violist

UA 951 IAD LAX 1715 2002 752 1B
was 967 IAD LAX 1800 2040 777 33A

I got to the airport a bit early, knowing that the previous
flight was wide open. The 6:00 had gone from an old style to
a new style 3-cabin, and my decision not to use a regional
upgrade on what had been a cabin with plenty of seats had
turned out to be foolish. Checking with the elite desk I
found that I was 7 on the list for 6 beds, every one of the
passengers who had cleared having used an instrument, so
said the agent. So the early flight it was.

Boarding was an ill-tempered melee, with the crush not
dispersing inside as one of the guys in row 6 having an
issue with his carryons and not deigning to "step inside
your row to let the other passengers reach their seats." I
admit that he harriedly apologized to no one in particular
as he did whatever he did.

Lots of shrill announcements about sitting down as soon as
possible so we could achieve an on-time departure, but after
that it turned out to be a pretty good-natured cabin crew.

Starter: shrimp cocktail - two pretty big firm ones in a
not-too-ketchupy sauce.

There was a salad of the usual saddish greens and one olive.

The dinner of Asian noodles and beef was respectable - a
block of actual short rib meat (when they advertised short
rib, what came was seldom that), cut from frozen into a rib
of exactly the same size as the next one and the last one,
then with one corner of mine cut off ... tasted by the cook,
or a blob of fat or gristle or freezer burn removed, or what
I don't know. We were served relatively late in the flight
owing to turbulence, so the thin wheat noodles were very
crunchy around the edges, and the accompanying broccoli had
lost much of its vegetable identity and smelled more like a
primitive chemical warfare weapon. Oddly, neither they nor
the noodles was objectionable to taste, and the hoisin-based
sauce that the beef came in covered a multitude of sins.

Dessert, ice cream sundaes, came from a cart, with nuts,
strawberries, caramel, hot fudge, whipped cream, and
Maraschino cherries for the choosing.

We landed a good half hour early, some of that time as usual
taken up with finding a marshal or a gate or something.

The Sheraton Gateway is a really easy shuttle ride, and the
room, not on the lounge floor but one below, as I am a mere
gold, was neat and pretty though rather dated in decor. The
bed had a lot in common with a mortuary slab, though, and I
didn't sleep long or all that well.

Breakfast in the lounge was not a special event. I had a
glass of orange juice, a very sweet chocolate chocolate-chip
muffin, and a banana.

violist

UA 16 LAX EWR 1024 1845 752 3AB

Check-in took a few seconds, and Terminal 6 security took
not a substantial time longer.

I met lili at the club for the start of our adventure. As
we greeted each other, some guy was ineffectually trying to
get in as a US club member but without a card. I offered to
guest him in, and the attendant pointed out that the guy
would have to leave as soon as I did, and my boarding was in
fifteen minutes. Okay, I get the message. Anyhow, my BP with
INTL on it was insufficient for my own entry, so lili
pulled out her card, which wouldn't scan!, and the attendant
reluctantly manually keyed in my number, which finally took.
I knew that eventually one of us would have got us both in,
and the desk people had to cave, but what of the twice a
year international premium flyer who gets this kind of crap?
The airline should be careful; even though I don't mind the
staff being picky about whom to admit into their sanctuary,
if one is entitled, entrance should be pretty automatic. The
mechanism was much better at both the President's and Red
Carpet clubs - in fact, pretty much everything I have seen
under the new regime is worse than what had obtained under
either of the old ones.

We stuck around until 15 minutes after boarding time,
expecting to have had the blue carpet cleared by then, but
when we strolled across the corridor, it became clear that
no one had boarded yet - and that went uncorrected for
another five or ten, the result being that when we finally
got on, we were greeted by numerous and increasingly
strident P.A. exhortations to sit down and shut up.
We took off a bit late and debarked a bit late.

Again, the crew were perfectly agreeable after the plane
was loaded.

The seats were not. They exceed even the new United business
seats in uncomfortableness; and though the latter make into
a fairly acceptable bed, the Continental ones just don't cut
the mustard. On reflection, it is my experience and opinion
that both are designed for passengers with asses way bigger
than mine and shoulders way narrower, and I am no Adonis.
You have to be pear-shaped to like them. Also, the privacy
screen between the seats is permanent, so that even if you
want to carry on a conversation with your seatmate, it's
really difficult, but you can sort of see the top half of
her head, so the privacy isn't that good, either.

