Getting Started Again in Burghausen

 This is a picture right before we left Chattanooga.  What a wonderful picture of my parents!

 ...and a great picture of my daughter!

 If you look on the right side, you can see some snow.  This was one of our first trips to Kaufland (kinda like a small WalMart).

 I love seeing dogs in restaurants.  This friendly chap just wanted to say hello and welcome us to town.  You see dogs almost anywhere you would find a human. Maybe someday this will be the case in Chattanooga. 

Our new buggy.  We have a Nissan Quashqui.  Big enough to seat 4 in comfort and small enough to fit in a German parking space. 

 

Posted by Billy. 

Maiweissen Bier Festival in Burghausen!

What an exciting time to be back in Burghausen.  Every year in May (Mai) the Bier Festival arrives. It's amazing to watch the entire city come out for this event day after day...kinda like Riverbend in Chattanooga.  It lasts for 10 days and the food/bier/entertainment/rides are first class.  The quality of their tents and equipment are first class...but what else would you expect out of a German.  The bier comes in "Mass", which equals to 1 Liter.  Three and a half of these is equivalent to one gallon. 

Our friend Daria took this picture. The weather was awesome and the Ferris Wheel was calling Deede's name.  I was off that day celebrating Jesus ascending into Heaven.  Yep, we get a day off for that. 

 

What a view of the Castle (Burg).  It's in the Guinness Book of World Records for the longest Castle in the World.  It is over a mile long.  On the left hand side is a yellow field of flowers.  Wow!  The colors were magical that day.

 

Another photo from the Ferris Wheel.  Since I am terrified of heights, taking these pictures kept my mind elsewhere.  It was about 3:00 pm and was very crowded.  It's amazing to see the local people support these events.  And even with this much beer being served, I never saw a single fight or argument.  

Beautiful green grass.  If you look close at the shadow, you can see me waving. (no, not really)

Being the engineer geek, I am fascinated at how things work.  This Ferris Wheel has 4 tires that turn the wheel.  The metal is rough so the tires can grip in wet weather.  Keep it simple.

 

 

Posted by Billy.

Piracher Strasse in the Snow

 Here's our little street in the height of the snow time this year

The road seemed to get more narrow as the days went by and we ended up taking turns with other cars more and more as the snow piled up on the roadsides. That's one major difference between driving here and the USA...There's not always enough room for everybody at the same time and you HAVE to cooperate with one another

The bottom letterbox belongs to us.  There's a yellow sticker on ours...I dont' have ANY idea what it says. Maybe I should figure it out, but I'm not too worried.
We don't get much mail anyway

 Here's my little viewing window on the second floor. It's my own personal catbird seat...

 I got a picture of the Deutsche Post truck delivering the mail one day.
Most of the time, it is done with a bicycle. My grandfather was a letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service in Chattanooga in the 1940's through the late 1960's. He would have enjoyed seeing the bicycles with the large baskets and mailbags. He himself had to hoof his way through

the East Lake area all those years!

 The Volvo, with its snow tires, handles wonderfully in this weather

I'm gonna miss this vista when I'm back in Chattanooga.  I'll have these pictures to look back on though.  I plan to collect all the ones I have to create a multi-seasonal montage of this

straight-out view from our livingroom



Robert Koch Strasse in the Snow

 This is one of the main streets I haunt in Burghausen.

The little coffee shop I stop at to experience a little American-style wireless Internet is up on the left in this picture. I can stand up at a small outdoor table and check my email here.  I don't do that very often, because checking my email publically when I could be chatting with friends or observing passersby isn't very German from what I can tell. Rain, shine, cold or hot, there is usually a someone or two at the little outdoor table. I would like to sit at the one table nearby that has chairs, but there are a couple of old guys that kinda hold court there for most of the day-every day!  They talk and play cards a lot of the time and greet friends...many people seem to know them

 There are many hair dressers, optical shops, clothing stores, gift stores, cosmetic companies, day spas and food markets in this stretch of road. The upper floors contain professional offices and private apartments.  The dermotologist I've seen here in Burghausen has a second floor office on the right hand side in this picture. I ride my bike down the sidewalk and have to dodge people along the way. This is where I perfected my "ride at a walking pace" technique!

