Christmas in Germany and the trip to Austria

It occurred to me, a day or two ago, that I have been pretty busy and therefore neglected my blog! I will go into the details of what I have been doing in a moment, but first I have to take care of some business: some good old-fashioned bitching.

I am not a fan of sales calls at the best of times. I know a lot of people feel the same way, no one wants to receive a call at home in their “leisure” time. However, I have found the tactics used in Amsterdam are a little more aggressive than those used back home.

I lived in a secured apartment building. Before someone can enter, they must ring a buzzer from a central directory at the front door and then get buzzed in. Standard in most buildings in Vancouver too.

Instead of using the telephone, the utility salespeople get themselves buzzed into the building and walk from suite to suite knocking on doors trying to get people to change providers. They do this in pairs and I have two theories why they use this method: 1) It is harder to say no when there is a person (let alone 2) standing in front of you. It’s more intimidating to close the door on someone than to hang up the phone. 2) They travel in pairs to limit the chance of being smacked upside the head or attacked in other more creative methods.

I have chased them out of the building on a few occasions. My reasoning is that they should go to the front door and get buzzed in each individual time. It’s counterproductive to our security to have them wandering around. They have no answer to this logic and usually leave willingly when I pose this argument. Well, they leave my floor, as to if they leave the building or not is uncertain.

I work from home, yet my company does have an office. I have never given out the office telephone number as I am never there. I received an Email from one of my colleagues saying I had received a call, but as they were sceptical about the nature of it, they took the caller’s information opposed to giving out my home phone number. I later thanked them for using this discretion.

I called the phone number, asked for the individual who had called for me and he immediately asked me how I was and acted like we were age-old friends. He used my name in every sentence, giving away his profession before launching into his sales pitch. On the second break he took to breathe (after about 5 minutes into the call) I stopped him and asked him if the sole purpose of calling me at work was to sell me something? He was a financial planner selling his services to expats, like himself. He answered my question by responding “Usually sales is the exchange of money for a product and I am not selling a product.” This annoyed me more so I informed him that money for services is still very much sales. He concurred. I asked where he got my number from which prompted the generous compliment “You are very smart, Alistair, for asking such a question.” He told me he scours LinkedIn.com looking for un-Dutch names of people living in Amsterdam. I told him I don’t have a problem with business-to-business sales calls at work, but business-to-personal sales calls aren’t appropriate. Fact is, I never was going to take his services, but he came off as fairly sleazy (I hope he’s not the spokesman for the Salesman’s Association of greater Amsterdam).

In the 9 months I have worked for Stefan I have seen 7 people come and go. Now, including myself and Stefan, we have 4 employees. By early December there was still no word of a Christmas dinner, so I Emailed Stefan and told him it would be nice to take out his loyal staff for a nice evening. I also informed him of my holiday plans, highlighting the nights that would work best for me. He thought this was a good idea and took us out for dinner and drinks on Friday December 19th.

We went to a trendy restaurant in the De Pijp district. I would liken it to Commercial Drive, except it is on the outskirts of downtown and on the tourist’s radar as the Heineken Experience is half a block from where we went. But, for the most part, these restaurants are the stomping grounds of the locals.

This restaurant is not typical as it looked like it could have been lifted out from the Glowbal Group and would have been just as busy in Vancouver as it was here. The sushi appetizer we each had was as good as anything I have had in Vancouver, something I had sorely been missing. Then for the main course I enjoyed venison. After dinner Stefan left and the 3 of us went down the street to a bar for some cocktails. Perhaps it was the alcohol or maybe it was their desire to keep me happy, but they both promised to increase the level of work they send my way. After discussing it for a while and understanding how they could do it, I left with a feeling of hope for the coming year. As always, only time will tell.

Sunday December 21st I left Amsterdam for the next 2 weeks. The first week would be spent with the Jordans in Germany, the next week in Austria. I had one goal to achieve while in Germany; spend as much time as possible at Christmas markets. Since they all close on December 23rd, I had Monday and Tuesday earmarked for this task. Monday evening Nina and I went to the Aachen market to meet some of her friends. We stood around the stalls sipping honey wine! I had never had this, and it is as it sounds, wine made from honey. Man, it was good!