Warmed almonds and Courvoisier. Fairly substantial hot
towels.

For dinner lili chose the tenderloin with gnocchi and
asparagus; as I knew that I'd get at least a taste, I went
with the chicken in mustard BBQ with zucchini and carrots.

There was also a zucchini pasta option. I shuddered and told
the flight attendant that I should have chosen row 1. She
said not to worry.

Salad: ordinary greens, two olives (you can tell who is
steering this ship of state), and three bocconcini.

Appetizer: a couple slices of cold cuts, a weird sun-almost-
dried tomato, and a bocconcino.

I tasted a mozzarella ball: it was very fresh, very good.

Main: a nice big marinated Statler breast with somewhat
crispy skin and a not too mustardy sauce, the chicken not
too well done and quite moist; the vegetables, in giant
chunks, were just this side of raw, and I hurt my jaw on a
carrot. [!?] The zucchini of course went back to the
galley untouched.

lili's tenderloin came medium well and in a brown sauce
that was supposed to have asiago cheese in it. Its gnocchi
were kind of lumpen, but the asparagus, though overdone,
was fine. lili does not eat much, and so I had my run of
her tray. The meat was exceedingly tasty, for airplane food,
with a sizable marbling still evident despite the heavy
cooking.

Ice cream sundaes were made to order in the galley - I think
that meal carts would not have fit down the aisle. The pax
in 2E got a nice big bowl with everything, and lili said
that looked good, she wanted one just like it. I asked for
one just like it but half as big - this came with about
10 fewer calories than hers, and I left half of it; she
ate all of hers, one of the few times I have seen her eat
all of anything.

violist

We pulled in to a relatively convenient gate and were back
at the LH ticket counter in just a few minutes, the AirTrain
running quickly and quietly. Passport inspection and
security were slower than I think normal, but this being
Newark, everyone seemed to be expecting this.

There's this bleak corridor leading to the only somewhat
unattractive gate area; on the right is an SAS lounge and
a Senator one; we qualified for the latter, so why not.

Decent spread: I had a heavily salted and spiced chicken
thigh and a couple pork ribs done the same way, with tastes
of three red wines, of which the best was Mouton Cadet,
deciding finally on Remy VSOP, much better. The soup,
Italian Wedding, was pretty tasty, though the pasta BBs
had been sitting there long enough to be doubled in girth.

A friendly concierge offered to mail a forgotten piece of
mail that I'd been carting around for days.

We left the lounge at boarding time to find the masses
milling aimlessly. When it finally happened, boarding was
an incomprehensible scrum. This was more likely to be due
to the design of the area than to the agents, who seemed
to be working as fast as they could.

LH 413 EWR MUC 2125 1025 346 6AC

A correct but I think underlyingly friendly cabin crew.
The old-style business-class seat was not so friendly,
being built for customers of different sizes than ours,
and I had to drink heavily to make it comfortable.

Menu
Hors d'oeuvres
Tuna Carpaccio with Sarachi Aioli
Chicken Edamame Salad with Plum Chutney
Watercress, Ricotta Cheese and Apricot Puree

As I was not hungry, having eaten half of lili's food on
the other plane plus a sizable snack at the club, we opted
for one meal for two. As both the other choices contained
objectionables, she chose the chicken option, which was
beyond bland.

Entrees
Chicken Cassoulet, Mushroom and Mustard Sauce

Miso glazed Cod, Soba Noodles and Long Beans
with Ginger Soy Dressing

Semolina Potato Gnocchi with Tomato Cream Sauce
and fresh Vegetables

The cassoulet was not bad, chunks of chicken over white
beans in a flavorful, salty, but not very mustardy sauce.
One bite was plenty for me; it appears that about 3 bites
were plenty for her.

Cheese and Dessert
Camembert, Edam and Goat Cheese
New York Cheesecake with Raspberry Compote
Fresh Fruit

I was long gone before this arrived, and my condition
persisted until landing.

