Essen und Trinken in Bamberg und Memmelsdorf

We flew 5000 miles to go here for lunch:

Seriously?  Seriously!

There are two McDonald's locations in the city of Bamberg, and on post (as with every Army base I know of), there is a Burger King, Pizza Hut Express, Charley's Subs, Subway, and Popeye's, along with probably a few other American comforts I've overlooked.


But don't get us wrong.  We may have given in to our Whopper craving.  But we haven't missed out on the rich culture of Franconian food here in Bamberg (of Upper Franconia).  Side note: the Franconia - Bavaria affiliation is much like the Texas - USA affiliation.  The people of Bamberg are technically located in the state of Bavaria, but the specific region within the state is Franconia.  The natives of Bamberg and other Franconian regions much prefer to be considered Franconian (read: Texan), not Bavarian (read: American).  It's a less testy issue now, but in recent history I guess it was way more important for these folks to align with their region of Franconia rather than their state of Bavaria.


Back to the real issue at hand:  Food.  Anyone who knows the Kellys knows we love essen und trinken -- to eat and drink...  So our sponsor family, Jon and Sara, have been *fabulous* since before we got to Bamberg, making us feel welcome and prepared for our time here.  Beyond giving us an international "starter" Handy (mobile phone) and setting us up with our temporary lodging, Sara has been willing to be seen with us in public.  I KNOW, right?!?


Most recently, Sara took us out to Memmesldorf, a village on the outskirts of Bamberg, and we joined some new friends (Maria and her bud Joe) for Abendessen (literally, "evening eating").  The place?  The Höhn.  The experience?  Fabulous!  


The drinks were fun and thirst-quenching.  I started with Maria's recommendation of a Federweiß, which is a "young" wine -- wine provided after only the first pressing, early in the fermentation process.  The literal translation is "feather white" and is named such because the fizzy action gives the appearance of white feathers tracing along the glass.  The wine is sweet, light, fruity, and cloudy (but each glass looks slightly different given the nature of the wine -- it's not regulated like a completed wine).  Zeke enjoyed a glass of the house beer called Görchla.  We also each tried the Görchla Bock.  Another side note:  Bocks are sweet, not bitter, lagers with little to no hops presence (the Europeans actually measure hops levels with the International Bittering Units scale which determines the bitterness of beer created from hops concentration), and while Bocks range widely in color, they all have in common a higher alcohol content (from 5% to upwards of 12-13%) and are produced seasonally (usually fall-Christmas, with the Christmas lager from each brewery typically being the strongest).  Fun FYI:  Bavarian monks would drink Bocks to help nourish them during fasting periods.  Ja, let's give devout religious isolationists high alcohol beers and no food for extended periods of time.  Awesome.


As for the food at the Höhn?  Delectable!  Borderline-excessive amounts of meats (but not fried or heavy), veggies (of all shapes and sizes), starches (but not guilty ones), salads (and you don't pick a dressing; it just comes the way it is and you'll like it)... delicious.  Pictures wouldn't do it justice, so enjoy the following video to get a "taste" of Germany!