Bretten and German Bier

[I wrote this a couple days ago but couldn't upload pictures until now]

Bretten 

The Markt is really all there is

The last 3 days with Simone and Wolfgang have been some of the best of the trip. I arrived in Bretten on Sunday around sunset and they picked me up at the station. Bretten is a very small city, smaller than Los Altos, but still has a lot of restaurants and pubs and a nice little market square where, when the weather is nice, they set up tables outside all day. The Banghard house is incredible. I think Simone would say it's getting old and falling apart, but I had the same awe as the last time I was there - when I was 7. I had the whole bottom floor to myself, and next to my room was a room that could only be described as a (British?) pub, complete with bar and booths and a chess table and a wine cellar. We didn't actually spend any time down there this week but I know I want one for my house.

Want

Wolfgang, to be sure, is a beer drinker, and pretty much any time we had the opportunity I found we were having a half liter of, his favorite, Paulaner Hefe. Sunday night after a delicious dinner at the pizza/flatbread pub where he has been going for 25 years we two tried to stay up for the Super Bowl, but kickoff was at 12:30 and there are no commercials to keep it interesting between plays. We made it to half time.

I could eat lieberwurst every day

Monday I had all to myself in Bretten, so after a beautilful run through the countryside I spent the afternoon drinking beer in the sun in the market square reading a book. For dinner we had an incredibly delicious (and enormous) spread of authentic southern German food: goose liver salad, veal in cream sauce, steak and onions, croquetten, two kinds of potato salad, bread and potato dumplings, skirt steak with muchrooms and cream... I think my favorite thing of all is the beginning of the meal, where instead of oil and vinegar like in an Italian place, they serve schmaltz with wheat bread. Schmaltz: spreadable bacon fat with little chunks of crispy pork.

After a couple nights there - where I slept better than anywhere on this trip - we came to Berlin. We only had one day together, and I'm staying another two nights, so I'll write about this city later.

On the wall opposite is the exact same picture clothed

Bier

Munchner Hell, one of many Paulaners I tried

Half the reason I'm on this trip is to sample the beers of Europe. In the battle for the continent it clearly comes down to Belgium and Germany (not for the first time). Belgium is famous for the yeast; sour, spicy, earthy, unique. But when it comes to beers that people actually drink - pilsner and hefeweizen - Germany is king, most famously Bavaria. In the Hofbrauhaus you can get some others but traditionally it's the hefe, or sometimes the pils.

With Wolfgang I was constantly back and forth deciding if I liked the lager or the wheat beer. Paulaner and Weihenstephan are the clear winners for hefeweisse in my mind, while for lagers I actually tend towards the Helles over the Pilsners. Das Helles ("Drink every day for your health") and Paulaner's Munchner Hell where great, as well as Augustiner pils.

The winner? It's really hard. Today I would say Germany because I've been at a Weihenstephaner house this afternoon with Wolle, but I'll be back in Belgium in a few days and who knows...