Visiting Ettal Monastery on Southern Germany's Alpenstrasse with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting Ettal Monastery on Southern Germany's with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Driving along Southern Germany’s Alpenstra§e (Alps Road) after a ride to Neuchwanstein Castle (Ludwig II’s mountain-perched castle), my husband and I admired the craggy, snow-covered Alps and stopped to visit Ettal Monastery.

The Monastery’s visitor’s guide says that Ettal is located on a connecting road between Augsburg, Germany and Italy, but is still considered off the beaten track.  Ettal Monastery’s white walls encompass a huge compound that epitomizes the standards of self-sufficiency laid down by Saint Benedict of Nursia (died 547).  Saint Benedict’s “Rule” defines monasticism and cloistered life in the Western world.

Ettal Monastery’s white walls and ochre trim around the windows and moldings give the grounds an ethereal, orderly feel with the snow-covered Alps as a backdrop.  There are 50 to 60 monks at any one time at the monastery, who run a private high school with boarding school (approximately 380 pupils) according to the visitor’s guide.  The monks also run a brewery, a liqueur distillery, a hotel, and a publishing house.

The monks do the upkeep on buildings that were founded in 1330 by Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian.  At the time that he founded Ettal Monastery, Ludwig also gave a Madonna and Child statue that he had brought back from Italy to the church as well.  This statue has mad St. Marien Church at Ettal Monastery a pilgrimage site.

When the Monastery was originally set up, knights and their wives were supposed to live there and form a sort of Teutonic Order.  Their order did not survive, but the building of their living quarters affected the form and design of Ettal Monastery.  A fire in 1744 caused the façade and interior decorations to be redone in the South German Baroque Style according to the Monastery’s visitor’s guide.

1700 was the zenith of the South German Baroque Style that was practiced at Ettal Monastery.  Henrico Zucalli (1642 – 1742) was the first Baroque architect, who created the foundation for the later architects and artists.  After Zucalli, the master builder Joseph Schmuzer (1683 – 1752) from the Wessobrunn and Rottenbuch Monasteries used Zucalli’s plans to build an exuberant interior for St. Marien Church that belies the elegant yet simple exterior.

Artists from the Wessobrunn School did the stucco work for Ettal Monastery and other churches in the area.  Many of the frescoes and the dome were painted by Jakob Zeiller (1708 – 1783).  Martin Knoller (1725 – 1804) painted the frescoes in the choir, high altar, and three other altars.  Both artists came from the Tyrol region of Southern Germany.  The organ (1763) is the work of Johann Georg Hoerthrich from Swabia.

Leaving the chapel and inhaling the crisp, Alpine air made me feel as if I had visited heaven.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Eating Soup with Chopsticks

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Visiting the Hanseatic City of Lubeck, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Hanseatic City of Lubeck, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

I felt that I understood how the alienation of Existentialism was created in Lübeck, Germany as my husband and I stood in an empty square outside Katharenenkirche (Church of Saint Catherine) at 10 o’clock on a Sunday morning.

The church bells tolled alerting everyone in town that service had started, and that it was time to join the community inside the church unless you were an unbeliever.  My husband and I quickly put on our Alfred Hitchcock hat and filmed the existential scene outside the church as the sound of the bells rolled out along the flat land and died out in the sea.

We came to visit Lübeck, because it is famous for its medieval brick buildings built between the 13^th and 15^th centuries.  The town is listed as a UNESCO World Heritage site and is called the “queen” of the Hanseatic League.  The Hanseatic League was made up of Northern German towns that traded with the Scandinavian countries and Russia.

After making our travel film, my husband and I walked to the center of Old Town.  The Rathaus (City Hall) complex borders two sides of the marketplace.  The Rathaus, whose foundation was laid in 1250, is characterized by arcaded passageways and dark glazed bricks.

When you walk under the Rathaus arcades to the Breite Stra§e (Breite Street), you can see a beautiful stone staircase that was built in 1594 in what is called the Dutch Renaissance Style. 

This staircase is reflected in the windows of a bakery across the street, which displayed a model of the Holstentor (Holsten Gate).  The Holstentor was built between 1466 and 1478.  An image of the Holstentor used to appear on Germany’s 50 deutschmark note before the euro was adopted in many European countries.  The Holstentor is difficult to photograph due to its location in a traffic circle.

We finished our visit by admiring the Marienkirche (Church of Saint Mary).  The steeples are truly steep.  You have to leave way backwards to get a good shot of them.  By the time we had arrived at Marienkirche, service had let out and there were people everywhere. 

