Deutschland (again) - Tag 2

This morning we had a late breakfast and then when "Schwemmel suchen" (mushroom searching). There is a wooded forest near the Kopfelsbergers home where they routinely gather mushrooms. The previous day we had pasta with a homemade mushroom sauce made using the local mushrooms. I recently read The Omnivore's Dilemma which described this and I had wanted to do it every since, so I was excited; even if it was routine for the Kopfelsbergers. So, Papa Franz, Franz Jr., and Geli took us out on our first search.

Once they found the first specimen, they pionted out what we should look for. There are many varities of mushrooms, but we were only picking one kind that was known to be good. We had a book to identify any variations, but safe is always better when it comes to mushrooms. So, with the target identified, we began the hunt on our own.

As Franz found another one, he showed how the mushroom's underside turns blue after touching. Pretty cool. He also showed how slugs may have eating away some of the underside and any remaining slugs should be removed. When cutting off a mushroom, some of the base is left behind to promote new growth. In some cases, if a mushroom is fairly spoiled, it might be thrown against a tree to blast the spores all around to also promote new growth.

After a bit I had found my first mushrooms and was happy with how clean / perfect they looked. I also found a few that the slugs got to first, but they would still be good once cleaned. I enjoyed the search, looking closely at mossy or decomposing tree stumps. Looking in thorny brush is good too since animals will have left the mushrooms alone, but of course the thorns are also undesirable to human mushroom seekers. Once we were all in the zone, we managed to take a pretty decent harvest in our basket.

After the harvest we decided to go for a walk. We also said goodbye to Carola, Julia, and Dolphi since they would be heading out soon. Today would be our last day in Halsbach. We walked up the street to the top of the hill. Some days this would provide a view of the Alps, but not today. We walked down the grassy field to the street and then went up to the church. The church is ornate and rather large for such a small town.

Once we got back from our hike, we loaded up and headed towards Burghausen to view the longest castle in the world. However, along the way we stopped in to see Ingrid's father who was throwing a birthday celebration at a park shelter. Other family members were also there. We chat for a bit and joined in having a beer. Then we said our goodbyes and headed to the castle.

We walked along the Burghausen castle which is now mostly living quarters. The very end has the grandest part of the castle, which also contains a museum. The castle also provides views of a river on either side. The river along the Burghausen old city center separates Germany and Austria. We took a path down to the city center. We stopped at an ice cream cafe before walking into Austria (which was probably the shortest walk of the day :-). Eventually we drove to the top of the hill on the Austrian side to view the castle from a distance.

It was then time to head to the train station. Dawn and I said our goodbyes and boarded the train. I was sad to leave, but this time I felt more reassured that I would indeed see the Kopfelsbergers again. We took the train from Burghausen to Muhldorf and then Munich. In Munich we took the S-bahn to the stop by our hotel - the Ambiance Rivoli, which is a really nice hotel. We had our last dinner in Germany with a beer and went to bed. The next day would be the longest day of the year...with an extra 7 hours due to time zone changes.