Ettal, in the Bavarian Alps
Sunday evening in Stuttgart we looked at photos from their families travels and some of my photos. Photos are a great way of sharing past experiences. When people do not have a lot of English then the photos become a great way of communicating. I packed up my things ready to leave Stuttgart in the morning.
Monday, February 15th, Robert, Brigitta, their daughter Lavinia and I went down town by train and then walked around Stuttgart. We went into a Lutheran cathedral where they have about 1,000 people each Sunday. I understand that the pastor is a very good pastor and communicator. It is good to see one of these buildings full. We walked the main plaza and then went to the train station.
I was on the ICE or inter city express to Munchen-Pasing, a suburb of Munich. I then changed to a RB or regional baun or train to go to Oberau in the Bavarian Alps. I am getting comfortable listening to the right word for the stop and checking the time to see if it is the one I need. The trains are often 10 minutes late so I must take that into consideration as to when we get to the right stop.
When I got to Oberau, a small town, I was to look around and see if there was a car waiting for me and if not to find the bus stop that was near and take the bus to Ettal, the very small town. There was no car so I went to the bus stop. I ask the first driver if it went to Ettal and he shook his head no. The next driver said yes and we went up the mountain to a small valley surrounded by mountains. Ettal was founded by Ludwig Der Bayer where he was patron for a Monestary.
The Benedictine monks have a beautiful church in the Baroque style, a winery and distillery, a hotel, and other enterprises. We went on a tour of their distillery and tried brandies made of honey, hay, anice, and numerous other things. They also have a cheese factory.
I was there staying at the Klosterhotel for the UM Chaplains Retreat. There were military chaplins from Turkey, Italy and Germany. Two Bishops were there and the coordinator for all the chaplins in military was there.There were workshops and worship services for them but they were also free to attend or not. They were there with their families and even though the 15th was Presidents day, there was a family program and worship service. I presented the family program in strings.
One of the chaplins was excited because he knew me. He had attended a workshop that I put on at his seminary in Tulsa. He introduced me in glowing terms and we had a good time with the strings. Not everyone was there at 7:00 in the evening because they had been skiing or sledding all day and some of the kids were worn out. Next year they will have this family time scheduled on Sunday afternoon so all can attend.
After the worship service some of us went down to the lobby - bar and played Uno. It is traditional for them. We had a good time and they were very inclusive. I look forward to doing this program for them next year. The next morning was the tour of the distillary…try a tasting at 10:00 am. We walked around the village and stopped in to see a couple of traditional wood carvers. We then had lunch in a near by restaurant. I had Saurkraut and sausages. I have to stay in the tradition.
Kevin took me to the bus stop to wait. The bus was late and we decided that the train already left so he went down to the train station with me. We were waiting for the next train (they run every hour) when he discovered he had looked at his watch wrong and we were right on time for the origional schedule. I changed in Munich and took an ICE straight to Frankfurt with no changes. I went to the dining car and had a nice big bowl of split pea soup with spicy sausage in it.
When I got to Frankfurt, I took the underground train to Marienplatz near where Kevin and Carol live. I stopped at a Thai restaurant and pointed to one of the soups and then pointed to one of the other partons plates and said that I wanted one of that. I couldn’t read the menue that was written in Thai and translated into German. The soup was a curry with coconut milk and very good and the main dish was also very good. Lots of vegatables.
I got back to the appartment and Annabell the cat was all alone. She wanted some company so I gave her some yogurt and spent time with her. Had the appartment to myself and slept late. I got up and walked in the shopping area looking for a restaurant for lunch where I could tell what I was getting. I found one that had pictures of all the dishes and ordered a ground lamb kabob with 3 kinds of salad. It was great with the chutney sause they had.
Kevin and Carol came back and Kevin worked on the Ash Wednesday service for that night. We all went to his English service. Hans Ulrich, the pastor for the German service came also and said he was not used to having ashes on the head. In Germany that is only for the Catholic. I said that it was new to me when I came to the Methodist chruch 15 years ago.
I shopped for things to cook for supper when I was out. I knew that Kevin and Carol would be back by then and I wanted to fix something for them. I fixed it after the Ash Wednesday service so dinner was late. We had chicken and spatzel, grean beans and a salad. The apple pastries we saved for breakfast. We had a very good visit at the table and talked of many things. I do like their company.
Dave