Christmas Markets

In the weeks leading up to Christmas (i.e. Advent), it seems like every town in Germany has a Christmas market going on. Ulm, of course, is no exception. We checked out the Christmas market in front of the Münster yesterday, and fought our way through the crowds to look at some Christmas ornaments and drink some Glühwein (hot mulled wine). The day before, we braved the pouring rain to go to the Christmas market in Neu-Ulm across the river. The attraction of that market is that it has a medieval theme to it, so the stalls sell medieval clothing and crafts, and instead of Glühwein, you can drink hot mead.

Sheep and donkey at Ulm Christmas market

Mittelaltermarkt

Here are some pictures from the medieval market Ben wrote about.

Activities recap

It's been a while since I've talked about our weekend trips and activities on the blog. While we haven't been as active as we were in Italy, we have had the opportunity to explore some of the surroundings of Ulm. So let's take it in chronological order...
Back in April, my parents came to visit for a weekend, and while we spent Saturday visiting furniture stores, we took a day trip into nearby Bavaria on Sunday. The town of Weißenhorn had an old castle in the town center, which was unfortunately being renovated at the moment. Another negative point was that none of the restaurants in the town center were open for lunch. So we stopped on the way to Roggenburg, another small town nearby, which boasts an impressive baroque monastery.
A few weeks later, it was Easter, and we visited my parents for the long weekend. One of the days, we went to Mosbach, where my aunt celebrated a big birthday with a big lunch. On Easter Sunday, we visited Schwetzingen Castle, which is located quite close to my parents' house. There, we wandered through the gardens, where a lot of beautiful flowers were in bloom, and looked at the 18th century interpretations of classical temples, as well as the mosque.
At the end of May, my parents came again for a weekend. This time, we visited the nearby town of Blaubeuren on Sunday, along with what seemed like thousands of other people. Blaubeuren is located at the source of the river Blau, which flows into the Danube in Ulm. The river is a bit unusual in that the source is not just a trickle, but in fact an entire river coming out of the "Blautopf", a series of underground caves that collect water from a large region of the Schwäbische Alb. We also visited the monastery in Blaubeuren, which has a nice gothic altarpiece, and ate a good meal in the old town. We then drove a few miles to visit the Laichinger Tiefenhöhle, a cave that's open to visitors which takes you up to 55 m underground.
Finally, on Ascension Day (a holiday in most parts of Germany), we went to a medieval market (similar to a Renaissance Faire) at Wiblingen monastery. Kristen wore her medieval costume and didn't look out of place at all.

Some Pictures

These are some pictures I've taken with my phone over the past few months.


This diagonal pole device is attached to a truck. It's used for moving things from upper-floor windows to the street or vice versa.


Tee hee.


I always see people taking pictures of produce at the market, so maybe people want to see market pictures. Here is part of the pecorino selection at one of the stands.


This seems to be the standard way people prune trees here. It seems excessive and looks stupid.


Virtual chips.

No Stealing

In case there was any question. Also, the other sign means "Crap Stand."

Green Gold

Italy is deservedly famous for its food, and one of the best-known ingredients is olive oil. What I didn't know was that here, olive oil is a seasonal specialty. In the late fall, the olives are harvested and then pressed into fresh oil. It's bright green, often translucent due to the olive particles still floating in it, and has a fresh, sharp, intensely olive-y, almost pungent flavor. Saturday, we went to the Piazza Santa Croce, where various oil producers from the region around Reggello were offering their products, and where we could try the oil. Some of it brought tears to my eyes, it was that peppery! We ended up getting a modest (by Italian standards) two liters, of a kind which for my taste had a good balance between bite and smoothness.
The best and simplest way to showcase the oil: Toast or bake some white French or Italian bread, perhaps rub with some garlic and generously drizzle with new olive oil.

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After a year and a half in Florence, we finally made it to the Uffizi gallery yesterday (not for lack of trying...). What can I say, it's a quite impressive collection. You know you've been in Italy for a while when you start recognizing the secondary artists -- "Luca Signorelli, didn't we see something of his in ...".

