Beautiful Views and Hazelnut Windbeutel

We checked into our pension with no problem at the appointed time. The owner is a Scottish man who's lived in southern Bavaria for twenty plus years. The place is nice, besides some weird streaks on the ceiling. Second floor, nice balcony overlooking the street and beyond the Karwendel mountains. And, there was a wolpertinger in the hall, so I took it as a good sign.

We didn't unpack since we'll only be here for a few days. We also didn't stay in the room long. We were hungry, and the place we wanted to eat was on the same side of town, but way up on a hill towards the north. So off we went, taking a lot of pictures on the way.

I'll say it again, Mittenwald is a really beautiful town. We didn't get to see Berchtegaden at its best, but I think Mittenwald is prettier. Or rather, Mittenwald has a lot more "Alpine charm" packed into a small area. So many of the house are decorated, there are flowers everywhere, and it's surrounded by towering mountains.

This place was a whole complex, with pricey hotel, dining room, etc. Since we didn't have reservations, and Germans are big on reservations, we were seated outside. We were really Germanized now though, and actually wanted to sit out on the terrace. Various pork with mushroom cream sauce and schnitzel, which often comes served with fries.

That was all well and good. Food was nice. Service was German. They really expect you to be ready with a drink order seconds after you sit down, which we have to get used to. But the main reason we trekked up here, put up with a stuffy headwaiter who was scandalized we didn't have a reservation and told us quite haughtily, "Well you must sit outside, then..." was for the windbeutel.

We missed having one of these in Berchtesgaden, where there was a well regarded place that specialized in them. It wasn't convenient to get to by bus, and the only free day with decent weather we had to get up there, it was closed. So I found this place online, and said, what the heck.

When the time came to look at dessert, we asked about them, a hazelnut one. The waiter-- who was actually a pretty friendly guy for a German waiter-- looked pained and said, "We might not have any."

Wow, super disappointed. He went off, and then didn't come back for a while. We were looking around, trying to find him so we could get our check and make our way back to the pension before it got dark. Then, he appeared with this enormous, absolutely lovely Windbeutel, or as we say in the US: a cream puff. Six out of five stars. It's a good thing we walked so much, and up so many hills, because this thing was a heart attack on a plate.

He dropped it off and asked, "Just one?"
Yeah, just one.Читать далее