Trip to Breitenlesau ~ Haas' Homeland

We rise early for breakfast and to get rental car. 

We arrive in town. We look for anything open for business 

No open brewery, 

No Cemetery with Haas headstone, next town to look for other cemeteries. No luck. 

Looked all around could not find anything open. Finally Trish goes in what looked to be a beer hall.  The woman...,No English, she directs Trish to gentleman in parking lot. He says he speaks little English. We begin the game of charades. M/t holiday gives gesture of sleep. He talks about his cousin in Florida, shows the typical golf shirt with logo. Have you been we ask? Afraid to fly, he is waiting for them to finish the bridge from Germany to America. 

He rings bell no one answers. Finally he says no people...come. He walks us through brewery and indicates his bad back. He used to Brewer and again shows bad back. We go into room filled with cold beer stacked tall. He shows us Lager, holds to light, educated us about the beer. He is great. 

I am a Brewer in the States. His face lights up. Hand shakes, Hugging, smiles!!! 

Connie. Conrad the Brewer is our tour guide! My great grandfather Haas is from here. Connie? Thinks...then says no Haas here now! But
over 45 years Krug and Haas' connected!  He says You email me, and I will research.

How many beers do you want? Merry Christmas from Connie! This one is good for the wife! When you drink in US you raise glass to connie!  

To Bamberg we go

Today a quick breakfast and we pack up and head to station. Beautiful day, so throw on our packs we walk through the gates to explore enroute to train. 

We came across a church service at a lovely old church, surrounded by the tightest, most beautiful, lush cemetery ever seen. The music can be heard as we stroll through, reading surnames, dates and taking in the detail and diversity of the tributes!

Continue on, see a must have bike for Haas. This is number four or five.

Grab a koffie at station and sit and enjoy sunny morning. While waiting for our train, an antique steam engine arrives. It felt like something from a movie.  Steam, whistle, a smiling girl in a red jacket and hat leaning out window to the waiting friends.  A beautiful scene.  The steam engine, ran on coal, and was quite a sight.  Dick Warnken would love to see this. But the scene ends, as quickly the tourists roll out of the train, headed to market. Good timing to leave town.

Couple hours on train, to enjoy the scenery, wish we had more time to explore the wine region we travel through. Next trip we will need to have more time. Wurzburg looks like a great town, with a fortress overlooking city and a residence damaged by war, but reconstructed. It is said one room is like standing in a faberge egg!  

We continue on the train, through more rolling hills, wineries, Weyermann's malz..... Looking forward to arriving in Bamberg to explore. 

The city of Bamberg is everything Haas has promised.  Lovely canals, bridges crossing the rivers, winding streets, a university, beer! Beer has a long tradition , since 1122 legally, and rumor has it has no less than 20 breweries, and brewing up to 50+ beers.  not bad for only 70k Bambergers  

We grab a cab and are off to our hotel.  Messerschimdt is the winner.  A great location, lovely atmosphere, and even a bit romanik as the sign promises.  We check in, and head out for the evening.   We walk the city, cross the river, and see a bit more of what Bamberg has to offer, yet can only assume it is a small part of what is to be offered.  We stop in to Spezial, a postcard german pub, long tables shared by friends, families and strangers.  We grab a table, and order zwei bier from draft, and settle in.  Soon after, we decide to order some food.  Order Limburger. Response from Frau, do you know what that is? She seems worried, we answer Ya, she smirks and walks away.  She brings back the sausage, and the limburger platter, and we are thrilled.  Rye bread, cheese, onions and vinegar and oil, make for a nice alternative to our usual plan.  

It is interesting to be out of the US, When in a cozy, dark, brew house a strange sound is the ring of the phone. 

We find, the communities of beer halls are amazing. The locals, meeting each other, recognition and nods, smiles and glasses raised. This feels like coffee crew of my home town, if only it was embraced in US more. The feel of beer with out a party is a great part of the German culture. We are thrilled to partake.  

Time to move on.  We are disappointed Fassla is closed today, so we move on to the market, and look for a beverage, and some souvenirs.  I am quite excited, as i assumed the xmas markets and Gluewein were over for a few days.  Not to worry, mulled wine for me, and we carry on.  Haas not as excited, how does an Xmas market in a brewing capital not have beer at the kriskindle market? 

