the long week is over
Dec. 9th, 2006 12:26 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
aryanhwyAnd a very long week it was. It's amazing how tiring listening to fascinating lectures in uncomfortable chairs all day long can be. Joel was heavily involved with the organizational side of COMSOC, so he had to be out at the dept. at 8:30 or earlier every morning, and there was always something going on in the evening - PALMYR social dinner on Monday, after workshop drinks which then led to dinner on Tuesday, COMSOC social dinner on Thursday, and then after workshop clean-up on Friday (I went home and crashed, Joel went out for drinks and didn't get back until sometime after midnight, by which time I was already asleep.) And for me, the long week really started last Friday when I hoped on the train to Cologne (about 2.5 hours) and then to Bonn (another 30 minutes).
I had a lovely time on Friday and Saturday. I'd made arrangements to spend the night in Bonn at the flat of the person who put together inviting me to give the talk there (Thomas), so that I didn't have to take the train back that same day. After my talk, Thomas and I and another guy who'd come to the talk, went out to the Christmas market in the main square of the city. I got to have a good German brat, just like the kind I could get in Madison at State Street Brats. I haven't had a good brat since arriving here, so that really hit the spot. But I was surprised - they had mustard and ketchup as condiments, but no sauer kraut! How can I have a brat in Germany without sauer kraut? We had some Kölsch beer (beer from Cologne), and then the three of us also shared a bag of roasted chestnuts, mmm. After that, Thomas and I went to the market where we picked up two nice fish (I don't remember what kind they were, but he described them as better than trout, and they were very very good), some fennel, and some fresh basil, with plans to cook dinner later in the evening. We stuffed the fish with the basil and just seasoned them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and tucked them up in tin foil and baked them. The fennel we put into risotto. I've never cooked with fennel before, and the most recent time I'd had it, I really disliked it (I think it was because of the way it was sort of carmelized). I wasn't sure what I would think of fennel in the risotto, but it turned out wonderfully. It has just the right delicate flavor to mix well with the wine and cream. I definitely want to try this the next time I make risotto.
After dinner we went walking around the city, down to the Rhine. It's rather strange; the Rhine is about 200 meters outside of the old city walls. I find it hard to believe that a city could be built so close to such a major river and NOT incorporate the river into its way of functioning. But it doesn't; it's not a port city, and doesn't have much to do with river traffic. Because it's just outside the city, this means that the bike/walking path that runs along side it is just immensely quiet and peaceful, so we had a lovely walk.
On our way back to his flat, we passed the big protestant church near the central square, and heard singing inside, despite it being nearly 10pm. We thought maybe there were Christmas carols going on and thought we'd poke our heads in. It turned out not to be carols, just traditional folk songs, but when we reached the entrance we found that it just happened to be the night of the Bonn Church Night; this is something which I'd heard about when I was in Hamburg, how various cities in Germany have started having one night a year where all their churches are open all night long, and people just wander from one to the other to see them. So we went in, looked around (it's not especially thrilling), and then we decided to head over to the main square to see the inside of the (absolutely glorious) Münsterkirk. I simply adore churches. I love tall ceilings, mosaics, stained glass windows, painted walls and ceilings, stone work, and huge organs, and I can get all of that in a church. This one even had an extra perk, a wall of heraldry!
After that we, went to one last little church; Thomas wasn't sure if it was going to be open, since it's only open during the day and during the summer usually. It's an 11th century chapel which is now inside a huge department store; they basically built the store around the chapel. But it was open, and we were able to just squeeze in and see it briefly (you can still see the remnants of some of the paintings on the walls).
So that was a completely unexpected perk. I had no thought at all that I'd get to spend my evening in Bonn wandering around going into churches.
And that was Friday. Saturday deserves a post of its own.
I had a lovely time on Friday and Saturday. I'd made arrangements to spend the night in Bonn at the flat of the person who put together inviting me to give the talk there (Thomas), so that I didn't have to take the train back that same day. After my talk, Thomas and I and another guy who'd come to the talk, went out to the Christmas market in the main square of the city. I got to have a good German brat, just like the kind I could get in Madison at State Street Brats. I haven't had a good brat since arriving here, so that really hit the spot. But I was surprised - they had mustard and ketchup as condiments, but no sauer kraut! How can I have a brat in Germany without sauer kraut? We had some Kölsch beer (beer from Cologne), and then the three of us also shared a bag of roasted chestnuts, mmm. After that, Thomas and I went to the market where we picked up two nice fish (I don't remember what kind they were, but he described them as better than trout, and they were very very good), some fennel, and some fresh basil, with plans to cook dinner later in the evening. We stuffed the fish with the basil and just seasoned them with olive oil, salt, pepper, and lemon juice, and tucked them up in tin foil and baked them. The fennel we put into risotto. I've never cooked with fennel before, and the most recent time I'd had it, I really disliked it (I think it was because of the way it was sort of carmelized). I wasn't sure what I would think of fennel in the risotto, but it turned out wonderfully. It has just the right delicate flavor to mix well with the wine and cream. I definitely want to try this the next time I make risotto.
After dinner we went walking around the city, down to the Rhine. It's rather strange; the Rhine is about 200 meters outside of the old city walls. I find it hard to believe that a city could be built so close to such a major river and NOT incorporate the river into its way of functioning. But it doesn't; it's not a port city, and doesn't have much to do with river traffic. Because it's just outside the city, this means that the bike/walking path that runs along side it is just immensely quiet and peaceful, so we had a lovely walk.
On our way back to his flat, we passed the big protestant church near the central square, and heard singing inside, despite it being nearly 10pm. We thought maybe there were Christmas carols going on and thought we'd poke our heads in. It turned out not to be carols, just traditional folk songs, but when we reached the entrance we found that it just happened to be the night of the Bonn Church Night; this is something which I'd heard about when I was in Hamburg, how various cities in Germany have started having one night a year where all their churches are open all night long, and people just wander from one to the other to see them. So we went in, looked around (it's not especially thrilling), and then we decided to head over to the main square to see the inside of the (absolutely glorious) Münsterkirk. I simply adore churches. I love tall ceilings, mosaics, stained glass windows, painted walls and ceilings, stone work, and huge organs, and I can get all of that in a church. This one even had an extra perk, a wall of heraldry!
After that we, went to one last little church; Thomas wasn't sure if it was going to be open, since it's only open during the day and during the summer usually. It's an 11th century chapel which is now inside a huge department store; they basically built the store around the chapel. But it was open, and we were able to just squeeze in and see it briefly (you can still see the remnants of some of the paintings on the walls).
So that was a completely unexpected perk. I had no thought at all that I'd get to spend my evening in Bonn wandering around going into churches.
And that was Friday. Saturday deserves a post of its own.
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no subject
Date: 2006-12-09 01:28 pm (UTC)I'll just live vicariously through you, 'kay? :-D
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Date: 2006-12-09 01:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2006-12-09 06:50 pm (UTC)Growing up in Germany, I never encountered the concept of Bratwurst with Sauerkraut. That association didn't come until I was back in Wisconsin. Must be something that changed between when the Germans emigrated to Wisconsin and the way they do things in Germany now.