This post is about a little town called Tangermünde. It is the state of Sachsen-Anhalt and about an hour away from Magdeburg by car. My host family decided to take me and Joe to Tangermünde because it is a neat little German town to explore and see old buildings. The town is very small and was not destroyed by the war so there are some very old buildings there. Some from the 16th century. The problem is, the town and the state of Sachsen-Anhalt does not have enough money to maintain/restore these very old buildings (which have no owner) so some of them were looking a little rough around the edges, if you know what I mean. It's so sad that they can't be maintained. I am still hoping that someone in the town wins the lottery and can buy all the little orphaned houses. When we went, it was in February and very cold. We walked through the town a bit and along the Elbe. Yes, this city sits on the Elbe river just like the city of Magdeburg. After we walked around a bit, we worked up an appetite. My host parents already knew where we were going to eat. It was this cute little place called the Exempel Gaststuben. Apparently it used to be a school so the place is set up kind of like a "ye old Applebees". By that, I mean there was all this junk on the walls like Applebees has but instead of "signed" pictures of celebrities and random musical instruments, this restaurant had old time school paraphernalia on the walls like chalk boards and school bags. The tables were even old desks. The menu had lost of items and at the back of the menu, there was a section that had meals that were made to mimic the meals that were served at the school way back in the day. I rarely drink (even in Germany) but decided to have a little Bierchen (little beer) this time because Tangermünde had this very very local beer called Kuhschwanz which means "cow tail". Seeing as I am from Wisconsin, I just had to taste a Kuhschwanz! For my meal, I had Pferdeäpfeln which means "horse apples". Okay, I don't really care if what I am about to explain is a little gross. It needs to be explained. If you are from Wisconsin, you know what a "cow pie" is right? That's right a "cow pie" is what a cow leaves behind in that beautiful, scenic pasture after it relieves itself. Well, horse apples are what horses leave behind after doing the very same thing. You may notice in parades when horses relieve themselves, that what is left behind is usually very round and apple like. Well, the Germans picked up on this and decided to make it into this neat little joke just like cow pie is a joke in the US (or at least Wisconsin). The Pferdeäpfeln were pretty darn good. They were like little meatloaf patties (hence the name) served with mustard and a Kartoffelsalat (potato salad). Yummy! The little patties also came in this solid, carved wood dish that you can keep when you are done with the meal because they use a new one for every order. Free stuff score! You know how some restaurants give you a mint when you are done with your meal? Well this restaurant gives you something way better. This town has a little factory that makes these things called Tangermünder bars. THEY ARE AMAZING! They are like dried sugar cookie dough covered in chocolate. According to my host mom, they were a product of the DDR (East Germany). Cocoa was too expensive to buy and import so the people of the DDR got creative and tried using different things to make something that tasted good and then simply covered the product in a small amount of cocoa. My host mom is not really sure what the ingredients are and I am pretty sure no one really knows what are in these little delicious specimens. Cardboard? Fairy dust? Old plastic bottles? Who cares! They are delicious! Sachsen-Anhalt is not the richest state in Germany but I am convinced if the world caught wind of these Tangermünder bars, Sachsen-Anhalt would be the next New York. Nur ein Scherz (just kidding).
These bars are also about 200 calories for one 45 gram bar so they really are enough to ruin your whole day if you are on any kind of diet or are simply watching your calorie intake...but guess what? I don't care! I am in Germany and I will eat a Tangermünder bar if I want. All the walking we do here helps us stave off weight gain anyway. I came to Germany to experience the culture and food is a BIG part of any culture and I certainly didn't come to Germany to lose weight so as long as I touch down on US soil the same weight as when I left it, I will be very pleased. So yeah, when you are done with your meal, you get a Tangermünder bar instead of some dumb ole mint. After lunch, we headed home and we called it a day. I was really glad that my host parents shared this town with me. Sachsen-Anhalt is not what you would call a tourist destination so it was really really cool to see a little treasure like Tangermünde. I spent my Feierabend on my bed and could not have been happier.
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| One of the well-kept buildings in the town. |
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| Me and my Kuhschwanz! |
These bars are also about 200 calories for one 45 gram bar so they really are enough to ruin your whole day if you are on any kind of diet or are simply watching your calorie intake...but guess what? I don't care! I am in Germany and I will eat a Tangermünder bar if I want. All the walking we do here helps us stave off weight gain anyway. I came to Germany to experience the culture and food is a BIG part of any culture and I certainly didn't come to Germany to lose weight so as long as I touch down on US soil the same weight as when I left it, I will be very pleased. So yeah, when you are done with your meal, you get a Tangermünder bar instead of some dumb ole mint. After lunch, we headed home and we called it a day. I was really glad that my host parents shared this town with me. Sachsen-Anhalt is not what you would call a tourist destination so it was really really cool to see a little treasure like Tangermünde. I spent my Feierabend on my bed and could not have been happier.