Breakfast
Entrees
Orange Juice
Fresh Fruit
Turkey Breast and Salami
Emmental, Port Salut and Cream Cheese

In case you wish to sleep until shortly before touchdown
we would be happy to serve Coffee or Tea and a Pastry.

The pastry, a packet of Cantuccini biscotti, was kindly
placed next to me as I slept. I ate it several days later.

yous93

Is this supposed to be a poem?

violist

We landed a bit early. Immigration was a breeze, and even
after touring around the airport a bit, we had plenty of
time to take the S-bahn and stroll around before heading
to the Hauptbahnhof to catch our train to Fuessen. We alit
at Marienplatz, and after taking her on a tour of the
salient features of the neighborhood (someone was playing
Widor at the Frauenkirche), I steered lili to Augustiner,
where a not unwilling but extremely put-upon waiter took a
huge long time to take our orders and fetch our brews: I
had a Maximator, which was malty, rich, and pretty alcoholic
(about 8 normally, probably more for Starkbierfest). Though
the Haxen called loudly, the regional train at 1351 called
louder, and we forwent eating and hustled to the station.

The train was rickety, dirty, altogether ramshackle, and
surprisingly crowded. Well, maybe not so surprising, as
it was a Friday afternoon.

The ride itself, however, was pleasant enough, the scenery
going from ordinarily pastoral to foothills picturesque to
Alpine majestic. We pulled into Fussen right on time, and
the bus, as advertised, was waiting to ferry dozens of
tourists to Hohenschwangau.

It's not much of a town - aside from the two famous castles,
all we could see was a string - not a long one - of inns,
eateries, and souvenir shops. I suppose this beats what must
have obtained in the 19th century - laborers' quarters and
merchant facilities all dependent on their noble neighbors.

We'd seen an Internet special for E470 for four nights at
the Schlosshotel Lisl, dinner and breakfast included, plus
admission to both castles (apparently not easy to get) and
the Museum of the Bavarian Kings: a very fine deal, but sold
out. The property offered us accommodation at the fancier
Villa Jaegerhaus for E100 more. I inquired about packages
for a shorter stay, as it appeared the two castles, though
spectacular, wouldn't amuse us for five days and four nights
- but it turns out the two night package cost almost as much
as the four night one, so after some consultations we
decided to go for it.

It was a steep little hike up the road from the bus stop to
our new home: the map at the foot of the road seemed to
indicate a longer walk; it really took about five minutes
even dragging our stuff with us past the tourist traps.

It turns out that the switch was much better than the bait.

We checked in at the Lisl and then headed across the street
to the Jaegerhaus, which turns out to be a quite nicely
appointed property with I believe twelve rooms. Ours was on
the top floor, which lili didn't appreciate at first. Turns
out it's one of the smaller accommodations but altogether
very enjoyable: an attic room crammed full of furniture in
the hundred-years-ago style except for the giant-screen TV.
Couch, two armchairs, a large corner desk and its chair, and
a couple tables and/or drawer sets that I didn't pay any
attention to. Small beds: I was a gentleman and took the one
under the roof slope, seeming to guarantee that I'd bump my
head either going to or from or both. Surprisingly, in many
tries I did so only twice. Two dormers, one with a distant
view of Neuschwanstein, which was swathed a la Christo in
plastic wrap, the other with a quite good close look at
Schloss Hohenschwangau, of which the bathroom had the
perfect picture postcard view in addition to its full bath,
shower, and two sinks.

Nice digs, only we didn't spend a whole lot of time there.

violist

It had been a very fine day - bright sunshine and in the
mid to upper 50s, so after taking a stroll around what
little town there was, and snacking at the Allgauer Stuberl
on a glass of Tyrolean Edelvernatsch for her and Kaltenberg
Spezial beer for me, we caught sunset over the Alpsee
and then went up past Galerie Lisl (the shopping center)
for the first of our included meals, which of course was at
Restaurant Lisl. When we arrived at 6:30 we were the only
people in the place - uh oh, thought we.

