Gelnhausen 3 - Finding the Kaiserpflaz, Wie wiel costas das?, and dinner with the Zellmans
On Frietag (Friday), I went down to the Kaiserpfalz, the remains of a castle built in the late 1200s, around the same time Gelnhausen was founded. It was very strange to walk in walls that old, but the odder thing 
is there did not feel to be any “ghosts” lingering there the way those old places sometimes feel. You know what I mean? (no, I am not a median… ;0) It just felt like people had been gone from there for so, so long, it was hard to picture the olden days. And there wasn’t much there, other than a few walls and a couple of decorative arches. I think what brought that lack of old feeling on is that the local town has done a lot of renovating to the castle to make it a tourist spot, and it is hard to tell what is truly old castle and what is renovated “made to look like castle.” Now the walls AROUND the castle, and the moat – which still has water in it - THEY felt old, and real. But not the actual walls of the castle.
Afterwards, I went and spent money. I have learned enough German to stumble my way through most shopping transactions, though I have to resort to English if things get more complicated than usual. Most people in Germany speak at least a little English, but a few don't. So far, the only thing I have turned down because of the language barrier was a haircut. I do not want someone cutting my hair who I can’t communicate with at least a little! So no German haircut, though I was really wanting one. I will say, the people in Europe have quite a sophisticated style, moreso than most Americans I know (the larger cities are probably more stylish in dress, but even in the small towns here, everyone is stylish, smart haircuts, nice clothes, not many tennis shoes or sweat pants for sure).
Friday evening, we went to Heinz and Marga Zellman's house for dinner. Dave and Gary the monks had lived with the family back in the 60s (the family rented rooms in their house at the time), and apparently are very 
fond of their boys. The entire family even came to Frankfurt to see the show earlier in the week. Anyway, it was an extremely special treat, to be invited into a German home to spend time with their family. Frau Zeldman spoke a tiny smidge of English, not much at all really, and of course I know almost no German, but she and I stumbled through our mutal appreciation for flowers and plants as she walked me around her garden. Lots of things have similar names (lily, lillen) and we both learned a lot! She is this tiny slip of a thing, and barely stands as high as my chin, but she is a an energetic, joyous, loving woman. She is almost 81 years old and seems like 65.
So there was the senior Zellmans, Marga and Heinz, their two sons Gert and Karl-Jurgen, wives Claudia and Gisele, and a host of grandchildren like Leon, Simone, Stephanie, another grandson whose name escapes me, Andy, his girlfriend Annika, oh I think I’m forgetting someone, anyway, you get the picture. A happy, exuberant German family.
After a glass of wine in the living room, one of the daughters stands up and says, “Karl-Jurgen would like everyone to come to the cellar to taste his beer.” I am thinking he must brew homemade beer in the cellar, but when we get down there, we find a special party room with a long table set beautifully for dinner, and a banquet feast on the side!! They wanted to surprise us, and they got such a kick out of our amazement. It was a wonderful moment.
We had for dinner pork medallions (schwinemedallions) with mushroom gravy, little remoulade or something like that (remoulade may be a dessert, I know what we had started with an R...) which is steak strips wrapped around bacon and onions (zweldin, I think) and cooked in a gravy; then potato dumplings, croquettes (made by mashing potatoes, rolling small spoonfuls into small round logs, coating them with a crumb crust, and then baking or frying them, I don’t know which); rosenkraut, which is a cooked kraut made out of red cabbage; kraut salat which is sort of like American slaw; and leaf salat. I ate until my buttons popped. Soooooo much better than anything we’ve eaten at a restaurant. Now I can say I truly like German food. Ser gut. Heinz, who spoke no English at all, kept getting up and pouring Bitburger (a pils) for everyone; we were told there is a German custom that glasses should be full at all times; whether this was true or not, Heinz would appear at your shoulder with a fresh bottle of Bitburger, a sly smile on his face and a glint in his eyes which indicated he was enjoying every minute of it.
After dinner, they served this really bitter liquor called Ramazzotti, similar in taste to Jagermeister but more herb tasting, and with a bitter aftertaste. They brought out these plates of chips and pretzels (no dessert at a German table, I believe sweets are for morning, or tea, or with coffee), and Heinz kept pouring and pouring the Bitburger. I have no idea how many bottles we went through. Not long after dinner, the singing began. Gert, his wife Gisele and their son Simone performed a German opera song for us (from an opera called Black Pete), then Gary played "Tennessee Waltz," followed by Dave with a song in half English, half German called "Wooden Heart," and then the Zellmans with "Lili Marlene", and so on and so forth. We sang German traditional songs, Elvis, Johnny Cash, more German songs… It was such a wonderful time!
End of part three. On to part four --->