Imagine my pure delight when wandering around the streets of Salzburg, Austria I find a food market! Taking up a small square were booth, tents, and carts selling everything from beautiful locally grown produce to fresh made sausages and pretzels. One of the best parts was, that although there were a few tourist-looking people here and there, the market appeared to be mostly full of locals! This would be my first taste of authentic Bavarian fare, and I wanted it to be memorable and mouthwatering.
I immediately knew I had to get a sausage. If there was something I knew about Bavarian food it was that the sausages were awesome--the real deal! I initially passed up a few carts that looked too "touristy" for my preference but, before long, I finally found "the one"!
I knew it was the one because, first, I could not read or understand anything on the menu. And second, I could not understand the people--the ones who were diligently making the sausages or the ones enthusiastically consuming them.
Although I was excited about the fact that I could not read anything on the menu, it also posed a problem, for obvious reasons. I wanted the best sausage, but how would I know which one to pick. I decided to be bold and ask two older gentlemen in front of me which sausage they were ordering. I was taking a gamble, because for all I knew they only spoke German. Lucky for me they spoke great English and told me exactly what sausage I ought to get: a krainer sausage.
No questions asked I ordered one. What arrived shortly blew my mind: a perfectly seasoned pork and beef sausage with a hint of garlic, and get this, it is filled with melted cheese! It was delicious served with a sweet mustard and a roll. Reason enough to go back to Salzburg--as if I needed any more reasons.
While wandering the streets of Salzburg I learned something very intriguing to a foodie like me...the American pretzel is upside down! I am sure the first American pretzel maker had the best intentions, but they made a huge mistake. In Austria and Germany I kept being made aware of our ignorance with numerous pictures of pretzels, all upside down!--or right-side up...
Our first meal in Germany seemed like it was out of a movie. As soon as we stepped foot into Hofbrauhaus, one of Germany's largest and most popular beer houses, I really knew I was in Germany. Right inside the front door was a full authentic German band, complete with lederhosen and every customer in the whole place had a huge mug of beer which many were swaying in the air while singing. The food wasn't spectacular, but the atmosphere couldn't be beat!
Before we left Germany we spent one night in Rothenberg. A picturesque well-preserved medieval town complete with old fortress walls surrounding the town. It was one of my favorite cities we visited on the whole trip and while there I kept having to remind myself that this was no Leavenworth, this was actually the real deal! This is what Leavenworth is designed after. Everything was so picture-perfect that it seemed surreal!
While in Rotenburg I repeatedly kept seeing what the Germans call "Schneeballen." In fact I purchased the very first one I saw, thinking it was a specialty of the bakery we were in. But when we left this bakery and turned the corner there was another display of these in the window of another bakery--and around the corner another! They were everywhere! Schneeballen were taking over the streets of Rotenburg, Germany. Schneeballen (meaning "snowballs") are strips of tough pastry dough that have been compacted into a ball, deep-friend, and then covered in powdered sugar or chocolate. They looked really delicious, but taste-wise, the ones I had couldn't stand up in a contest against the cookie or the doughnut.
Our group only spent about 5 days total in Austria and Germany, which was a shame. The food was great (although it was always very heavy meals), the people were wonderful, and the buildings were precious. Almost the whole time we were in these two countries we had really terrible weather (imagine a snow and hailstorm on to of the alps making the "spectacular view" completely white!), but I can't wait to go back!