In the windows of the public and university buildings around Aachen were yellow posters saying "We are Aachen. The Nazis are not." Unfortunately, the Nazi movement is still alive and as they were planning a demonstration on Christmas Eve day, this was the response of the city. A counter demonstration was planned as well as a massive poster campaign around the central train station and town square where it would be seen by the largest number of people.

Tuesday I left Nina alone for the day to get some of her own stuff done and I headed to Cologne to take in their Christmas Market(s). Cologne is recognized as having the largest market in Germany, but this is not completely accurate. They had 4 markets at different locations around the city, but all walkable if you have a few hours to spare.

In the shadow of the Cologne Cathedral was the main market. I arrived just past noon which was not accidental… there is no better place to strategically be at lunch time than at a German Christmas market! One of the first stalls I came across was an Alistair-sized BBQ. The burning coals sat on a large metal table the size of a double bed. Suspended over it, with chains, was the BBQing surface with skewers of pork and beef steaks. The smells engulfed in the smoke that poured from this stall led me to it site-unseen.

The next stop was the Punsch and Getränke stand where I indulged in Glühwein; a German speciality of warm red wine with cinnamon, cloves, sugar, lemon zest and cardamom. Simply delicious.

These wine stands are all over the markets and they refuse to sell you drinks in tacky styrofoam or plastic cups. Instead you pay a deposit and sip your drink from a festive ceramic cup that can be returned to any of the wine stands. It added a certain classiness to the event and didn’t make you feel like a wino drinking from a paper bag.

I made the rounds to the outlying markets around Cologne. One even had a temporary ice skating rink set up in the middle of a plaza for kids to play in. This is also something they have done in Amsterdam in one of the busy tourist squares. Lining it on all sides were pastry and hot chocolate stands, the closest thing to an Amsterdam Christmas market.

As I was heading back toward the Cologne train station I walked by a private art gallery. I was so taken by the paintings in the window; I went in, something I rarely do. I always feel so self conscious walking around a private gallery, especially when there is no one else there. I feel guilty when I know I don’t have any intention to buy. However the art was so intriguing, I swallowed my doubts and went in. They were featuring a local Germany artist who I was really taken with. You can see his website here.

As Nina’s mom was working the first few days of week, while preparing the family meals for Christmas, I decided to pitch in a bit. On Monday I prepared dinner. I made roast pork, served with caramelized apples and onions, grilled zucchini with tomatoes and mashed potatoes that Nina helped with. I have never been able to make them perfectly smooth, but Nina has mastered the creamy mashed potatoes.

Christmas Eve is we had the big dinner at Nina’s parent’s house where they served venison which was beginning to seem like a trend this year. Makes sense I guess, Rudolf is one of the stars of Christmas so why not enjoy roasting one of his thighs. Quite tasty with apple and cranberry sauce.

On Christmas night we had another family dinner and enjoyed the slow pace of the 3 days leading up to our big trip.

At 7:15am on Saturday morning we piled into the car. Nina’s parents borrowed a BMW 5 Series Wagon for the trip as we needed ample cargo space. As it was, we had to push and cram into every available nook and cranny to fit everything in. We crossed Germany diagonally from the mid West to the South East via Munich. Sometime around 4:30pm we crossed the border into Austria (my 11th European country visited) and arrived in the small mountain town of St Ulrich about an hour later.

There we met Nina’s sister with her family who live close to Vienna and had arrived earlier in the day. Between us we had 3 rooms booked at this 4 star hotel.

One of the advantages of arriving after dark was the glorious experience of opening our drapes the next morning. Sprawled out in front of us, in all their glory, were the Austrian Alps! The panoramic picture to the left is the view from out window and frozen balcony.

This hotel is child-friendly, which I took as meaning they find a balance between catering to children, while still maintaining high standards for the adults to enjoy. Nope! My first experience was the dining room as we arrived in time for dinner on Saturday. It was tastefully decorated, pleasant yet sparse. The focal point of the room’s ambience was the hoards of children running around, screaming and making other generally unpleasant noises. The ratio of children to adults was almost 1 to 1. It was like an infestation… my own personal hell.

