed timeline that allowed us to get it all done). 



I hadn't been to Ft. Sumter in many years, and it was a beautiful day for it. The great thing about this tour is that you also get a nice boat ride and views of the harbor and marshes. 


And the dolphins were swimming just off the fort. So much fun to watch, but they're frustratingly difficult to photograph! When we chose the venue for our rehearsal dinner, the dolphins frolicking (or feeding?) in the shallows of the river tipped the scales in favor of the place we chose.   



So, after a day of siteseeing, we and Herr J's parents went over to my parents' house for a nice relaxed, newly-extended family dinner.  

 

And on Thursday, before the festivities really began, we took a day to just relax and spend time together.  Of course, before we could do anything else, we had to deal with the favor situation. I'd been a little paranoid about mailing everything over, but figured a month would be plenty of time for them to arrive. And of course there was no way I could carry everything over with me. I did expect that perhaps a few chocolates would melt or be crushed, so I packed a couple extra bags of the more delicate chocolates in case we needed to replace a few.  But I wasn't prepared for the packages to go missing, for DHL to have no information about where they were (somewhere between having left Germany and having arrived in the US was the best they could do with the tracking numbers), or for the fact that in the one box which finally arrived Wednesday, the damage was so bad that the gummi bears had liquified!  The chocolate of course also was a disaster.  

While we were still holding out hope that they might arrive, we realized that with 48 hours to go before the wedding, we needed to find a backup plan. And thankfully Amazon US stocks a wide range of Haribo gummis and has 1 day shipping. We ordered enough bags of different gummis to give as favors, and were just hoping the boxes arrived. At that point I'd given up hope of any of the candy being edible, but was hoping my weeks of work on the bags wasn't wasted. (The ones that arrived were undamaged, but were only 1/3 of the bags). Sadly, we could find no solution to replace the lebkuchenherzen that we planned to use for decorations. 

With our Amazon order placed, and having just heard from my dad that the lebkuchenherz did arrive, we decided to try out Sticky Fingers, which was recommended as one of the better bbq restaurants in town. 

I'm not normally a big wing fan - mostly because there's often so little meat on there and it's not worth the trouble - but the manager sent us a few wings to try, and even I admit they are pretty great. First, they're pretty meaty and large wings, and so a lot less effort to eat. And the taste really makes it worth it....slightly smoky and tasty, not the fried stuff covered in artificial tasting sauce.  These actually remind me of the great wings at Newton Circus in Singapore, if you've had those. 



With the wings and the friendly service, we knew we were off to a good start, and the entrees did not disappoint.  We both got combos so that we could try them all out, and I think the beef brisket was my favorite. And I'm a sucker for any restaurant with hush puppies on the list of sides!



The sauce choices...yes, of course we tried them all. (My favorite combo was the Tennessee Whisky on the beef brisket)

So, with our happy and full bellies, we headed off to unwind and play at Frankies Fun Park. (And let me just say now how wonderful the fun park is on a Thursday during the 2nd week of school....we had the place almost to ourselves).  

 

Our main event was the go kart racing.  A pretty pink car for the bride...

...and blue for the groom!



We also rode the slides and couldn't resist some skee-ball and some of the other arcade games.  A great way to leave the stress behind! 

We had one final meeting at the church and then I had one last mini-bachelorette party - dinner at Husk with my two bridesmaids who couldn't make it to Myrtle Beach. They brought me a gorgeous vintage veil to wear and we enjoyed some delicious southern cooking. 


Unbeknownst to us, it was Restaurant Week in Charleston....lucky, because we get to sample some amazing food at good prices, and not so lucky because everything is booked.  However, Husk is well-equipped for waiting and has a lovely bar in an adjoining house with some snacks.  


The food was definitely worth the wait, and we three had a lot of catching up to do! 

