Schneider Weisse

Yesterday was exactly four weeks since my Schneider Weisse was bottled. Being borderline Obsessive Compulsive (Lori would argue the borderline part) I made sure that I opened it on the exact day. The bottle even came with instructions.

It might be a little cheesy but I thought it was a fun way to explain the brewing process. How did it taste? It was OK. The carbonation was good and the colour was right but it didn't have as much flavour as I expected. Maybe it was too agitated in my suitcase, I don't know. It wasn't bad, just not as good as I had hoped. Maybe I'm just too picky.

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Fall

The weather in Paris has been beautiful this fall. This is our first experience with fall weather and we have been pleasantly surprised. After the cold, wet and grey spring, we were expecting the worst but it's been warm and sunny. There is a wind storm hitting southern England and northern France that is affecting us this morning but it's nothing compared to what Calgary got yesterday. Here is a picture my friend Darren sent me.

I'll take warm wind over that any day. We spent our weekend out walking and exploring our neighbourhood. We are slowly but surely finding everything that we want or need. Sometimes you find what you are looking for in the strangest places. We made another discovery this weekend that made me happy. 

A few weeks ago, Lori found a natural foods store that carries natural peanut butter. In France, peanut butter is not readily available. Nutella is the spread of choice and it's very good, but sometimes I just want peanut butter. You can find the commercially produced stuff in some large grocery stores, but I hate it. Anyway, we needed some more so we stopped into this natural foods store and over in the corner was beer from French micro-breweries. I knew these existed but I could never find them. I picked up a couple and they were very good.

I'm sure we will have everything figured out just before it's time to leave and return to Calgary. Where did I put that snow shovel?

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Sucré ou Salé

Lori and I had a great weekend. We went shopping in the new mall we found and we picked up some great stuff. We also learned a valuable lesson, never go grocery shopping on a Saturday. It was like Lord of the Flies in there, kill or be killed.

On Sunday we went to a movie. You can find English movies in Paris fairly easily. You just have to check the listing for either VO (Version Originale) or VF (Version Francaise). The Version Originale will have French subtitles while the Version Francaise will be dubbed into French. Now that the summer is over and we are approaching Oscar season, there are quite a few good movies coming out. We saw Woody Allen's latest film "Blue Jasmine". It was a little weird but pretty good. Kate Blanchett was really good though.

Movie theatres are a little different in Paris. They are similar to a theatre where you would watch a play or a concert. At some of the larger ones, they will have lobbies where you can buy wine and beer. When you buy your tickets you also select your seat. Popcorn is available but when you buy it, they will ask sucré ou salé, which means sweet or salty. I've never tried the sweet but I assume it would be similar to Kettle Corn. Regardless, it's never very good. They don't pop it fresh so it's not warm, usually stale and there's no butter either. The M&M's are good though.

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Home

I've been back in Paris for awhile now and it's amazing how much it feels like home. Everything is familiar and normal now. Of course, I will never be mistaken for a Parisian. The fact that I never wear a scarf and my English accent will always give me away. Even though it feels like home, sometimes I still long for things from my true home, and Lori has found a couple of ways to make that happen.

While I was away, Lori figured out how to use the alternate audio feed on the TV and now we can watch certain shows and movies in English. Watching in French helps us learn, but sometimes you just want to sit down and watch some mindless entertainment. Just because we can watch more TV doesn't mean that we do, there seems to be a lot of Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Charmed on Paris TV. We stay away from those but occasionally we'll watch an episode of Friends or Two and a Half Men in English.

The other thing Lori discovered was a mall close by. They have a large North American style grocery store that will make shopping a lot easier. There is also a Marks & Spencer in this mall. This is a British store and they carry products that I can't find anywhere else like meat pies, cheddar cheese and British Ales. Don't get me wrong, I still love French cheese but it's nice to have a good cheddar once in awhile. These are small things, but they make me happy. I hope everyone has a good weekend. 

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Bamberg

Our final stop on our beer journey was Bamberg. Although Bamberg is officially in Bavaria, the locals still consider it to be part of Franconia. Franconia became part of Bavaria in 1803 and I don't think they ever got over it. It's a beautiful city of about 80,000. It's situated among seven hills, just like Rome, but our tour guide told us that the archbishop named one hill twice so that Bamberg would be considered Rome's equal.

They have a section along the river that they refer to as 'Little Venice' as well and I can see why.

I do know there are 8 breweries in the city though. That may seem like a lot for a city of 80,000 people, but when you consider all of Germany has around 1,400 breweries, it's not that many. The most famous of these breweries is called Schlenkerla. Most breweries used to roast their own malt using a fire fueled by wood. This gave the malt, and subsequently the beer, a smokey flavour. During the industrial revolution, most breweries got their malt from a malting house. For efficiency, these malting houses switched to coal. Obviously, the coal smoke did not provide a pleasant taste for the beer, so they filtered out the smoke and just roasted using heat. Schlenkerla did not do this. They continued to roast their own malt using wood and today they are one of two breweries still producing a 'Rauchbier' or a smoked beer. A lot of Germans outside of Franconia do not like this beer, but I thought it was great. If you enjoy BBQ, you'll probably like this beer too.

We had a great talk with the current owner Mathias about the history of the brewery and pub. His English was perfect, primarily because he spent his Grade 11 year on exchange in Welland ON. Afterwards we had a great dinner. I had a local specialty called the Bamberg Onion. It's essentially a meatloaf stuffed into an onion. Very good.

