The Flight of the Saltire

[Pour1Malt]

it spent the Burns Supper moored ahin my heid...

[Pour1Malt]

Robertson, is that some of your work for the exhibit?

nope... my work is faaaar different than that... some o' this fellas stuff is quite guid... and some is no...

[A Hay]

As Robertson mentioned earlier, the Saltire was given the GPS coordinates for Grafenwoehr, Germany and made a safe journey after the gigantic Burns Night celebrations in Dumfries, Scotland from 23 through 25 January.

Here are some pictures of its experiences on the first visit to the Continent.
Sadly, this was not the best time of the year to enjoy the German countryside, but it did make one journey to the big city.

Last Saturday it set off for Munich. My wife and I caught a train from the town of Weiden in the Oberpfalz region of northern Bavaria.
The Saltire trying to stay warm under a blue balmoral with an X Marks the Scot cap badge.

To save fuel and time, it hitched a ride on the train.

Arriving at the Munich Train Station. This was on track 26. It is a large place!

My first stop was at a leather goods store to pick up some supplies for my hobby. I had a panic attack when I got to the store location only to see empty windows. There were small stickers however that directed me to a new location just a few blocks away. This is inside the new store. They are always busy when I go in, every 3 months or so.

Nothing special, just a street scene near the downtown. Most buildings are only about 5 to 6 stories high. There are a few highrise but not near the downtown. If you see Munich from the air or from a distance away, it is easy to pick out the Town Hall (later pic) and the Frauenkirche in the skyline.

This is a museum/memorial to Jewish victims of the Holocost near the downtown. I have not been inside. I have been to the site of the Dachau Concentration Camp just north of Munich. This is not the place to say anything further on this subject, however.


Two pictures with the Munich Townhall in the background. Daily at 1100, there is a mechanical parade of figures on the facade of the Townhall.
One can imagine that before movies and television, this mechanical marvel would be captivating to people gathered in the plaza below. It is well photographed by many visitors.

I'll stop this post for now and continue with more pics later.

Tom
A_Hay

[A Hay]

After walking around in the brisk morning air of Munich, it was time to stop for a traditional German lunch. Afterall, we wanted to show the Saltire a good time in Germany! (One never goes hungry at a gasthaus)


Here the Saltire getting ready to peruse the menu. Needless to say it needed some help with translation, but fortunately, I'm pretty good at ordering from menus. The Saltire didn't order, instead it sampled from my wife and my plates (I hope I got all the gravy stains off)


My order was Schweinebraten with knodl. Roast pork with a potato flour dumpling that is cooked in boiling water. It took some time to get used to the knodl, but now I enjoy it. Many German friends say it is not a Sunday dinner without several of these. They are also made from leftover bread. They don't usually put any preservatives in bread so it dries out quickly.
Came with a cabbage salad.


My wife had Champione schnitzl, pork cutlet with mushroom cream sauce, and spatzle, small flour noodles. Also came with salad.

Since I had to drive later, the Saltire did not get to sample any German Beer.
I'm sure it will need to make another trip to Germany sometime in the future to visit an expert on that subject, which I'm not.
Food was excellent, hot, and quick.

On the way back, we delayed for an hour in Regensberg. Next to the train station was a new indoor Shopping Mall. There we had Italian Ice Cream, and stopped for a snack at McDonald's. While there I pulled out a book I got in Dumfries two weeks ago. It is a biography of Robert Burns by James McKay. Previously I got the Collected Poems of Robert Burns, edited by the same author. The biography fills in the background to the poems and tells the circumstances and more about the people that influenced Burns' writings.
I was reading it on the train.


We got back about 4:30pm.

Finally, to close out the Saltire's journey, here is the Saltire and a couple of friends on a German Heritage kilt from USA Kilts. Rocky designed the Tartan.


Monday the Saltire took off on the next leg of its journey. It was a pleasure to have the honor of a visit, but it has miles and kilometers to go yet.

Who knows where it will end up next?

Regards to all,

Tom
A_Hay!

[Panache]

Tom,

I sat here looking at the pictures and reading your descriptions of lunch salivating (odds are that Bradley and Todd will do the same)

But you know how it is with a German meal "Two or three weeks later you are just hungry again!"

Thanks for a good job of showing the XMTSAS Saltire the sights in your part of Germany. Well done!

She now has been to Canada, Wales, England, Scotland, and Germany.

Full speed ahead little zeppelin!

:blimp:


Cheers

Jamie

[McMurdo]

Tom
It is good to see the :blimp: had a good time in Germany, one can not help but wonder where she will berth next. I suppose we must wait and see. Thank you for the photos, I look forward to the continuing adventures of our wee airship. I also must comment that your leather :blimp:'s look just wonderful.

[McClef]

Good to see the :blimp: having a good time on its continuing voyage and sampling the German bill of fare.

Wonder where it will turn up next!....

[pdcorlis]

What a wonderful voyage!

[Sheep In Wolf's Clothing]

This is really fun to follow..Thanks everyone!!
Sara

[starbkjrus]

Thanks for the pics Tom. And also a proper thank you for the leather Saltires you brought for all of us in Dumfries.

Looking forward to more of the onward travels.

(AND your pics have made me hungry. :food-smiley-002: )

:blimp: