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|         _______                 | A certain young gourmand of Crediton      |
|     ,--'.:::::.`-._             | took some pate de fois gras and spread    |
|    /..:::::::::::..\            | it on                                     |
|   /..:::::::::_;::::|           | a chocolate biscuit                       |
|  || `---'----' _|:::|           | then murmured, "I'll risk it."            |
|  ||            `;:::|           | His tomb bears the date that he said it   |
|  |' ====  ====  |-::|           | on.                                       |
|  |-( @ )-( @ )--|O):|           |                                           |
|   |  ` |   `    |/::'           |                                           |
|   .    v        |:/   jeremy@   |                                           |
|    |   ___,     ||    malcolm   |                                           |
|     \   --    _/|     .id.au    |                                           |
|      \_____.-'__/-.__           |                                           |
|      _|     _/|::.\.::-._       |                                           |
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| "Germany" ::                                           [2010-01-05 01:34AM] |
|                                                                             |
| We saw in 2010 in the Bavarian capital of Munich. The old city is full of   |
| beautiful architecture, though much of is has been reconstructed after its  |
| destruction in the Second World War. We took a free walking tour on our     |
| first day in the city, which included stops at an enormous cathedral called |
| the Frauenkirche, the elaborate gothic town hall, and the Hofbräuhaus, the  |
| most famous beer house in Munich. We stopped there for lunch of sausages    |
| and sauerkraut, before wandering down to the Hausderkunst, an art gallery   |
| opened during the Third Reich, but currently exhibiting a Chinese modern    |
| artist.                                                                     |
|                                                                             |
| I was last in Germany in around 1982 with my parents, and my two main       |
| memories are visiting the castles of King Ludwig II, and eating at an       |
| inordinate number of konditorei (pastry shops), with which my dad was quite |
| obsessed. This particular obsession is one to which I can easily relate - I |
| finished off our first day in Munich with the perfect torte - sweet         |
| chocolate cake, set off with tart raspberries in jelly, with a crisp        |
| shortbread base. Dom was hungrier than I and so started with a cheesy egg   |
| noodle dish with fried onions ("bergspätzle") followed with authentic apple |
| strudel.                                                                    |
|                                                                             |
| As for King Ludwig's castles, the following day we took a train out to his  |
| family castle Hohenschwangau, and the "fairy tale" castle Neuschwanstein    |
| that the mad king constructed nearby and which is best known as the         |
| inspiration for the Disney castle.  We took a horse drawn carriage ride to  |
| the gates of the first, and hiked from there to the second.  Though         |
| neither castle was open for tours when we arrived, the exteriors were       |
| impressive enough.                                                          |
|                                                                             |
| The next day we went straight to the airport, which is of little note       |
| other than that it gave us occasion to try a schnitzel and pretzel for      |
| lunch, but I should mention the saga of our illnesses.  We've been          |
| suffering colds and flu almost over our entire trip, and my own symptoms    |
| have lately been getting worse.  The pharmacist in the UK to whom I went    |
| for a remedy didn't want to sell me anything stronger than paracetemol.     |
| I'm glad to say his counterpart in Germany was much more enthusiastic: I    |
| walked away with one set of pills for congestion, another for aches and     |
| inflammation, a nasal spray, and a cough syrup, plus a set of tissues       |
| thrown in.  Thank goodness for German efficiency.                           |
|                                                                             |
|                                                          reply (1 comments) |
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