Been missing my movie reviews of late?
Or maybe those ever-so-meaningful insights to be found on NEW JACK CITY?
Well, fear not!
JACK GOES CONFIDENTIAL’s coverage of the big screen returns next week, appropriately enough with the movie SEX TAPE.
So why the temporary interruption? A vacation of sorts.
A trip to Germany and France with my 13 year-old grandson Gage Poessiger to explore his family roots and find out why Opa likes his Rouladen with potato dumplings and red cabbage so much—not to mention real bratwurst.
Oh, and let’s not forget the bier!
Germany’s most popular suds these days? My un-scientific evaluation award that distinction to BITBURGER BIER. Smooth. Crisp. And just enough tasty foam to keep on giving. To suggest that I happily tested it on our trip would be an understatement.
Note: an export version of BITBURGER is available in Kansas City too. However the required, added chemicals for American distribution—as in preservatives–detracts from the full flavor. And if you’re willing to give it a try, BITBURGER is only available on the Missouri side of State Line.
Flying east on USAIRWAYS in first class was something else.
Complete with cubicles featuring a totally flat bed. The gourmet meals weren’t bad either.
The only problem; I didn’t have enough luxury frequent flyer miles left for the return flight, so flying home in UNITED economy class was quite the letdown.
So how was the old country?
In a word, quiet.
EVERYTHING was revolving around the World Cup.
Even Hollywood had taken notice by steering its main summer releases away from those massive summer fuss ball nights. Hence TRANSFORMERS 4 doesn’t open in Germany until next week.
Remember, those 2:00 p.m. Central games here didn’t get going until 9:00 p.m. in Deutschland.
So what were some of the highlights for Gage?
Probably the biggest was our two hour tour of the main MERCEDES-BENZ factory on the outskirts of Stuttgart. Daimler-Benz employs over 40,000 workers there with most of them staying with the company for their entire career.
Gage also loved the ICE bullet trains traveling up to 200 miles per hour—and very smoothly, I might add.
Then there were our lunch stops at McDonald’s and Burger King in Germany and France, which I very reluctantly agreed to. However the fact that they also served bier with the Big Macs made it slightly more palatable.
Visiting an apartment building in Leipzig in which one Jürgen Poessiger was born into the German Democratic Republic and touring a refugee camp which housed my escape some 12 years later in West Berlin also seemed to impress the Shawnee Mission West freshman.
Finally, about that dreaded jet lag.
It hit Gage hard, especially on the outbound trip and took him nearly three days to shake.
All of that said, it’s good to be back home.
Beer doesn’t travel well so imports we get are much different than in their native lands.
In the 70s if you had Budweiser in Germany, you were like the kid taking Coors to the East Coast.
Water, hops, yeast and malted barley make a wonderful drink.
I agree to a point. But why then are the imports ‘pure’ in Canada, Mexico and on cruise ships?
Is “pure” a legal definition or is like “natural” in foods?
All I know is my friends at work said they never, ever had a headache/hangover after a party-hardy night in Germany.
As one with strong ties to the SM West Vikings, thank you for the mention that your grandson Gage is one of the “chosen” ones. Valhalla is calling.
ICE trains travel 200 KILOMETERS per hour, which is only about 125 miles per hour…still faster and better than trains here, of course.
Sorry to disagree but when we were checking the on board info system it was clocking in at between 240 and 260 km’s per hour hence my estimation of the mph’s……
That is STILL not 200 mph.
Whatever—it’s damn fast and my bottle of Bitburger didn’t shake, rattle OR roll on the table in the dining car.
Also, Bitburger is the #3 beer in Germany. I’ll save you from responding to this correction: “whatever”.
Mysterious J is correct.
http://www.kphtomph.co.uk/
100 miles per hour is 62.137 miles per hour.
American exceptionalism under the dashboard lights. Now this does NOT take into consideration all the money made in whore houses and drug deals in Europe, which, might, in the minds of Europeans change the stat, from at least a Keynesian perspective.
Always love me some Keynes.
Germany kicks our soft American hiney with their infrastructure, bullet trains, solar and wind power. Embarrassing.
Yeah, but we got Jack!