Good day from Germany! So this weekend finds me in a smallish city called Minden. It’s about 45 minutes from Hannover in the northern part of Germany (The House of Hanover is from this area, with one of it’s most famouse decendants being Queen Elizabeth II). It’s seems like a very quiet kind of place, very peaceful and very green. So far, since arriving yesterday, I’ve walked over Old Town in the heart of the city and visited the Minden Museum, where it talks all about the history of Minden and even has a whole section devoted to coffee. The museum happens to all be in German, so I’m still not really sure what I saw or what I “read” about (like, I still don’t know why there’s a section all about coffee)…hahahaha…
So I’ve been to Church in German twice now. It’s just great how no matter where in the world you are, whether you understand the spoken language, or even look the same, the Church is always there. Both times I’ve been to Church, people have come up to greet me and even if we couldn’t always speak the same language (kinda like when I go to Church at home 🙂 ), I still felt extremely welcome and loved. No matter where you are in the world, come Sunday, you’ll always have a place to go. Last week in Zurich, there was such significant ex-pat presence that they actually have a sister who translates Sacrament meeting and there’s headphones for all those who need to hear English. The ward was also pretty big, not really sure how many people exactly but they filled up their chapel. This week, the ward was a lot smaller, about 40 people or so and definitely a lot older. This week, one of the members half-translated for me (with the use of a German-English dictionary that he borrowed from a missionary) which was really nice of him. There’s a member in the Minden Ward who’s 93 and still drives himself everywhere. Talk about crazy! They have a history board on the wall and it’s crazy to see the chapel being built in what looked like the middle of nowhere and now, there’s houses on either side of it.
In between checking out the city and church, I’ve been watching a lot of some kind of Winter World Cup finals (I can’t really tell cause it’s all in German, but they have all these winter sports including luge, skeleton, downhill super-G, biathalon, cross-country, etc.). It’s been really exciting cause the events are being held round the south-eastern tip of Germany and the German atheletes are doing really good. I have to say, I really don’t like watching ski-jumping. Not really sure why. I just don’t. My personal favorites are luge (singles and doubles even though doubles looks kinda weird with them lying on top of each other), bobsleigh (sorry, no Jamaican bobsled team this year – but the German women 2-person teams came 1, 2, 3 while the men came 1, 2, 4), and long-track speed skating. Luge, skeleton, and bobsleigh are kinda crazy if you think about it. They’re pretty much getting on a sled and sliding down an icy chute at over 60 miles (100 km) per hour. Bobsleigh, they’re at least kinda protected by the bobsled (but I did see one the American women teams completely flip over and go sliding for about half the track at 60 something miles per hour upside down…luckily they weren’t hurt). Luge, cause it’s feet first, I think you’d break a leg before anything else. But skeleton? That’s just totally nuts. Head first down an ice slide. To me, that just seems like a death trap waiting to happen.
Anyway, before I forget, here are some pictures of the food that I’ve eaten since coming to Europe…
A traditional meat/vegetable platter to start with in Zurich (Sanjay, who paid for the meal got to keep the genuine Swiss Army knife):
Calf liver wrapped in bacon (surprisingly good):
Cheese fondue (that’s my co-worker Elisa in the background and Sanjay’s arm next to her) at what people in Zurich say is the place to go for fondue, Le Dezaley. We had their traditional family reciepe (definitely excellent):
Ice cream cake with three kinds of Toblerone (which is Swiss if you didn’t know) chocolate ice cream:
Rösti, Zurich style (the sliced veal with mushroom sauce is a Zurich speciality):
The rest of the photos are on my camera (which I’ll hopefully get off sometime this week), so I’m sure I’ll have other photos to post later 🙂
3 Responses to “Guten Tag aus Deutschland”
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Gosh Eric! If it isn’t enough knowing that you’re going to eat really well in Europe…then you have to POST delectable pictures of the food you’re eating!! Mann!! So unfair!! Oh and BTW I’m sure Sharn has told you already. How about Vegas and Cirque Du Soliel this year again?
Sounds fun. I think this is one of the perk for consultant to travel around the world and enjoy all the good yummy foods.
Eric, I hope you don’t get a HEART ATTACK on all those rich foods!!