The footing can be a little tricky in this kind of snow.  Though the roads and sidewalks are cleared to perfection, crossing the snowpiles in between can be precarious. I saw a woman almost take a terrible spill here in front of where I parked my little Volvo. 

In the left background, you can see the Hotel Garni Lindacher Hof. It's one of the nicer hotels in the city.  There's no need for a car if you stay here, as it is nearby to most everything. It's probably a 10 minute walk or so to the train station and there's plenty of restaurants close too. -Mine and Billy's favorite Greek restaurant can practically be seen in the distance- The old town (Altstadt) is a bit far to walk to, but it can be done ...if you don't mind the major climb back up the hill to this new part of the city. There are plenty of cabs to take you there too.

It all looks great in the snow

Romantic Walk in the Frozen Night Air

Billy and I took a walk one night at the lake.  It was totally frozen over.
The previous night we had heard that it was an effervescent and crowded place with people from all over the area.  We were looking for hot wine, hot chocolate, and to watch ice skaters and hockey players. (A friend said the lake only does this every 5-7 years or so.) Then, there was a storm ...and it covered the ice with a layer of snow.
We went there expecting to have to fight our way through hundreds of people. But instead we were met with a muffled silence and stillness that was startling. We walked the length of the lake arm in arm and only met a solitary jogger along the way.

The walkway was nicely plowed and easy to walk.
It was lit with attractive street lights on iron posts

The castle loomed overhead. Funny that it never looks like a cold hunk of stone, but warm and glowing...even in sub-zero temps

The Castle in the Snow

 The castle looks beautiful in the snow. It's a bit like a like a fairy tale....in fact it's  ALWAYS like a fairy tale

It was frightfully cold when I took these pictures from the highway across the way. I was glad to have bought boots made in Maine from LL Bean before I left. I also had a very warm down-filled parka I got at the same time.  I wonder how much use these will get back in Tennessee after I return



Warm and Snug in a cafe

As spring rapidly approaches and the snow has already melted here in Burghausen, I thought I'd better get busy and post some of my February snow pictures. I will soon have pictures of blossoms and freshly tilled earth on which to comment.

I have noticed that I'm a bit lax in posting now that Billy and I are well passed the half way mark of our Germany stay. Life has settled into a more relaxed mood in some ways ...I am NOT constantly surprised & astonished at the strangeness of the little things about my surroundings now. Though I still have a little smile for the extra-special things..like sitting over a hot cup of coffee in a cafe and enjoying the way it is served on a little tray with a glass of water. I've spent quite a bit of time this winter looking out on scenes like these with my hat, gloves, and scarf on the chair beside me (There's always a coat rack by the door!) It was a great way to defrost from my bike ride or walk.

I was sitting at a restaurant called the Wiener Brathendl on Marktler Strasse in Burghausen when I took these pictures. My friend Daria (an ex-pat from California) was across the table. This is a place we like to get chicken noodle soup. They also have an imbus...or a place to get orders to go.

I'm really grateful to have met Daria. So often everyone I know here is working or busy with their children and we are both free during the days. We've been able to share lots of good conversation over coffee or soup and have a common interest in art. She is married to a brilliant German guy named Timo and they live in a neighboring town.

Coffee at Florian's

We met a great family that lives down the street and around the corner from our apartment in Burghausen.  This is Christa, Thomas and Florian Meisinger. They have lived in and around Burghausen all their lives.  Billy and Florian work together at Wacker...he's a great guy with a great set of parents...and a younger sister. They were kind enough to invite us over for Sunday afternoon coffee on January 8th. (I'm behind on my blogging!) We were able to see their beautiful Christmas decorations before they took them down...they were putting them away the next day. Their home was lovely, warm and inviting. Yes, Christa and Thomas are Florian's parents..but they look too young!