I had the sense that the people of Lübeck like going to church to see their neighbors and have coffee and cake afterwards at the bakeries that were open in town.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Hanseatic Trading Town of Bremen, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Hanseatic Trading Town of Bremen, Germany with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

“The Only Good System is a Sound System,” reads the graffiti on a bridge overpass leading into Bremen, Germany.

Right beneath it is another line that reads, “The Best Nation is the Imagination.”  Both sentences are written in English, which attest to Bremen’s trade links with England that reach back to the Middle Ages when it was part of the Hanseatic League.  This League was a confederation of northern German towns that held a monopoly on trade with England, the Netherlands, and the Baltic Sea countries, particularly Russia.

Trouble came to the Hanseatic League from Denmark and Norway, who wanted the League’s riches and trade.  In Forces of the Hanseatic League: 13^th to 15^th Centuries (Men-at-Arms), author David Neville writes that Denmark and Norway practiced piracy and invaded to obtain the League’s wealth.

The Hanseatic League’s fortunes began to wane as different maritime routes and trade patterns emerged.  According to the Encyclopedia Britannica’s “Hanseatic League” online entry, “new maritime connections between the Baltic and the Mediterranean Seas and between the Old World and the Americas caused a gradual diversion of trade westward to the Great Atlantic Ports.”

The Hanseatic towns are still important commercial centers in Germany.  Drivers from Hanseatic towns have license plates that begin with an “H” to distinguish them from the rest of those in Germany.  “HB” stands for “Hansa Bremen.”  “HH” stands for “Hansa Hamburg.”  “HL” stands for “Hansa Lübeck.”

Modern-day Bremen continues to benefit from its historical importance.  The town’s rathaus (city hall) and Roland Statue are both listed as UNESCO World Heritage Sites.  Bremen reminds me of Brussels with its triangular, stepped façade on many of its buildings.  The main difference between the two cities is that Brussels has a Catholic majority and Bremen has a Protestant majority.  The St. Petri Don (St. Peter’s Cathedral) is Protestant now not Catholic.

According to Bremen’s tourism website, the Roland Statue that was erected in 1404 is the city’s “Statue of Liberty.”  Roland is the epitome of a medieval knight protecting the freedom and independence of Bremen.  The span between the statue’s knees also represents an “elle,” or historical unit of measure used in the city.

My favorite statue on the Marktplatz (Market Square) is the Stadtmusikkanten (Bremen Town Musicians).  This statue of a donkey, dog, cat, and rooster refers to the fairy tale of the Bremen Town Musicians as told to the Brothers Grimm.  When I was a youth services librarian, I often read this story to children and parents along with Leo Lionni’s Swimmy.

This fairy tale relates how the donkey, dog, cat, and rooster had outlived their usefulness on farms.  The rooster was even destined for the cooking pot.  They all set out for Bremen to be musicians.  (Busking still happens in Bremen.)  Outside town, they find a robbers’ house with robbers in it ready to eat a big meal.  The animals make a lot of noise braying, barking, screeching, and crowing; they scare the robbers away and eat their meal.  I always had the children and parents provide sound effects for this part of the book that I was reading.

I will not tell the rest of the fairy tale after this part.  However, rest assured that the animals used the talents and wits to live well happily ever after.  I will always consider Bremen a charming and clever town for this fairy town.

Photos of Bremen’s Rathaus, St. Petri Dom, and the Stadtmusikkanten Statue follow:

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Visiting the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse, Sicily (Italy) with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Visiting the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse, Italy with Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

I wanted to be an archaeologist as a child, so I zeroed in on the Papyrus Museum in Syracuse when I saw it in our touring guide for Sicily.  I thought the museum would be full of Egyptian manuscripts.

Much to my surprise, papyrus grows along the Ciane River just outside Syracuse.  We watched an English-language film, which showed how papyrus is made along with its many other uses.  The other uses of papyrus are what truly fascinated me in the museum.

Papyrus can be used to make baskets, sandals, ropes, mats, and boats.  The film said you could even eat papyrus if you wanted, but did not detail how to cook it.  I thought papyrus baskets could be used for cooking in the same way that Native Americans have used baskets for cooking.  You can place porridge or water in a basket along with rocks that have been heat in a fire to cook food or boil water.

The Museum houses papyrus boats that look like kayaks from Lakes Tana and Zwai (Ethiopia) and Lake Chad (Chad).  The Museum displayed the boats with paddles, but they looked sturdy enough for an outboard motor I thought.