The traditionally-clad waitress who greeted us didn't
speak English (at least her English was worse than my
German). Not a big issue, but she disappeared shortly to
be replaced by a bustly rather jolly older woman who had a
few words of simple English, sharing duties with a grumpy
tall almost caricaturish waiter, you know, white combover,
skinny so you know he can't really like to eat, walks as if
his feet hurt, which no doubt they do. And refusing to
acknowledge us if we spoke to him in anything but German,
though once it became clear that this didn't bother us and
that I could sort of communicate in the local lingo, he
was perfectly willing to talk to us in fragmentary but
completely correct English.

There was a reservations card with my name on it and a
printed menu that went thus:

Mixed spring salad with fried prawns or
Salsify cream soup with smoked duckbreast

Salmon fillet on tomato-leek ragout and Noodles

Poppyseed Dumplings with cherry roaster

I ordered an Austrian Lemberger or something at E25, but
what came was the CS Spatburgunder 09 from Baden at E29.50,
actually a somewhat better wine, so I didn't complain.

Rolls and a multigrain bread with sunflower seeds came
along with an herb (mostly parsley and chives with a little
chervil) butter and a turmeric spread that was a bit nasty.

We both went for the soup, which could have been cream of
anything, but quite savory, the duck very mildly salted and
smoked. A pretty good course. Maybe, despite it not being
spring yet and I believe prawns not being abundant in the
Alpsee, I should have tried the other starter, but at this
early stage we were just a hair apprehensive about the
cooking.

lili doesn't eat fish. We let the waitress know, and
chicken comes to those who wait: three large medallions
cooked in the same style as my fish but somewhat nicer, as
the salmon had obviously been done first and the chicken to
order. I got a nicely done, generous piece of salmon that
had dried out a bit in the waiting and needed every drop
of the beurre blanc that had been fairly generously applied.
The tomato-leek ragout was as you'd expect, only butterier;
some of the leek strips were a bit tough, though. The
noodles had soaked in butter as well: they were relatively
thin, relatively al dente, and reasonably good-tasting.

Toward the end of the meal a couple showed up - seems they
were on the same plan as ours, so we saw them at breakfast
and dinner throughout the trip.

The poppy dumpling was not as good as I'd hoped - three
not too heavy and not too sweet dough balls shot through
with poppy seeds some of which were not of first freshness.
Cherry roaster means a fairly decent sour cherry compote in
quite generous portion. A ground cherry served as garnish.

It was pretty chilly when we retraced the twenty paces or
so to our quarters.

Both castles are floodlit at night, Neuschwanstein turning
off its lights in the wee hours but Hohenschwangau keeping
them on, which provided an adequate night light for the
bathroom.

The beds were comfy though a little cramped and provided us
plenty of sleep, aided by lovely radiators that didn't clank
and hissed only a tiny bit.

violist

Dawn comes bright through these windows on a nice day, so
there was no question of sleeping in.

We felt duty-bound to check out breakfast, on which as it
turns out they do not stint. The hostess encouraged us to
take a booth at the end with a terrific view to the big
castle. At the other end was a station with a Madchen in
picturesque local garb making omelets (rather hard) and
other egg things (rather hard).

A table of cold cuts, cold salads, and fruit. A table of
breads and cakes. A table of teas and fresh and preserved
and dried fruit. Good brewed decaf.

I breakfasted as on all four days on pretty good smoked
salmon and decent prosciutto. And some fruit.

You get timed tickets to the castles with tours in your
language if available, either that or audioguides. I applied
for 10:00 at Schloss Hohenschwangau and got the first
available English tour, 10:50, with a diffident young woman
whose English was fairly good but accented peculiarly, which
sparked a tall tourist to jump on her when at some point she
pronounced enamel in a way that sounded like enema. He said
he didn't understand her (whether he didn't understand or
was just being sadistic I don't know), and he persisted in
this obnoxious little derailment while she, understandably
taking him for French, tried to explain in that language,
which he pretended not to understand either. I finally
stepped in and gave the proper pronunciation of the term.
Funny thing was that the guy's English was worse than hers.

