D04: OUR BAVARIAN BACHELOR PAD

Let’s take some time out to tell you something more about our “Bavarian Bachelor Pad.”

It’s in the house that Astrid and Alexander call home which is located in Neuhaus, a part of Schliersee, some 50 miles southeast of Munich. Alex describes it as a typical ’50’s home that has undergone a recent makeover bringing it into the century

Fortunately the makeover left the most important parts of the home unchanged. We begin and end each day at this table in a comfortable corner that overlooks the extensive back yard. It is here where Astrid displays her skill at preparing delicious meals and setting an attractive table.

But this is the heart of the house where she produces those masterpieces. Their kitchen is the result of careful planning and everything is modern, up-to-date and close at hand. Louise slipped by saying, “This almost motivates me to start cooking again.” I wish I had recorded that not-since-repeated statement.

Since our arrival we’ve been treated to a leberkase loaf, sauerbraten, a spinach/salmon quiche and this schweinebrauten roast. Doesn’t look like much now but it was delicious and went down well with several good local beers.

Our breakfasts are in the best Bavarian tradition and completely violate the good intentions to lose weight that we made in Los Angles. But then, what the hell. You only live once and who knows when we’ll return.

When she’s not performing in the kitchen, Astrid has her own girl cave on the second floor.

She works here as a financial manager for Ines Papert, an internationally known professional rock climber who flits from country to country hanging from mountains by her fingertips for money.

Alex’s man cave hides two Audi’s…one an A8, the other an R8 so he has his choice of cars for his commute daily to Munich where he has a practice as a maxillofacial surgeon. His preference is the A8 because, as he says, “The R8 does not like to go just the speed limit.”

But now on to our hideaway. It is on the second floor of the house on the left hand side. When we walked in we expected a one or two room mother-in-law accommodation and were completely surprised.

It is a two story apartment with a living, dining and kitchen area plus a circular stairway that leads to a second floor sleeping loft. It is at the dining table that I crank out this Blog while Louise looks up important information in Rick Steve’s travel guide…mainly correct spelling for German towns and food. The trek to the sleeping loft is the circular stairway that approximates the StairMaster at the Saban Center gym. This insures that Louise gets her daily exercise.

The difficult part is going up and down these stairs to our bed. At night, for those numerous trips to the bathroom, we have a rule: Never use the circular staircase alone at night!

Speaking of those nightly trips, here is the destination.

The bathrooms in the house all benefited from the remake and the result is a thoroughly modern place to clean up.  You can even wave at the neighbors if so inclined.

The shower is my favorite. It is an open plan with no glass door or curtain to bother with. The ceramic bathroom floor tile continues into the shower with nothing to step or trip over. Notice the absence of a central drain. The metal strip at the end is a sort of device that sucks the water out. Wunderbar.

So that’s the tour. We feel you can understand why we don’t mind spending time in this environment instead of out touring the Bavarian landscape all the time. You might wonder why we refer to this apartment as a Bavarian bachelor pad since Louise and I share it together. When we’re not here, this is the home of Astrid’s son, Ludwig, who sort of volunteered to live in another room of the house during this American invasion.

To Ludwig we say, “Danke schoen.”

Off to Salzburg soon. Louise is already humming, “The hills are alive…”

Louise and Ray