What is Bavarian Cream?

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When we arrived in Oberammergau it was just after dark. We drove into the center of town and happened to find a large message board with accommodation listings in town. As we were standing there perusing our options, a car pulled up beside us. A man got out and asked if we were looking for a place to stay. When we nodded yes, he explained that his mother-in-law ran a guesthouse and offered to have us follow him there in our car to check it out. He took us to Gastehaus Richter which offered a very nice hostess, great room and terrific breakfast for 22 Euro per person per night. We couldn't believe our good fortune!

CM was nursing a cold so we decided to stay there for two nights to rest up and relax. We enjoyed walking around town and along the river, and visiting the Christmas shop with thousands of handmade ornaments. We learned Ober-ammer-gau means literally upper-river-valley. For those of you at home in Washington, this place is the REAL Leavenworth!

Just a short walk from town there is a gondola to the top of a mountain with fabulous views of Bavaria. You can actually buy just a one way ticket down as it is very popular to hike UP to the top! We opted for the roundtrip.

On the way back down, we stopped in at Cafe Hochenleitner. Only open from noon to 6PM, it's specialty is cake and coffee. They had an mouth-watering selection of cakes to choose from - check out the photos. We asked the girl behind the counter if they had any Bavarian cream and she honestly didn't know what we were talking about! There were many cream-laden cakes, which must have been Bavarian cream, but she didn't realize it was famous to us. It's kind of like French Onion Soup in Paris....where it's just onion soup.

We met many dogs in Oberammergau and learned that they were all in town for a special agility competition. We were lucky enough to be on the gondola with Adonis and Emmy, the #1 and #2 dogs respectively! We saw them later that night in the Wolf Hotel restaurant where they were staying with all of their buddies. The hotel is completely set up for dogs - Salty would have loved it.

Our first night in town we had dinner at a popular local restaurant recommended by our hostess. The place was packed when we arrived so the waitress seated us at a table with another couple who was just getting their check. We had no problem with this arrangement but remarked to each other how unacceptable this would be in the US. Can you imagine having people sit down at your table with you in an American restaurant? We are so used to being insulated in the US, it is refreshing to immerse ourselves in another way of doing things.

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Photos

Warm Day at the Summit
It was warmer at the top of the mountain than in the village.

Comments

[Jess]

family style
It's interesting that a big trend in "hot restaurants" right now is the "communal table". A lot of new restaurants are having large tables where you all dine together. I think it would be fun (I've done it at other restaurants--"Express Cuisine" on Vashon, "Salumi's" downtown . . . but I wonder how long the trend will last and whether people will embrace it or not. Interesting!

[CM and J]

Communal Table...
We like the communal table a lot. Inevitably we end up talking with someone sitting next to us (and in Europe this talk quickly goes to politics). I don't know how well it would work generally in the states though. Not only are people used to be seperated, but usually lunches and dinners are pretty quick affairs, and I can't see people taking the time to just chat over a 2 hour lunch and espresso. BTW, I've heard of Salumi's but I thought it was just kind of a salami sandwich kind of place. Will have to check that out when we get back.