The next night we had our farewell dinner. Lori flew in to spend a couple of extra days with me in Bamberg was able to join us for the meal. It was a lot of fun and we ended up staying out quite a bit later than we planned. We joined a group of local beer enthusiasts for an impromptu beer tasting.

The next couple of days were a little quieter and more our pace. We went for a walk along the canal, read and spent time on patios watching the world go by.

Our final day, we left early and took the train to Nuremberg. We spent a few hours touring the city before we caught our flight back to Paris.

This gave us one more chance to enjoy nice light German meal (can you detect the sarcasm?).

Despite the awful ending when we got back to Paris, it was a great trip. I was exhausted by the end though, but that had more to do with the fact I had just spent two weeks in Calgary plus a trip to Rome before that. In total, I was living out of suitcase for five weeks. Add in all the beer I drank and food I ate and it's no wonder I was burnt out. Having said all that, I would do it again in a heartbeat. Next time I just won't plan another two week trip right before it. I think I'd like to do the Farmhouse Ales of France & Belgium next though, so if anyone else is interested, let me know.

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Munich

After three nights in Prague (as a group) we boarded our bus and headed for Munich. Along the way, we stopped in a small town in the Bavarian Hills called Eck. It was a beautiful spot. 

We stayed at a small, family run brew house with a restaurant and hotel. The brewery is run by Gerhardt whose family has owned it for generations. He gave us a tour and then we had a fantastic meal.

Early the next morning we were on the move again. We stopped in Kelheim for a tour of Shneider & Sons Brewery. Schneider Weiss is one of my favorite beers, so I was excited about this. It's an industrial sized brewery so it was a different experience than in Eck.

Of course every time we took a brewery tour we had a tasting as well. With a group of beer enthusiasts and home brewers there were lots of questions and interest in the beers. This made the brewers happy and more willing to share their beer. At Schneider & Sons, they also gave us a beer to take with us. It was bottled just before we got there. It hadn't gone through its second fermentation yet, so we were given instructions on how to make sure that happens. So on Oct 28, I will complete my tasting of my Schneider Weiss.

After another great lunch, we boarded the bus for Munich. Quite a few people in the group brought beers with them. Either something they brewed at home or a favorite from their local brewery. This seemed like a good time to have a beer tasting on the bus, which made the ride to Munich more fun (except when we tried to use the tiny bathroom on the bus).

Munich isn't as picturesque as Prague, because it suffered quite a bit of damage during the war, but there are still plenty of beautiful sights though.

The next day was our Oktoberfest day. Of course, the Bavarians don't call it Oktoberfest, they call it die Weis'n after the fairgrounds. Growing up near Kitchener ON, I've never been a big fan of Oktoberfest. I wasn't sure if I was going to enjoy it, but I ended up with a smaller group for the whole day and we had a lot of fun.

Just imagine the waitresses carrying eight of those full glasses through a crowd of people. I don't know how they do it. Tomorrow I'll talk about the final stop on our tour, Bamberg.

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Czech Republic

Thanks for all of your comments and messages. Things are back to normal (for the most part). The forensics team finally showed up and they were able to lift 2 full hand prints from the patio door and a DNA sample from the shoes left behind. They were actually smiling quite a bit while they were gathering evidence. If the "voleur" is in the system, it shouldn't be too hard to pin it on him. I don't think we are dealing with a master criminal so even if he isn't in the system, chances are he will be someday.

I was able to take the pictures off the camera and email them to myself, I just can't get as creative while using my iPad. Prague is beautiful and we really enjoyed our time there. 

While Lori was there, we took a day trip to Terezin. It's a walled city about 60km outside of Prague. It was originally built by the Austro-Hungarians in 1780 as a defence against the Prussians. During the Second World War however, it was used by the Nazis. First as a prisoner of war camp and then as a concentration camp. It was a pretty moving experience. There weren't death chambers at this camp. It was used as a gathering place to send people to other camps like Auschwitz or Treblinka. There were still 33,000 deaths at the camp due to disease, starvation and beatings. We were allowed to take pictures, and some did, but it just didn't feel right to me. I did take one outside.

After Lori left, I embarked on my beer trip. I was part of a group of 14 and everyone was a beer enthusiast (or at least travelling with a beer enthusiast). It was a great group and we had a lot of fun. I also learned a lot about beer, not only from the brewery tours but from the others in the group as well. We toured large breweries like Pilsner Urquell and Zatec, plus smaller brew houses like U Fleku and U Medviku.

Prague is definitely on my list of places to visit again. Almost everyone we encountered in the city spoke perfect English. Not as much in the small towns but we had no problems. The Czechs have an incredible history that I find so interesting. From being ruled by the Hapsburgs to their Communist days, they haven't always had control of their destiny, but they are so resilient and very proud of who they are. I found this poster on a bus stop and I thought it was so cool.

If you ever get a chance to go, I highly recommend it. Tomorrow I'll talk about Munich and Oktoberfest.

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Welcome Home

I have returned from a wonderful beer trip to Germany and Czech Republic. I had planned on posting plenty of great pictures and funny stories but that isn't possible. Lori joined me in Bamberg Germany for the weekend and when we returned home last night, we discovered that our apartment had been broken in to. My computer was among the things taken so I can't upload any photos from my camera. We are still waiting for the police to complete their investigation. This is one time I wish I was fluent in French. 

This is the first time anything like this has happened to either of us. It's amazing how angry and violated you feel. I guess I should focus on the positive. We have insurance and the damage could have been a lot worse. Even worse still, it could have happened while Lori was here and I was away. It's a good thing I'm tired of travelling and had planned on taking a break anyway. I won't feel comfortable the next time we leave, that's for sure.

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