Of Scotch & Sausenberg

I went to church with the family yesterday which was an interesting experience and ran into several people from my high school days. They were all people I would have wanted to see and in small enough numbers so it was not too overwhelming. Lunch was at the kebab place in town. After lunch we drove up through the Black Forest, stopped and hiked no more than fifteen minutes to Sausenberg Castle a structure that is now mostly ruins, however the large tower remains in good condition. It looked especially evocative with frost on the ground and sunlight shining through the clouds.


Regarding pictures, of the few I took on my personal camera-most have yet to be uploaded from another, better camera-here are a few of my activities at Heathrow Airport while I waited for my connecting flight. I was originally only going to have an hour to get from one gate to the other, but with the significant delays due to Seattle's snow storm last week, I had over two leisurely hours in Terminal 5, the newest and most modern at Heathrow. After spritzing myself with Calvin Klein Euphoria from the duty free store as I had been in some state of travel for the last two days I went across the way to my interim destination: the chic little bar in the middle of the terminal-good for relaxation and people watching.

I asked for a Perfect Manhattan and the bartender didn't know what it was. This should have been my first clue that perhaps I should order something different. I figured that drink wouldn't be an issue. He found the recipe in his little book and started to make it-which took him forever and a day. Yes, if the bar is not too busy (and it wasn't) I absolutely expect some time and car to be taken when my drink is being made. This was just shy of ridiculous. He was overly leisurely, watering down my drink by stirring the bitters with ice first for several minutes and then shaking my Manhattan for a minute more. When I finally took a sip, he asked me how I liked it and it was far different than I expected. He had used Scotch Whiskey and not Bourbon Whiskey. It was palatable enough and would do the duty, so I said it was fine despite the lack of Bourbon. He said they didn't carry Bourbon and I looked at the duty-free shelf behind me and pointed at the Maker's Mark. "Oh, I don't think our company owns the rights to serve that." But what bar, anywhere doesn't serve any Bourbon? I should have paid right away as it took fifteen minutes from when I said I wanted to pay to a mere three drinks later when he took my card. Maybe he was new. I really wanted to get behind that bar and do things myself!

Despite the overall quality of the drink, I should have ordered a few more of these to stash in my luggage for the rest of my time here. Really. Thankfully I saved at least one mini bottle from the plane.

Today we are heading into Basel, Switerzland for the afternoon once more. The other day we arrived in the evening after most of the shops had closed, so I look forward to at least perusing some European stores.

I return to Seattle this week.