Anyhow, it is a lovely castle of moderate size, the seat of
the Wittelsbach kings; it was rebuilt over a structure razed
by Napoleon. Nicely furnished, decorated with mythological,
pastoral, and hunting scenes dominated by swan motifs, but
not ostentatious - one could see how Mad King Ludwig would
have wanted to build a grander one up the hill and outdo his
ancestors. It's a 45-minute tour, same length as that of
the big castle, and well worth the effort, perhaps more
interesting than the other. Plus you get to see the piano
Wagner played when he was in town. After our allotted time
was up, I told our guide that her English was fine, which
she demurred to, whereupon I made the irrelevant comment
that it was a damn sight finer than my German.

We were disgorged right at 11:40 into the back courtyard
in brilliant, lovely sunlight, whence we were directed to
the Alpsee and then back to town. After a short wander it
was time to hie ourselves to the big castle.

violist

There are three ways of getting from town to Neuschwanstein.
One, take a bus with the masses; two, take a romantic
horse-drawn open carriage, whatever they call it, with six
to eight of your nearest and dearest; three, walk a little
less than a mile, for which the literature tells you to
allow 30 or 40 minutes: even in our advanced state of age
and debility it took us half that. At the top of the walk,
just below the castle courtyard, a patio area with wondrous
views of the valley below and the cliffs and waterfalls
above and across.

Another superb afternoon, so our half hour of extra time
was well spent basking in the courtyard and wandering around
the grounds.

By the way, the renovations on the far end, through which
you enter, are complete, so those who mill about have a
proper Ludwiggian experience; the construction site is
visible mostly from town.

At the front gate an intercom such as you'd see in apartment
buildings in Munich. The buttons are labeled Ludwig, Richard
Wagner, and Sisi.

Our number was called at exactly 1301, and we dutifully
trooped in, guided by a robust young woman whose confidence
and English were both exemplary. Another 45 minutes of
19th-century something between culture and kitch, and out of
there just in time, as I was ready to bite someone's ankle.

Luckily right near the top is the Schlossrestaurant, whose
specialty is the "oven-fresh" Schweinshaxe, a relative
bargain at E9.50. Comes with bread dumpling and sauerkraut,
both turning out to be surprisingly palatable, though we
tried to get it through to our waiter that we wanted mash
instead. Between our touristicity and the noisy distractions
of a large unruly coeducational assortment of Italian high-
schoolers nearby and the waiter's Hungarianness, there was
no point pressing for a substitution, so we gave up, which
was fine with me. The gravy might have been from a drum,
but it was a good drum and enriched with pork drippings.
The Haxe itself was not of amazing tenderness but tasted
pretty good. We split the one plate as dinner was in just a
few hours. lili had a red wine (mediocre as usual); I
had a hard time convincing the waiter that I wanted a
Mass of beer; he kept saying "halb Liter," and I kept
gesturing largely and saying "Liter, Liter, Mass, Mass."
Eventually it came (HB helles) and duly added sparkle
and additional beauty to the afternoon. A short walk
down the mountain, and we were back home for a snooze
before visiting the Museum of the Bavarian Kings, a paean
to the Wittelsbach monarchs from the early days to their
anti-Naziism to the present day. There was nothing in
particular that stood out, but it was well done and a
good way to spend an hour. As it began to get a little
chilly, we went back Lislward.

violist

Our menu for the day -

Terrine of foie gras with lettuce or
Essence of cabbage with black pudding

Venison goulash with creamy savoy
cabbage and spaetzle

Maron foam with berry sauce

We had one of each starter; both were pretty good. The foie
was probably Hungarian and hadn't had all its strings taken
away; nonetheless it was perfectly fine; the lettuce was a
little pile of frisee and a couple other leaves in a mild
vinaigrette. Mine was a clear ham-and-Savoy broth with a few
thin slices of blood sausage floating in it - actually quite
good, enough so that I didn't regret my choice.

Next, a pretty standard brown stew, only slightly gamy, well
flavored and much enriched with red wine. The side dish was
obviously the nicer bits of the cabbage that sacrificed its
inner core for my starter; I am not a great fan of spatzle,
but these were pretty decent.

Dessert: a cup of chestnut mousse sided with a cup of Rote
Gruetze made mostly of redcurrants. Neither was too sweet,
and the contrast between them was pleasant.

lili had a glass of Chianti; I stuck with Konig Ludwig
dunkel.

