Food, Part 4

At last, we return to that which makes the heart so warm inside... the tastes of Europe. :) It's true that by about 2/3 way through the semester, I had kind of fallen off the band wagon as far as food pictures were concerned... but I still managed to get a few shots of a few amazing meals. Some of these, I might add, were so good that I just about cry thinking about them (even now, a few months later!). Some countries just know how to make good food, I guess.


This was Brian's chai (tea), had in an authentic Indian restaurant that a group of us stopped at in Salzburg, Austria. (I know... Indian in Austria... odd. But delicious.) The seeming authenticity of the tea prepared us well for the delight that was about to be served us...


This may not look like much on screen (it may look positively vile), but I have to say this is one of those meals that still makes me cry for happiness in the remembrance. It was lamb curry... the best curry I have ever had. Ever.


Another meal that makes me cry in the remembrance... Ungarische Goulasch (Hungarian Goulash). I had this my last night in Salzburg.

You've seen something like this before... early in the trip, we partook of a Schmaiserkarrn, kind of a bread pudding desert with applesauce. This version came with plum sauce instead of applesauce. WOW.

You've seen this before, too. This is Czech svíčková, a delicious roast-beef-and-dumplings meal I had previously had (on two different occasions) in Prague. This time I had it in Česky Krumlov, in the southern Czech Republic.

This was an amazing salad-- an extraordinary combination of chicken and peaches, along with regular salad greens! I had this, also, in Krumlov.

This is a favourite of mine, Käsespätzle, or something akin to Mac'n'Cheese. :) I had this at the Bavarian folk music night I attended.

Our pastor's wife made this and several other beyond-beautiful dishes for us all when we had dinner at their home. It was a kind of custard cake topped with berries. Be jealous... be very jealous.

This was in Paris. See the croissant? Makes sense, right? :) And might I add that the croissants I had in Paris were the best I have ever tasted or probably ever will taste?

Coffee. Not very exciting, I know, but I show it here to pass on to you all a valuable lesson; unless you want to spend a fortune, don't visit Parisian restaurants (even the "cheap" ones). I have never been accustomed to drinking coffee with meals, but I picked up the habit whilst in Paris, only because coffee was the cheapest drink available in most restaurants we visited (and it still cost 4 or 5 Euros.) I can't really complain, though, considering the quality of the food...

Okay, this was supposed to be hot chocolate. It was actually more like hot chocolate syrup. Wow. Either the Poles just like their hot chocolate way too rich... or my maxim that all European hot chocolates are perfect... is wrong... and this particular little Polish café has issues.

This is a wonderful Polish dish that I'm terrified of trying to spell. I think it's "gołbki," pronounced something like "g'wahv-kee." Basically, it's stuffed cabbage... and very delicious. But I'll tell you what's better: Polish pierogi. Oh my goodness... so yummy. But I didn't get a picture of that one.

This is back in Germany, in our favourite Amberg hot chocolate provider (and restaurant). Beth and I enjoyed celebratory hot chocolates right after I'd had my hair cut. :)

And this is later that same week (the last one in Amberg), in the same restaurant. It was the same restaurant where some of us girls had eaten on our first full day in Amberg, so we felt it was a fitting place to eat on our last full day. And this, too, is a meal you should recognize: it's the baked camembert (cheese), toast, and preiselberries that I had one night very early in the trip. My maxim, where repeating delicious meals is concerned, is this: When you can, you should, especially when you soon won't be able to do. Do you know what I mean? :)

Last Days in Amberg

Well, it had to happen sometime. We had to leave our little short-term home in Amberg, Germany. I'm sure there was a degree of excitement in the leaving for everybody... after all, one is keen to see one's friends and family after being away for three months... but there was also, for some of us at least, a good deal of sorrow at having to leave a little town that had truly become another home.

Still, it had to happen, and so here are the pictures of those last two or three days in Amberg... before we left that "home" for good.

This is one of the last pictures I have of myself with my "long" hair! I knew it had to be commemorated. :)

A pretty gate I discovered on one of my last rambles around Amberg. Why don't we have gates like this in Oregon?


On Tuesday evening (April 8th), we enjoyed our last chapel service. Unlike our usual chapels, which were largely student-led and for mostly the students and faculty only, this session was for the whole church, as a sort of "goodbye and thank-you" opportunity. We sang for them, they sang for us, the band (consisting of one of our people and several of theirs) played, we showed some pictures, etc. It was a good time of fellowship, followed by a wonderful potluck. Those Russian-German women sure know how to cook!!!

And now... the picture you've all been waiting for....

The Hair!!!


Okay, well, I think by now many of you actually have seen my "new" haircut. But for those who haven't... this is the new look. Or rather, this is what the new look looked like about five minutes after I walked out of the hair salon. I have only two things to say on this: first, it is very exciting getting a haircut from people who don't speak your language very well. Second, yes, I did save the cut hair for Locks of Love. :)


On Thursday (April 10th), our last full day in Amberg, four of us girls decided to make the last evening a memorable one by having a girls' evening out. We visited some spots around town we'd always wanted to visit-- like this amazingly fun jungle gym!


We also revisited old favourites to make sure we had enough photos. This bridge is one I crossed untold times during my time in Amberg... probably daily through much of the semester!


... And this view is a view I saw often on those same daily walks. Somehow it's rather dear to me.


Of course, we had to stop for the "classic" poses, in front of the Nabburger Tor, the main gate into the Old City.


We meet as strangers, we part as friends...


A few last scenes of Amberg, as the drizzle began to fall and the evening lights became brighter...




A fitting way to look back on our town: through the "Town Spectacles." :)

Okay... I'm Back!

Greetings, friends and faithful patient ones! You'll perhaps be glad to know that I'm FINALLY... after two months... making myself get back to blogging. In defense (of myself), it must be said that I didn't ever intend to abandon the world of blogging for two months. I actually tried very hard for the first month to continue it faithfully... but the combination of wanting to surprise my parents with my new haircut, and of (thereafter) not having success with the internet connection, stopped me. Indeed, there were several times when I actually had an entry ready to post, but because of one computer/internet problem or another, never could get it done.

Then, I came back to the States... and there the internet speed was definitely not fast enough to successfully accomplish much. So I waited.

And waited. (And this is where I am no longer defendable.)

And now I am finally sitting in the Corban College coffee shop, using the hi-speed internet, making myself go back through time to my travels two months ago, to fill in the pieces I have until now left out.

It is with trepidation that I re-begin this online "journal" (of sorts), firstly because I don't know how many readers I have left (after abandoning you all so shamefully), and secondly because it's actually somewhat difficult to know what pictures to post and what to say on these things. But... I shall do my best.

So, in the next few days, I shall probably add quite a few new entries. Once I've caught up the actual "Europe experience" entries, I don't know how often I will update... but I do plan to continue blogging, even now that I'm back in "the real world." I may not always have interesting pictures to share, but I should have a few stories to tell or moments of wisdom to pass on, through the summer and especially during the coming school year. If you (my cherished readers) feel your interest waning once the trip pics stop coming, though, I more than understand.

Thank you all for your patience and interest... and many of you, for your kind words regarding this humble attempt at sharing the wonderful life I've been given.