not-so-homemade G E R K I N S

There are just some places in this world that I don't think you can ever tire of visiting. 

Two years ago, we went as a family to Kehlstein {Hitler's Eagle's Nest} with Starr and Mac.It was absolutely stunning and a place I definitely wanted to take my mom and Marine.

For this day trip from Garmisch, we left the little guys in the cabin with Ty while we headed down to the Austrian border alone for a day full of more laughs than we could have ever planned.

For information on the beauty and awe of Kehlstein, you can read about our 2011 trip here.

After our visit to the top of the mountain, we decided we were ready for lunch.

It is always a good challenge to find a cool off-the-beaten-path cafe or restaurant for meals.

It is way more fun hanging with the locals than with the American and Asian tourists, right?

Starving, we were shocked how difficult it was to find a place to eat.

It was early afternoon, but we weren't in France- things should have been open. Germans eat.

Finally, we spotted a patio area with umbrellas out that looked like a place food might be served. Taking a chance, we stopped.

In the small group of locals, one lady spoke English.
It was our lucky day! She and her husband had biked over the border from Salzburg to have a beer at their favorite little hang out.

She asked the owner if she had any lunch and let us know she would prepare us some sausages. It sounded perfect.

They literally pulled out the seat cushions for our patio chairs and made us feel at home. We were really excited- this could count as Germany and Austria being right on the border.

Doesn't get any more off the beaten path than this, right?

While we waited, we had a nice cold drink and soaked up some sun. The weather was delightful.

Then, our food came. It was not quite what we had in mind, but still very nice. Of course, her presentation was beautiful.

The breads are always delicious.
The tomatoes and cucumbers were garden-fresh fabulous.
The cheese was nice and mild.

Marine took one for the team and ate the onions and meats.
On top of this platter, we had pickles.

Delicious, crunchy German pickles.Not too dill. Not too sweet. Just right.

After being told {by our Salzburg woman} how everything was homemade, fresh and wonderful here we assumed that maybe the pickles were as well.

How in the world could we get a jar of homemade pickles?

By this time, our English-speaking woman was on her bike back to Salzburg. We were left with my rusty German and another man who let us know he spoke English as well.

On our first attempt, the woman said yes we could get more pickles and brought a plate out for us. We ate those, but still wanted to buy a jar. A whole jar.

The not-so-good translating of our German friend ended up with him taking a pickle off our plate back to the kitchen to ask her if we could buy some.

How hard could this be? Using my limited German vocabulary, I even told him gurkins. We want to buy gurkins!

The owner came out with the man in tow still trying to figure out what these crazy Americans wanted. When I told her gurkins- she said, "Ahh, gurkins... " We still can't figure out what in the world he was saying.

Even more funny, we ended up with a bottle {from Aldi} of Gurkins and an extra buck on our bill to cover it. So much for homemade pickles. I'm sure they are still laughing. We are, that's for sure.