SC Shrimp with Tomato Braised Okra and Sweet Peppers
Fried Green Tomato with TN Cheddar Pimento, Pickled Ramps and Surry Country Ham
Kurios Farms Bibb with Marinated Heirloom Tomatoes, Roasted Corn and Salami, NC FetaThe appetizers were so good we forgot to take pictures of the rest of the food. However, Husk archives all of its menus online so you can go back and drool over all of the possibilities. 

With so many great meals, activities, and time reconnecting with friends and family, it was the perfect way to start off the week. But come Friday morning, the real rush begins!

 

Friday Photo Favorite: Dragonfly

During our post wedding mini golf outing, this guy was incredibly cooperative in posing for a little photoshoot.

Friday Photo Favorite: Snow is Coming...

If the forecasts are correct, tomorrow we'll have our first snow of the season. 

Luckily our building turned on the heating yesterday, so we're now prepared. I'd love to have a couple of these guys to snuggle up with, though!

Munich Hamburgers: Cosmo Grill

We took a hiatus from trying new burger places while we were getting in shape for the wedding. But a few Sundays ago we did finally try the much-hyped Cosmo Grill. 

The first thing you notice is that it doesn't look like your average burger bar....it's small, white, and minimalist, but with a nice open kitchen where you can see the food preparation.  

Judging from the menu - a wide variety of meats and toppings and everything organic - it was clearly more of a gourmet burger styled place.

This is actually a burger place fit for everyone...if beef or meat aren't your thing, there are multiple veggie burgers, tuna burgers, and chicken burgers. We haven't ordered those yet, but will be curious to see if the "chicken burger" really is a burger made of chicken or more like a grilled chicken sandwich. Sometimes you just never know....

The burgers are cooked up fresh on the grill and they do not skimp on the cheese. It was a nice surprise to get some good orange cheddar, but the burger/bun ratio needs some work. Check out my burger below....the burger is half the size of the bun...not so good.  

But more importantly, what about the taste? This was the biggest surprise to me - a non-greasy cheeseburger. The meat wasn't really seasoned at all, but was clearly top quality and all beef. And after eating the burger, I felt pretty good and not at all like I'd just eaten a cheeseburger. It's definitely a great burger option when you want to still eat healthy.  Probably a big contributor to that is their lack of french fries. They do serve roasted potatoes (your choice of spices - we had the sea salt and the Provence ones, and there's also a rosemary one as well). I have mixed emotions about the potatoes. One one hand, they weren't great. Not bad, but a bit boring and not cooked thoroughly. On the other hand, I'm kind of happy they weren't irresistable because I feel like I could go back to Cosmo Grill, just have a burger, and leave having had a healthy meal. Perhaps we caught them on an off day, so we'll give the potatoes one more try next time. 

Overall, we'd have to give it a mixed review. We'll definitely go back and try it again. I really liked how fresh everything was and it's a great option for getting a burger and not feeling bad afterwards.  And I'd like to try some of the other menu items. They definitely have a lot of options to try and Herr J was a big fan of their guacamole.

But the buns were way to big for the burgers and everything could use a little pepper. One tip - unless you love your burgers with marinara sauce, you may want to ask them to hold the tomato salsa. It was quite good, but it overwhelmed all other tastes, so that it tasted like a burger with marinara sauce. Not bad, but I'm more of a burger purist...I like my burger plain, or with cheese when I'm really feeling crazy.   Just my preference. 

Cosmo Grill's address is Maximilianstrasse 10, however it's actually located on the back side of the building, more on Falkenturmstrasse.  Another big plus in its favor is that they're open late night if you're out at the clubs and need a 2am burger (or a 5am burger on the weekends)!  If you're searching for a big greasy burger and fries, this is not the place for you. But if you like the gourmet burgers or you want a more guilt-free burger, definitely go to Cosmo Grill. 

So far in our quest for Munich Hamburgers, we've visited the following restaurants:

Hard Rock, Zum Goldenen Kalb, Kennedy's, and now Cosmo Grill.  Hard Rock remains the clear front runner, but we're enjoying trying the new places and welcome any suggestions!  

Friday Photo Favorite: The Höllentalklamm