In the centre of the room was the salad/appetizer buffet. Each family is assigned to a table (all food, house wine, beer and water is included in the price) and can help themselves to the buffet. The entrée changed each night and was offered without a choice. It was mass produced and looked like it came from a slightly upscale school cafeteria.

I was particularly looking forward to the idea of staying in a 4 star hotel for a week, lounging in the lap of luxury. I have sadly come to realize that most European countries will assign a star rating to their establishment that doesn’t relate (whatsoever) to the international star ratings we adhere to in Canada. For instance, I have stayed a night at the Chateau Whistler which (I believe) is a 5 star hotel. The difference between that hotel and this hotel is a hell of a lot more than one measly star.

Next door to us we have a family. A complete family; two adults, two children and two dogs. After hearing the first barrage of barking I enquired at the front desk and it seems they are perfectly happy to cater to animals in this “4 star” establishment.

Nina and I have discovered there is one place where children are not allowed. Now strangely, you might think that would be the bar, but it isn’t! It’s the spa area where the sauna, steam room and relaxation rooms are located. Perfect, we would be quite happy to spend a large amount of time there. However it seems the families have no problem using it as a thoroughfare on their way to the swimming pool as it’s the quickest route. And in our one experience down there, the level of talking (by the adults) in the relaxation room makes it about as relaxing as a crowded bus in rush hour.

Directly behind the hotel is a quaint old church. It had some unique features including the small graveyard that encircled it. The graveyard itself is not unique to a church, but the style of the headstones was. They were almost exclusively made from wrought iron, something I had never seen before. According to Nina’s father (who is Austrian) this is normal here. The level of craftsmanship was impressive and the sight of a wrought iron graveyard framed with snow was quite beautiful.

The church had windows surrounding it where the ceiling met the tops of the walls flooding it with natural light. The ceilings were painted, reminding me of something you would expect to see in Italy. From the outside, it was a little plain, but the inside was impressive.

Another unique feature to churches in this region are the shapes of the steeples. I first noticed this as we drove through Bavaria. They are called zwieble turms (onion towers) due to the shape of the “onion” bulb toward the top of the tower.

You would think the front desk of a dog/children friendly hotel would have earplugs on hand. Well, you would be wrong. So this morning Nina and hopped on a bus and took the 15 minute scenic ride through mountain passes to Fieberbrunn; the closest “big” town to find a drugstore to buy earplugs. Upon entering this town the first thing you see is the SchlossHotel (castle hotel) aptly named for its unique design and painted façade.

Upon entering the largest of the German provinces; Bavaria, and through the small towns this side of the Austrian border, there is a lot of attention to detail in the outward design of the buildings. I have heard the look of Whistler compared to a Swiss village and I can see the similarities. As the Alps span 4 countries (maybe more) there are a lot of similarities in the architecture from Southern Germany to Austria to Lucerne and Interlaken in Switzerland. Carved wood beams with intricate designs and A-frame roofs seem to be common place. Most buildings are a combination of white stucco and exposed wood, uniform in colour and shape, but unique in the detail. The true difference between the buildings/villages I have seen and Whistler is the over-use of concrete, a typical giveaway that you are in North America.

All around me are beautiful mountains, the jagged-topped kind you see in the Rockies. I know if I climb one of them I can get away from the kids. Nina’s parents loaned me a snow suit to wear and I bought some rugged hiking boots a few weeks earlier. We went out for a walk on our first day and although it was -8, the sky was perfectly blue, the sun was shining and the mountain air was crisp. The forecast for the week is more of the same.

Tomorrow we are going to spend the day in Salzburg which I have been looking forward to. I am always eager to explore a new city. But for the remainder of the week I think I will take full advantage of the wonderful nature laid out at my feet. I might as well; I have waited 9 months to see a mountain, best to make some use out of it. This afternoon I pick one and climb it.