On the whole, quite a satisfying meal. In addition to our
counterparts, there were a couple parties dining - a family
of parents, son, and girlfriend under scrutiny (it was quite
obvious that she was embarrassed, the son thought that his
parents disapproved, but as far as we could tell, they
didn't actually mind her); and a pair of extra-adventurous
Japanese tourists.

violist

It was another excellent day, and we had sort of exhausted
the charms of this town, so we decided to check out Reutte.
I tried to get the Fussen bus driver to sell me a ticket,
but I got a lecture (good-natured) on how dass tut mir leid,
but Reutte is not only not in the same district as Fussen,
it's not even in the same country, so you have to buy a
second ticket to get there. The bus to Fussen takes about
10 minutes; it connects to the one to Reutte, which takes
40, though the cities are only about 10 K apart, because
you take these side trips to the villages of Pinswang and
Vils and I think one other and get to marvel at the skill
of the bus driver who negotiates hairpin turns and one-way
streets that you'd think an ordinary-size car would have a
hard time with.

Reutte is a big market town, but there really is not much
going on Sunday. We walked down to the river and then back
to the foot of the mountain whose summit holds the ruined
Bergschloss: it looked too daunting for two oldsters with
sensible but not that sensible shoes; so we repaired to
what is apparently the fanciest hotel in town, zum Mohren,
where Hacker-Pschorr pilsner and Mohrenbrau Weisse comforted
us almost as nicely as if we had climbed the mountain.

Back to Fussen, where we enjoyed the touristy but quite
attractive river walk and then went up into the castle
grounds for a look-see. And then it was time for a drink,
which we found at a pub in the old town called zum Hechten,
highly recommended. Wonder of wonders, they were offering a
Schweinshaxe for under E10, and as the waitress spoke good
American English we had no trouble substituting fries for
the dumpling and sauerkraut this time. A half liter of
pilsner (name starting with A, but I forget) and a glass of
house red made the food go down in a trice; it must be said
that this was a quite tasty dish, one of our better pig
meals of recent days.

As we left, it started to drizzle, so instead of looking
more at the old town, we made a beeline for the station,
where the bus (driven by the same guy) was there to take
us back.

waldob

LOL!

violist

The deal was two dinners at Lisl and two at the rather
fancier Alpenrose am See (also a Lisl enterprise, in
the same building as the museum, which smacks of the
same management, with a Gasthaus (sign saying closed
for the season, please go to Lisl instead) on the
other side).

Alpenrose am See

The dining room is done up in IKEA - no attempt to
reconcile the oldness of the building and the newness of
the decor. Each table has a fancy printed menu and an
iPad wine list, ours with a screen greeting me by name.

A somewhat more polished set of waitstaff. We had a greeter
show us to table and then the divided attention of a couple
waitresses and one waiter, all of whom did a good job.

On being seated we were presented with an amuse - a slice of
roast beef rib cap, medium rare, with horseradish mayonnaise
and a couple micrograms of microgreens. The beef was of
course folded in the shape of a rose - very cute.

Rote Beete Carpaccio mit Lachsforellentartar oder
Fischsuppe mit Knoblauchcrostini

lili passed once I translated for her! I went with the
beets (red and yellow), which were quite delicious though
not so raw as carpaccio implies, and lake trout, which
was smoked (not so raw as tartare implies), cubed tiny,
and mixed with tiny cubes of vegetables and almond - a
kind of tour de force cum torture for the prep cooks.

Rosa Lammrucken auf Ratatouille und Kartoffelgratin - we
should have had one main for two: each serving was three
over-3-ounce lengths of lamb tenderloin that had been
rolled in herbs, mostly rosemary, and then roasted
medium-rare to medium; the ratatouille was made of tiny
minced vegetables including too much red and yellow
capsicum. The potato gratin consisted of 4 squares per
plate, 1 1/2 oz each, two mushy and pale, two brown and
hard around the edges. Ah, well, nobody is perfect.

'09 Le Volte was much softer than I expected from my
experience elsewhere with the '08. It was still a very
worthy glass, with notes of anise and cinnamon and a bit of
that Italian animally quality, very good with the quite mild
lamb.

