Germany: All the best things

There is a lot I miss about Germany, and I tried to soak it all in while I was there. Of course, many of those things are food. Spain has excellent produce and nuts, and is rightfully proud of its Mediterannean diet. But it´s also a little lacking in food for vegetarians, and of course every country has products you just can´t get anywhere else.

May is prime asparagus season in Germany. That really is an official thing - it´s called Spargelzeit. Especially beloved is white asparagus, and many restaurants offer special menus featuring asparagus. I didn´t find anthing as unique as the aspargaus burger (six huge white stalks piled on a hambruger) compared to our last bike trip to Germany, but we ate lots of asparagus soup, asparagus and hollandaise sauce, even asparagus pasta dishes and flatbreads. 

As is tyrpical in the US and the UK, almost every restaurant has a vegetarian option on the menu, something that I can´t rely on in Spain. This was my favorite - "napkin dumplings" that are wrapped in cloth before being boiled. They were topped with a creamy mushroom gravy. It never occurs to me to make dumplings in my own kitchen, but I need to do so more often.

I am a fan of cake, and on all our bike trips I try to convince a group to make a cake stop daily. Usually we share so we can try many different flavors. I remember this particular cake shop had about a dozen options and I insisted my friend N come view them all before choosing. 

Cool, rainy weather! I don´t actually want to live in continuous rain, but I´d definitely take it over baking heat.

We were able to check a bag back to Spain, and had extra luggage space, so I quickly bought German products I miss. The incredible strawberries didn´t make it more than 15 minutes past this photo. The  rest I have been slowly enjoying over the past few weeks: soft pretzels topped with baked cheese (Käsebrezel), cherry yogurt, plum butter, hazlenut yogurt.

Since it was spring, and there was rain, flowers bloomed everywhere, helped by the German love of gardening. I am now back in Spain, where the temperatures are topping 32C / 90F. When this happens, all the grass dies and the city comes and mows it down to the ground and rakes it all away, leaving bare, dry earth (and presumably reducing fire hazards). So I am especially missing spectacles like this. 

Cycling down the Rhine

Last May, I took a smashing cycle trip through eastern France with friends R, N, and S. We had so much fun that we decided to do it again, this time in Germany. As always, the criteria for our trips are: Schengen zone (so I can travel easily), low chance of Putin invading, good bakeries and beer or wine, and not too many mountains. 

This time, I knew I´d be head translator, so I brushed up on my German the month before. I was pretty sucessful, I think, based on the fact that people did not switch back to English when we were talking, and I´ve definitely heard that Germans will do that if they think their English is better than your German. 

Even though we had a relaxed trip, somehow the days were packed and I didn´t manage to post anything during the trip. If you allow 1-2 hours for every meal, plus castle tours and cake stops, the days fill up very quickly. So stay tuned while I get caught up this month. 

We had lots of meals in little courtyards like this. 

Last year in Lyon, the them was "chateaus". This year the theme was "castles", which are almost excessively abundant on the Rhine. Sometimes you can stand on one location and see three at once, so it seems like all those dukes and barons would be rubbing elbows with their neighbors.

A river, car-free bicycle paths, and easy-going friends. What else could I want on a trip? Well, cake and castles, but I got those too. 

Our free day took place in Koblenz, where we saw the huge statue of William I, the first German emperor, at meeting of the Rhine and the Mosel rivers. That day, we managed to take a river cruise, drink a few spiked coffees, ride a cable car, and tour a fortress. We did not rest much on our rest day.

Three-quarters the way through our longest day, 65 km. I may have taken a nap on one of those benches, but I admit nothing.