I've made two pretty funny (at least to me) observations regarding the importance of beer in Germany in the past few days. Here goes:
I got online recently to check the opening hours of our favorite grocery spot, Viktualenmarkt. It's a fantastic 5-acre, open-air market near city center selling produce, olives, pastries, meat, cheese, flowers, etc. In bold letters under the market operating hours, reads a somewhat apologetic statement that while the market itself opens at 8:00 every morning, the beer garden doesn't open until 9AM. Well, that just blows my plans right out of the water!! No liters of Hoffbrau for me until 9AM?!? Who do these people think they are?
Secondly, I was skimming the local paper this morning and came across an article about how the federal police were investigating claims of passenger abuse on a recent high-speed regional train. We've had unusually hot weather here in Germany and apparently several of the long-distance trains experienced air-conditioning malfunctions over the weekend. The heat became so intense that passengers began breaking out train windows to get fresh air and 9 people were eventually admitted to the hospital for heat-related issues. The article mentioned that DB (Deutsch Bahn) officials had admitted to halting all buffet service onboard due to the heat but had supplied passengers with emergency provisions, which included crackers, water (vasa), and beer. Now, folks, there's something to be said for a country that considers beer an emergency provision!
No comments:
Post a Comment