Erdbeer-Birnen Strudel mit Kokos und Tonkabohneneis - we
asked for one dessert for two, itself a sizable helping
of slightly resilient pastry wrapped around strawberry and
apple filling, garnishes of redcurrants dipped in coconut
(rather strange) and a citrusy-vanillary ice cream that I
hope didn't have much tonka bean in it, as that is said to
be an anticoagulant, something I don't need. I'd give it a
solid B minus for both creativity and execution.

The food was on the whole quite good, but there was too much
of it, which we told our second server, a rather robust
young fellow, who grinned and said, we do like to give
large portions.

A pleasantly unsteady walk home.

violist

Middle of the night: the castles went away. Amazing fog, and
you could feel the atmosphere changing. I turned up the
radiators a bit to chase away the chill and the slight tinge
of menace. The big castle was completely hidden in the
clouds, and our friendly yellow one was visible only by
virtue of the floodlights and only vaguely so. Later, at
breakfast I think it was, I overheard someone likening the
experience of this night to Gene Wilder's first entrance to
the Castle in the movie Young Frankenstein).

It did sort of clear up, so we could make out up the hill,
but it was snowing off and on much of the day; excursions
were out of the question. We tried to prowl around town, but
few places were open on Monday. What to do - go back into
the bosom of Lisl and buy a few hours of Internet; the cost
of which was soon augmented by a bunch of glasses of cheap
Blauburgunder and Konig Ludwig Dunkel.

We'd cleverly stocked up on lots of breakfast, so the
drinks held us over until an early dinner at the Alpenrose,
where we had the same wine, which was today a bit harsher:
I didn't catch the label, but I'm guessing it was the '08
or maybe a '10 this time. This evening our menu was printed
in English for our benefit.

Smoked breast of goose with salad of bloodorange and
pomegranate or Consomme Monaco - a much more standard
brining and smoking than at the other place. The salad that
accompanied was tidy and appropriate. I didn't see any
consommes go by (the dining room was reasonably full), but
I'm told that it's "chicken soup."

Braised cheeks of cattle with green beans and potato pancake
- were it not for the fact that the meat was substantially
undercooked, so there were great knobs of hard gristle in
it, the dish was tasty. Of course I have for decades been
prejudiced in favor of beef cheeks in demiglace and
leftover wine sauce. The beans were crisp-tender, and the
pancake was really weird - shredded up like a Kaiserschmarrn
but savory. Soaked up the sauce nicely, though.

Apple pancake Bavarian style - turned out indeed to be our
old friend Kaiserschmarrn. Other than mirroring the starch
of the main course, it was fine. I further palatabilized it
with a glass of Haas quince schnapps.

A wet, slippery two blocks home, and the radiators were
never so welcome.

violist

It was still gray and gloomy in the mountains, so we hopped
an earlier train - the Bayern-ticket lets you do that. We
missed the bus by like three seconds, and the sign in
English at the stop says something like "Bus for Fuessen,
two times a day." I think it must be somebody's idea of
a cruel tourist joke; the next bus pulled up in 5 minutes
(the Bayern-ticket is good on the buses, too, which is
something to know). Our train, which left 10 minutes after
the bus let off, was clean, neat, and empty. For much of
the couple hour trip we were the only ones in our car.

An easy mile on the S-bahn took us to Rosenheimer Platz,
where check-in at the Hilton at was painless, and our rooms
were equal and attractive in a sleek German way, near the
club lounge.

The plan was to meet the conductor of the orchestra that
gave my retirement concert, for brewskis, as our trip was
ending on the same day that his sabbatical was starting; he
met us at the hotel, and I led the way to the surprise
destination, the Paulaner brewery, where Starkbierfest was
in full swing. Entry to the grounds is only a couple Euro
(much more in the evening, but the prime time price
includes a coupon for a free liter of beer). We found a
bench relatively far from the loud and enthusiastic oompah
band and settled in for a round of Salvators, which are
served in only one size, the imposing Mass. It was snack
time, as we'd all been on transportation that provided
inadequate if any catering. lili and I as had become the
custom split a Schweineshaxe, which was the best of the
trip, flavorsome, juicy, and tender; Dirk's Rostbratwurst
looked okay but not so good a deal, even though half the
price (nothing is cheap, though, it's like the ballpark).

