Creperie La Bolee de Cider, Petite France, Strasbourg

Our last dining experiences in France were just okay.

Our last evening, we stopped in at Creperie La Bolee de Cider, practically across the street from Bistro Margot, where we'd eaten the night before, for some crepes. You know, cause we were in France.

I actually had a galette (called the Alsacienne Galette)...munster cheese, onions, caraway, cream. Eh. Robin ordered a crepe, but it sure looked like a galette she got, too.

After the galettes, we ordered a crepe with ice cream and chocolate, and that was pretty good. Coulda used more ice cream, but oh well.

I think I would have rather eaten whatever Bistro Margot was offering that night, but that's okay, it was France and we had crepes. Or galettes. Whatever.

Bistro Margot, Petite France, Strasbourg

I didn't record all our dining experiences in Germany and France. For example, I wish I had gotten pictures of me and the lovely Robin with the wonderful family (Daniel, Damaris, Nele, and Josiah) who showed us around and shared dinner with us in Heidelberg. I guess I was so enamored of the warm fellowship, I forgot to take pictures. But we had a lovely meal there.

Probably my favorite of all our meals in Europe, though, was the supper we had at this spot, Bistro Margot, in Petite France, in Strasbourg:

This restaurant had a large bar and just a handful of tables (though there may have been more upstairs). The waiter spoke very little English, and the menu was available only in French. But we managed to understand and communicate enough to have a wonderful meal.

I had meli-melo de choucroute, spaetzle au fumes du terroir, a spaetzle (noodle) dish, with cabbage and pork mixed in; it was incredible!

Robin enjoyed her steak hache pur boeuf, neuter maitre d'hôtel, frites et legumes--which she said was excellent, too.

And the dessert we shared, a creme caramel, oo la la! Actually, I ate most of both desserts (the other was an apple pie, basically, the tarte du jour maison. But the creme caramel was, as I said, oo with a lot of la thrown in.

Koch's Andechser, Mannheim

Just a few blocks from our Mannheim hotel on our recent visit to Germany, we found the Andechser restaurant, which had been recommended to us before we even left the states.

We were greeted by a hostess in Bavarian dress, and shown to our table right away. It was tough to choose from among rotisseries of chicken and pork knee, Nürnberger Bratwurst, and more.

But this, we'd been told, was the place to order beer. So I did. But, since neither the lovely Robin nor I are beer drinkers by any stretch of the imagination, I ordered "Radler," which is a kind of sissy beer....half beer and half Sprite. Robin had just a sip, didn't like it, and let me drink the rest.

I had a beautiful grilled half-chicken, and Robin had pork, red cabbage, and a potato dumpling, all of which she enjoyed. And we shared a side of fried potatoes.

Le Bistro and Hohe Schule, Herborn

Our first real dining experiences on our recent sojourn in Germany were very good.

We were hosted our first evening by our friends the Jung family at Le Bistro, Schloßstraße 6, in Herborn--just a step from our hotel. I had wild boar for the first time; tasted like pork, oddly enough. The food and company was outstanding. I wish I had taken pictures!

The next evening, after a full day driving to and from Burg Eltz, the lovely Robin accompanied me to the Hohe Schule (high school) restaurant.

The atmosphere was lovely, very tranquil, but the service was slow by American standards (probably just right by the standards of people who aren't always in a rush).

I had wiener schnitzel, and boy was it good. Robin had a filet, with grapes and potatoes and beans, also very good.

I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

Some of the signs the lovely Robin and I saw on our recent journeys through Germany and France qualified for the category, "I Do Not Think That Word Means What You Think It Means."

Traveling with an iPad

Ten days ago, I left for a European speaking engagement (and a few days of touring) with my wife...and an iPad. Both were excellent traveling companions.


This was the first long trip I have taken with the iPad, so I thought I'd blog briefly about how it enhanced the experience.

First, as I've written on my Desperate Pastor blog, I used the iPad for my speaking scripts.
It provided a smooth and helpful aid to my speaking ministry (read more at http://desperatepastor.blogspot.com).

I also used it every morning to check email and Facebook, and read my usual newspapers and blogs (I have the non-3G version of the iPad, so I connected to the Internet only where wireless service was available, which it was in each of our hotels and at the Frankfurt, Germany, airport. Even if I had the 3G iPad, however, I would not have used 3G in Europe, as the extra charges would have been expensive).

I was able to take with me on the trip more than a dozen books, including a Bible and two prayer/devotional aids, in one small, compact, and very lightweight package (a huge advantage of the iPad: it weighs no more with 100 books loaded onto it than with 1!). I was able to finish the book I had been reading at home and begin another immediately (in fact, without the iPad, I might have opted to leave the in-progress book at home, knowing that I would finish it the second or third day, making it just dead weight for the rest of the trip; with the iPad, that wasn't an issue). I was also able, when our plans changed and it turned out we would get to make a short trip to Heidelberg, to download a free copy of Mark Twain's "A Tramp Abroad," which contains a nice chapter on his long-ago visit there.

The iPad Zinio application also
delivered the latest issue of Cincinnati magazine to me while I was in France, providing some entertaining reading on the return trip.

When Internet access was available, it was easy to check the weather forecast for our area--most helpful when our plans for the coming days included walking and other outdoor activity.

Another game-changer for me was the ability to map our day trips and destinations. Each evening, I would download turn-by-turn directions for the next day's travels in the iPad's native map application. These maps and directions were kept in the application's memory even without internet; though we couldn't download new info while on the road, the saved info got us where we wanted to go (although a couple times they were outdated, resulting in some exciting detours). And once we lost the route and directions entirely (I think from holding the finger down on the page for too long), but were still able to use the map.

On the long transatlantic flights, it was wonderful to be able to choose between books, magazines, and games to help pass the time. I was even able to do a little writing in both Pages and Blogpress!

And, when we tired of BBC newscasts on the TV (or German-dubbed episodes of King of Queens), the iPad worked niftily (I just made up that word) as a video player, using YouTube or Netflix.

Oh, and once, while getting instructions from a friend, I used the Penultimate application on the iPad to write down notes--with the tip of my finger. Didn't even have to ask around for a pen and paper!

The iPad's ample battery life proved itself on the trip, too. It only once drew down to less than 20% charge remaining--and that was due to a sitcom bloopers marathon we enjoyed our last night in France.

In my eyes, the iPad is a traveler's boon companion, and one that fits nicely in an airplane seat pocket. Just make sure not to leave it there when you de-plane.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPad.

Last Morning in France, Last Dinner in Deutschland

Awakened this morning by the sounds of construction in our Novotel Hotel in Strasbourg, the lovely Robin and I packed the car and walked back into Petite France for a little nourishment before driving the 2-3 hours to our Frankfurt airport hotel.


We found a table on the corner outside the Europa Cafe, where I had an expresso (hey, don't blame me, that's how they spell it here!) and tried my best to feel sophisticated and philosophical.


Didn't work.

But we enjoyed ourselves, did a lot of people watching, and then got on the road, making it to our Holiday Inn Express near the Frankfurt airport well before the dinner hour.


We checked in, check email, etc., and then crossed the street and strolled down a wooded lane for an exquisite (and affordable) dinner (I had strudel) at the Waldheim, which promises "German homecooking!"


I'll blog later about the meal itself, but it was really, really good, and a fitting finale to the day...and to our European culinary experiences.

- Posted using BlogPress from my iPhone