In Syracuse, papyrus paper began to be produced in the 18^th century.  The film showed how strips of wet papyrus were laid down vertically on a cotton cloth in overlapping layers.   Once the first layer was placed over the cotton another layer of strips was laid on it horizontally.  The papyrus paper was then pressed down with a weight to flatten it as it dried.

The Papyrus Museum displays the equipment for making paper in addition to Egyptian papyrus paper fragments.  There are also reproductions of Egyptian paintings depicting the manufacture of papyrus paper that are beautifully illuminated by the tall windows on the Bay of Syracuse outside.

Parking for the Museum is limited.  Tourists should park in one of the city’s huge garages and take a taxi or bus to the museum.  Along with the Papyrus Museum, there is also a Pupi Museum about Sicilian puppets located nearby.

Photos of a papyrus paper press and plant with wet papyrus strips are below.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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Using Sicilian Etiquette and Culinary Knowledge in Sicily by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget

Using Sicilian Etiquette and Culinary Knowledge in Sicily by Savvy Mom Ruth Paget 

One of the most enjoyable parts of my visit to Sicily was going to the i Ruderi Restaurant for Seafood in Acireale.

I used Alba Alotta’s La Cucina Siciliana di Mare seafood cookbook to learn about regional specialties.  (There are 400 recipes in this cookbook!)  I felt confident about ordering in restaurants, because I had also read Mary Tyler Simeti’s Pomp and Sustenance: Twenty-Five Centuries of Sicilian Food and Giuliano Bugialli’s Foods of Sicily and Sardinia and the Smaller Islands prior to my Sicilian trip.

Researching Italian food before visiting is a good idea, because Italian restaurants tend to offer what is fresh that day even if they have a printed menu.  The day’s offerings are either presented orally or the restaurant guest says what they would like and the waiter tells you what they have.

My reading of Italian cookbooks, particularly those of Marcella Hazan and Claudia Roden, has taught me that the order of an Italian meal follows this pattern typically:

-Aperitivo – hors d’oeuvre

-Primi – first course that is typically a pasta dish

-Secondi – meat, fish, or chicken

-Contorni – a vegetable dish that is served alongside the secondi

The waiters spoke English, but they let me order in Italian.  The menu for our first meal included:

-Aperitivi – Fried shrimp, arancini (deep fried cheese balls with a ground rice crust), and caponata made from chopped vegetables like eggplant and tomatoes served on toast with olive oil drizzled on it.

-Primi – Spaghetti with clams in white wine sauce, another Sicilian specialty.  This dish was served on a large, deep serving platter with enough food for my husband and I to have two helpings.  I liked the Baroque serving utensil, which was a pair of tongs with a flat, bottom size and a top side that looked like a lyre.

Being able to swirl spaghetti on a flat plate with your fork to eat it without the aid of a spoon is a skill like eating with chopsticks.  I am glad I have both skills.

-Secondi – Next came a grilled fishplate made up of swordfish fillet, shrimp, fish sausage, and a whole grilled fish that was the catch of the day.  (Swordfish is caught off the shores of eastern Sicily, particularly at Syracuse.  Tuna is the specialty of western Sicily.)  The waiter presented the seafood and fish to us before filleting the whole fish for us.  I squirted the fish with soft-skinned lemons and thought I was queen for the day.

We drank a white wine called Inzolia with our meal.  It was dry and fruity.  It made me think of a wine that might grow in volcanic soil made from centuries of lava and ash.

We ate lemon sorbet for dessert and ate homemade rolls to go with the dressing on the arugula salad that came with the grilled fish.  The bill for this meal was 60 Euros and included a bottle of water.  The meal was memorable and encouraged us to come back.

I went through La Cucina Siciliana di Mare looking for a different pasta dish to try at i Ruderi.  I thought spaghetti al sugo di gamberi looked good.  This is shrimp with a sauce enriched by cooking it with shrimp shells to give it punch.

When I asked for it, the waiter said they did not have it.  He suggested spaghetti with frutti di mare (seafood pasta), and I readily accepted.  This dish turned out to be a ritzy seafood dish of scampi, crab, clams and small shrimp with an enriched sauce as well.   The only other place where I have eaten such succulent seafood is coastal South Carolina where I spent my summers as a child.

We had the same grilled fish platter with Inzolia wine.  The fish was excellent again.  I Ruderi serves beautiful food in a beautiful décor.   The restaurant is large and has room for small parties and groups.   It is a spot that is worth the visit, as my touring guide of Sicily would say.

i Ruderi

Via Madonna della Grazie 104

95024, Acireale, Sicily, Italy

A photo of the grilled seafood and fish dish is below.

By Ruth Paget - Author of Eating Soup with Chopsticks and Marrying France

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