The rest of the afternoon was a muzzy blur - we eventually
left after second liters of beer, mine another Starkbier,
his a regular pilsner. I remember nothing after getting us
to the tram stop until we found ourselves at happy hour at
the executive lounge. After that, e-mail courtesy of iBahn,
and blessed sleep.

violist

Breakfast at the lounge had smoked salmon and chocolate
croissants, so I was well served. A quick packup and we
rolled our stuff down to the subway elevator and down into
the bowels of the S-bahn.

It's a well-oiled machine, but for some reason the trains
bunched up around the time we got into the station. Unlike
with American public transport, this didn't result in a
daylong rolling and increasing delay, but rather the delay
got absorbed, and though our airport train was late, by
the time we got to Halbergmoos, we were on schedule again.

They've changed the checkin counters since last I flew
United. The way they're now set up, it took us approximately
one minute to go through the security questions, check in,
and be told that we were entitled to use the biz lounge.

Of course, we went to the Senator lounge instead. They've
changed that, too - it's quite big, has a tended bar, and
is much improved. Sort of like the old lounge and the cafe
rolled into one. I guess the food was better at the cafe
the two times I was there. Remy VSOP for me, Bourbon and
branch for the lady.

UA 903 MUC IAD 1140 1559 777 6AB Ch9^

This was one of those flights you wanted never to end -
good company, good service, smooth trip, decent food, even
the wine wasn't too bad, or so it seemed. The seats were the
new beds, but even that didn't dampen my enthusiasm.
==
menu

TO BEGIN
Chilled Appetizer - smoked duck breast, wild rice and
dried fruit salad with walnuts

This was quite nice, the duck being tender, smoky, and
ducky, the wild rice not too pebbly.

Fresh Seasonal Greens - tomato, carrot, and cucumber with
your choice of creamy peppercorn dressing or balsamic
vinaigrette

MAIN COURSE

Grilled Filet Mignon - roasted garlic demi-glace, Lyonnaise
potatoes and glazed parsley carrots

Pan-fried Lemon-marinated Fillet of Cod - mango chutney,
herbed rice pilaf and zucchini with snow peas

We both asked for the beef, but I mentioned to the FA
that I'd be willing to eat fish for the sake of amity if
that became necessary. She came back later and said that I
had saved her a lot of tsouris by volunteering for fish
duty. Which, when it came, was actually not bad at all,
but its chutney, blopped on top, was more like the duck
sauce you smear onto cheap eggrolls. Pilaf was pebbles;
the snow peas flopped in an unseemly way (I don't like
zucchini much and pushed the sorry things off to one side).
lili eats like a bird, so I had half of her steak - it
was rare-to-medium-rare and actually very good.

Mushroom Pasta Roulade - Aurora sauce and Parmesan cheese

TO FINISH

International Cheese Selection - Bonifaz Herb and Rahmberg,
seedless grapes and crackers served with Port wine

Dessert

Dessert was just plain chocolate ice cream.

PRIOR TO ARRIVAL

Chicken Curry and Almond Tortilla Wrap - sliced red cabbage
and mango chutney cream cheese spread

Although it smelled pretty good, sort of like chicken pot
pie, I passed.

Cheese and Fruit Selection

I did have a few grapes and a strawberry off lili's cheese
plate; they were fine, as was, I am told, the cheese.

Champagne

Nicolas Feuillatte Brut Reserve Particuliere NV Champagne

or

de Venoge Cordon Bleu Brut Select NV Champagne

White Wine

Guy Saget "La Petite Perriere" Sauvignon Blanc, Loire Valley

Geyser Peak Chardonnay 2009, Alexander Valley

or

Chateau St. Jean Carneros Chardonnay 2010

Red Wine

Matiz Roble, Ribera del Duero
Nasty, nasty, nasty. Cheap grape juice with cheap vodka,
that's what it tasted like. We rapidly switched wines.

Kenwood Vineyards Yalupa Merlot 2008, California
This was potable, nothing special.

or

Cosentino The Cab 2009, California

Regional Specialty

S.A. Prum Essence Riesling 2010
The Regional Specialty was of course out.

Alas, the flight did end, and we hustled through immigration
(Global Entry was not working, so lili actually was tardier
than I in returning to the US).