Christa said she had learned how to make this beautiful Black Forrest Cake from her mother! It looked like it was professionally made and was SO delicious.  The slices on the left are a poppy seed torte that had a very different sort of flavor.  Billy and I both loved it.  They also had an out-of-this-world coffee machine that made the BEST cup of cappuccino.

The conversation was so much fun.  There were lots of smiles and laughs and we really did some damage to the cake.  A bottle of natural Austrian wine was brought out at the last and Thomas said it was something he often picked up in Austria at a place the vinyard delivers directly to. Maybe I can find out where...it was wonderful!
We are hoping to see them again soon.  Maybe we can cook them a dinner of chicken and dumplings, garlic mashed potatoes, fried okra and banana pudding at our place sometime soon to give them a taste of Tennessee cooking!

New Year's Eve in Burghausen

 New Year's Eve in Germany is called Sylvester.

Every other year or so the city of Burghausen has an official fireworks show and this year was not the year for it...but we couldn't tell...the average person can buy professional grade fireworks here so there was plenty of beautiful pyrotechnics to be seen from the castle view at midnight

It was raining and foggy when we reached the end of the 1 mile castle walk around 11:30

This is the profile of Kimberly (an American with our group) as she watched the fireworks across the horizon and in the city below

Billy and I don't think it's New Year's without funny hats and things that glow, so we had gone to the Euro store (Dollar Store in America!) and gotten cowboy hats and glow sticks.  We also found these great glow cups. No one else looked as silly as we did, so we shared our glow sticks with people we met on the way to spread the silliness around some. It was cold, so Billy also wore his Carhart ear covering with his hat.

It was only about 37-38 degrees or so

You could barely make out the church steeple below when the lighting was just right. It was a fun and beautiful night and definitely didn't feel like anything I'd ever experienced back in Tennessee

We stood at the castle wall for about an hour and looked down below at the lights and the explosions in the air until about 12:30 or so.  Afterwards, it was a nice ride home on our bicycles from the city area ...and it was into the wee hours of the morning when all the firecrackers and rockets were silent.

Evening at the Burghausen Castle

 We rode to the castle this evening on our bikes and then walked the mile down the length on the cobblestone road. I stopped and snapped this picture back toward our apartment. You can see the Alps on the horizon in the sunset! I've heard you can see them from Burghausen...but this is the first time we actually have. At first glance you think it is just clouds.

 The castle was beautiful. People who live at there were just getting home and having dinner. There were a lot of beautiful, yet simple Christmas decorations in the windows.

 Mine and Billy's shadow was cast on a wall as we were looking at the old town below. This wall is 12-15 feet high.

The night became very black and the castle stood out perfectly against the velvety background.

It was a beautiful evening to be there.

Riding Around in the Freezing Temps!

 Just as it was in the middle of summer, it is surprising me just how much the Burghausers are living their life outdoors. Here's the bicycle traffic at the kindergarten down the street on a typical weekday morning about 7:30-8:00. There are teenagers cycling past on their way to the school in the center of town and there are parents with their small ones behind them (in child seats) as they drop them off here on their way to work. Sometimes the little bitty ones are in  pull-along trailors on the back of cycles. There are more baby "buggies" here than strollers, it seems, and there are all kinds of special adaptors to handle the weather... raincoverings, buntings, unbrellas and sunshades.  No matter what the weather, it seems that getting out the automobile is the LAST resort!

 The young and the older... everyone is biking and walking.

 Yep, Billy and I are right out there with them!  It began snowing when I was shopping downtown the other day (Here's my cute little cycle.) Riding along with the snow hitting you in the face is definitely a new experience.  I tend to go fairly slow, because I don't know the whens and wheres of icing and how it reacts on my bike tires.

The kindergarten (shown in the first 2 pictures) is straight ahead in these shots from a side road.  These were taken as I was just about home and with a pretty good snowfall going on. There was about a 1/4" of snow stuck to my wool coat. I've gotten pretty adept at wrapping my scarf a certain way to keep my face from freezing! I'm not sure what the white haze is in the bottom picture...I guess its my breath! ...but I thought it actually improved the picture.