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Channeling Stephen Colbert, a Wag Of My Finger to Amazon for its change of policy on MP3 downloads. For the past year and a half, I've been able to download their free promotional MP3s, and I've purchased several albums, using my credit card with US billing address. Since a few days however, they state that their service is only available to users physically within the United States. Why do companies make it so hard for people to legally get music? Now I'm forced to resort to illegal downloads, or use some proxy software to hide my location. Blerg.

Afternoon in the City

This afternoon, we went downtown for a chamber music concert at the Teatro della Pergola, an old theater/opera house. The program included Messiaen’s Quartet for the End of Time, and even though the advertised clarinetist Karl-Heinz Steffens was replaced with Eduard Brunner, the concert was still well played and enjoyable. Afterward, we walked to the Piazza Santa Croce, where the “Heidelberg Christmas Market” has been going on. It’s actually more of a European Christmas market, with stands selling French Christmas cookies, Austrian strudel, Dutch cheese, Hungarian sweets, among others. Well, and German Glühwein of course.

Sunday in the City

Skydiver landing near Ponte Vecchio. Notice the smoke in the Italian colors.

Fall has now reached us here in Italy as well, although during the day it can still get up to 20 degrees. One of the delights of fall is the cuisine, and apparently a highlight is the new olive oil that is available this time of year. Since we don't have a car, we're pretty much stuck to the cities, so after reading about a market in the Piazza Santo Spirito, we decided to check it out today. It turned out to be an antiques market, with all kinds of used clothes, books, and furniture, as well as stands of soap and incense sellers. So we didn't get any olive oil, but we did get some lunch there, porchetta for Ben and some fried polenta for Kristen. Afterwards, we walked through the city some and came upon an exhibition of Buddhist art by Shinjo Ito, a 20th century Japanese artist with free admission in the Alinari Photography Museum. It had some nice statues as well as some good calligraphy, all quite traditional. Then it was back to the apartment for the rest of our lazy Sunday.

An offal day

After more than a week and a half of rain every day, today the sun came out again, and temperatures were up in the upper 60's. Before walking around though, I went to the Mercato Centrale again, to pick up some fruit and prosciutto, and also to have lunch. Now when most people think of Italian food, they think of pizza and pasta. While those are certainly popular here, they're not necessarily Tuscan or Florentine specialties. No, Tuscans seem to prefer fresh vegetables and legumes, and all kinds of meat. In fact, the most well-known specialty of Florence is 'bistecca fiorentina', a gigantic (ca. 16-20 oz.) T-bone steak lightly seasoned and grilled to perfection. But that's expensive, and so for fast food, Florentines resort to tripe. And so I went to 'Da Nerbone', one of the food stalls in the Mercato, for a Lampredotto sandwich. Lampredotto, by the way, is the fourth stomach of the cow, cooked for a long time in a tomato-based broth, served on a bun with some salsa verde. I must say, it was pretty good and very flavorful. I'll have to go back sometime and try the 'trippa alla fiorentina', boiled tripe in a tomato broth.

Market day

Saturday, finally weekend, and I've got some time to do some shopping and at the same time explore some of the most interesting places in Florence - the market halls. It's very convenient, since the Mercato Centrale is just 50 yards away from the apartment in which I'm currently in. This is apparently the largest covered market in Europe, dating back to 1874, and it houses rows upon rows of butcher, fishmongers, bakeries, cheese shops, lunch counters, and other stands with Tuscan specialties. Upstairs is a huge section with fresh produce. Of course some of the stands are geared towards tourists with their fancy oils and wines, but most of the market is where Florentines come to shop. It all sort of reminds me of the markets in South America that I've seen (as do many other things in Italy). Since I'm a bit restricted in terms of cooking in the shared kitchen (my diet at the moment consists mostly of pasta and rice dishes), I wasn't able to get too much, though I got some produce to snack on, some cold cuts and cheese for sandwiches, and some fresh pasta, which was actually reasonably priced.
Afterwards, I headed off for another market, the Mercato di Sant'Ambrogio, on the other side of town. This one was smaller, with the produce stands outside the market building, but similar in character. Once I've got a real kitchen, I'll definitely have to try out all the great food. On the market square was La Via del Tè, a tea shop that I had found on the internet. It's a bit upscale, with corresponding prices, but they do have a large selection, and a few tables where you can enjoy the prepared goodness. It's good to know that I have a place to come back to should I need an emergency ration of tea.