We come across, a lovely wood carver, and great items.  Nativity scenes for some loved ones, and we move on.  I find the purchase of the trip, a lovely mustard yellow wool jacket.  Must buy!  .We move on, and stop in for the famous roasted chestnuts, we have been talking about since leaving Utah.  Small portion please.  We try them, and both are quite disappointed.  Haas would say the worst thing he has had in his mouth all week.  Please hold your jokes.  But he is determined to get rid of the taste, and open to many jokes from me.  We move on.  Continue on to a lovely bar, for local wines, and a dunkel for Haas.  I am intrigued by the wines of the area, when asking the server, for the best regional wine, there is confusion on white or red.  I end up with a red, that is lovely, but I can only assume, white is the way to go.  We leave, and walk more of the city.  amazing scenery, and great character, we stroll back to hotel.  We stop in at bar, which is cozy.  Chat with bartender/front desk/reception guy in charge.  He is a little less enthused by the tourists on Sunday.  according to him, Sundays are typically slow, code for, less people looking to be served in the hotel bar.  We ask about the town where Chris' great grandfather was from, Breitenlesau.  He chuckles, has he says the brewery town, with the crazy boss.  This makes us even more excited about our adventure tomorrow.  Yay! 

But he does redeem himself, when he offers me a lovely white wine from the region, and leave us to chat, and enjoy our wine, bier, schnapps.  we move on to our room, to finish our beverage.  Time to update the blog, and book an automobile to head to the country to see where the Haas family emigrated from.  Should be a good blog update tomorrow.  

Starting our day in a walled city

Take Oktays advice.  Hit it early and get out.  We enjoy our first traditional Europeon breakfast of the trip.  And if you have traveled to Europe you know what we mean.  Meats, cheese, boiled eggs, cucumber, tomatoes, more cheeses, breads, jams, coffee, tea, juice, and cereal.  The elderly lady is so sweet, and gets us off to the market, full and smiling.  

We walk the market, and shops.  Oh the amazing things to buy.  Traditional german items.  lace, wool, ornaments, steins, nutcrackers, wooden ornaments,  coo-coo clocks, nativity scenes, so much to choose from.  We mark many things off the list.  Next up more sight seeing! 

We wander the town, before coming on St Jakobs Kirchel.  Amazing church from 14th century.  There is a statue as we arrive, that is St James, also known as Santiago in Spanish.  His remains are entombed in the cathedral of Santiago de Compostela in Spain.  The medieval pilgrimage route the Camino de Santiago passed through here.  The status is relatively modern for what the church has to offer inside.  On the main floor of the church is is breathtaking to see the extremely large stain glass windows, each telling a different story of Mary and Jesus.  There is also an interesting wooden boat known as the Christmas Boat. The Christmas message represented by the manger of Bethlehem is connected with a boat on its way to the shores of time. These germans sure know how to carve wood, with precision and beauty.  

After strolling the main area, upstairs, is the scene stealer.  In an upstairs chapel shared with a more modern pipe organ, you are met with a real beauty.  There is a 500+ year old, 35+ foot carved alter.  The piece is amazing, and the artist is referred to as the Michelangelo of Germany.  He also was working on this piece at the same time Michelangelo was working on his masterpiece.  This is a well worth a break from the market.  Meet back up with Chris for more touring.  Another place worth spending our euros was the Town Hall Tower.  Although a bit claustrophobic and tight, the 200+ step  climb gives you a panoramic, and spectacular view of the walled city.  This inspires us to grab a bite and do the wall walk.  The Fitbit is trackin
steps today. 

A couple of biers, and the longest bratwurst you have ever seen...

and we head to the wall.  Another good decision.  The 3k walk gives you more history of the city, views of the surrounding area, and idea of what it meant to outsiders.  Finish the walk, back to the hotel.  Back to market, for warm cherry beer, better than it sounds, and you can add a shot of brandy for 1eu.  The music is alive with tourists, locals (you know them because they are drinking the Gluewein from what looks to be cups from their kitchen) musicians, laugher, and merriement.  We enjoy live music from a santa playing trumpet, a trio singing more opera style, a brass band, and another santa with a doggie on an accordion.  You can feel the joy throughout the market square.  We grab another warm beverage and find a cozy cubby to people, watch and take it all in.  We know we are one of the lucky ones to have this trip.   We begin to do more strolling, and come across a tailor.  Should we get a lederhosen and durndell for Oktoberfest in US?  well for 900 eu each, I guess not this trip.

We stop in for dinner at Weinstrube zum pulveer.  they are all full for the night, but our waiter, fits us in. This place is super cozy, from the ornate wooden chairs, to the dark wood, this feels like an ancient wine bar.  It is beautiful and welcoming.  Franconion cheese soup in a homemade rye bowl for Trish (Chase and Dawn were right, so delicious) and Game Goulash w/Spatzle, red cabbage and cranberries for Chris.  Although a wine bar, Schwarzbier is the choice to wash it all down.  Back to stroll the walled city, one more walk through of the market, and to end the night, the local favorite, Schneeballen.  

It was a lovely time in Rothenburg.  Couple of quick stops in the morning and we will continue on our german journey!  Auf Wiedersehen!