HERA'S BLOG
Day 6: Roman Ruins, Hessian Tapas and the World Cup Final
Monday, July 10, 2006 5:07 PM
Today was Sunday, and also the day of the final match in the World Cup (ITA vs FRA). S&B wanted to take me on a drive out of the city to tour a set of Roman ruins built in 80 AD. These ruins were of a settlement that indicated the farthest reach of the empire at the height of it's influence. Sounded pretty interesting to me, so we packed up and headed out of the city in a friend's car, taking the scenic route out of necessity since several of the bridges were closed because of the Museum fest and the forthcoming match festivities.http://www.saalburgmuseum.de/english/home_engl.htm
The ruins had been reconstructed from documentation and careful study of the foundations that were still visible. The museum exhibit showcased all of the tools, coins, bits of clothing, statuary, dishes, lamps, amphora, buttons, belt buckles, etc that the Roman garrisons had left behind. We had brought along Britta's stuffed cat-face pillow, named Speck-Mäuschen, for we felt that it would enjoy a little road trip and some culture too. We entertained ourselves taking photos of Speckie being, well, Speckie.
Speckie also gave us photo ops of our own. No autos, though. Bummer.
I wanted to take S & B out to a fancy sit-down meal, and S remembered a restaurant that had been recommended to him by the gentleman who makes their favorite Apfelwein (Schlehen Apfelwein aus Maintaler Streuobstwiesen) called Der Adler (The Eagle).
http://www.adler-mittelbuchen.de/gasthaus.htm
To get to the village of Hanau-Mittelbuchen, we drove through corn and strawberry fields. The town was small and compact, with tiny streets and houses butting right up to the roadway. The garden behind the restaurant was very peaceful, with a pretty little maple tree growing right in the middle. We ordered a range of appetizers of which I know very little except I ate them all and they were very good. Little flaky quiches with some sort of meat layered in it, brisket with green sauce, a little pie thing with spinach inside, red lentils that were vinegary and kinda chewy, cooked Hand-Kase with red onions, a little pie thing that had liver inside, a little potato dumpling with smoked salmon inside. Really interesting flavor combinations. Dinner:
And of course, we drank apfelwein, which I drink straight instead of diluting with water, which everyone thinks I am completely MAD because of this. Speckie drinks it straight.
We kicked back for a while then headed back into the city. Now, up until 8pm, S had been insisting that he cared not for the outcome of the world cup, didn't need to watch the game, wasn't the least bit interested. But, oddly enough the radio was somehow turned on, and tuned to the game. S got more and more animated, telling me what was happening, and at the same time driving faster and faster. When we pulled up in front of the apartment, I can testify that he leapt out of the car and sprinted to the door to get inside and turn on the TV. It would seem you can take the man away from his soccer, but you can't take it out of him completely.
We watched the game, S rooting for Italy and me rooting for France, mostly because I was still angry with the Italians because of their unsportsmanlike conduct with Germany before. S insisted that it was better for the Italians to win, because it would then mean that Germany was only defeated by the world champions. Intellectually I understood his point, but my heart felt otherwise.
We debated about going into town to watch the fireworks signaling the end to the museum fes
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