WONDERFUL SURPRISES

                                Expect the Unexpected

            On a beautiful sunny Sunday morning In Lucerne, Switzerland we took a ferry across Lake Lucerne to Hertinstein, our hike starting point. We enjoyed the scenery of the mountain peaks which surround the lake. The water was calm and mirror clear. After a nice hike we eventually arrived in Weggis, a picturesque little town with a population of 2500. Nestled between the lakeshore and the mountain peaks, flowers were plentiful and gorgeous everywhere, on porches, on windowsills, and in small pocket gardens and parks.

            In all my logic I planned on taking pictures as we’d be walking back to our ferry stop.  It never occurred to me that we were going one way and that we would pick up the ferry at another stop! With this dawning, I told our hiking guide that I was going to forgo lunch and hike back up to the town to take pictures. He gave me the ferry boarding time and I was off double timing it. I got my photos and made the ferry for a leisurely boat ride back to Lucerne.  I enjoyed the picturesque village twice, albeit once hurriedly.

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One evening in Warsaw, Poland when it wasn’t raining we decided to go for a walk. The huge city park was only a block from the hotel. It was a lovely evening and we enjoyed our stroll as well as the quiet.

          Heading back to the hotel, I suddenly said, “Jan, wait a minute. What’s going on?”

          Surprised, she said, “It looks like guards marching. There are three of them.”

          We stopped to watch. Unknown to us we had stumbled upon the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier.

As we continued back to the hotel I said, “How lucky can we get! To watch the changing of the guard.”

What a wonderful surprise.

INTERESTING FOOD and DRINK

                                              New Discoveries

I ate a lot of goulash in Hungary. I like it but the best I had was outside Budapest in Kalocsa. The beef chunks were 'gray meat' that comes from special gray cows. We were told gray cows are a cross between wild and domesticated ones. The meat is tender and very expensive. The goulash was not too different from what my mother called fricasseed beef. The interesting part of this meal was that the goulash was served over cooked barley. It was different but very good.

Heidelberg’s Student Kiss

The University was for boys only. However, they soon discovered that the girls from finishing schools congregated at what now is Heidelberg’s oldest café in the center of the old city. Everyone liked Fridolin Knosel, the good natured pastry cook, who owned the café. The girls accompanied by watchful governesses frequently encountered merry students. Under such conditions innocent flirtations were kept under wraps.

But the young ladies’ secret longings did not escape Mr. Knosel who decided to help them. One day with a big grin, he surprised the girls with a chocolate pastry he called a ‘student kiss’. The governesses did not object to the girls accepting the pastry.

Much time has passed and much has changed. But the ‘student kiss’ is still available from the same café and serves as a reminder of the romantic past and has become part of Heidelberg’s history and image.

An Interesting Iced Coffee

            During the city walking tour of Regensburg, Germany I kept my eye peeled

for Café Prinzess, the oldest coffeehouse in Germany, dating back to 1686. It was a very hot day and we were delighted to find it. We ordered iced coffee. It was a surprise to find chocolate chip ice cream floating in the top of cold coffee.. It resembled a float, was different, but good.

             We struck up a conversation with a pair of older traveling German women seated near us. They were drinking blond angels which was orange juice with ice cream floating in it. They looked good. In fact the ladies ordered a second one before continuing on their journey. It’s always fun to go back a bit in time.