Saturday Night in Schärding
Last Saturday Gerald and I drove down to Schärding in Upper Austria to meet some acquaintances for dinner. I hadn't been there before, although I had heard that it had lovely, photogenic architecture on the city's main square. And so we set off to do some photography as well.
The weather was warm and sunny, and upon arrival we went to locate the restaurant where we would meet our friends. It turned out to be an easy find, and as we turned left in the one-way street coming from the old city gate, we found it at the end of the street.
After parking the car, we scouted around for interesting subjects to shoot. A few meters behind the restaurant was a medical center, and a small courtyard fronting it. Just off the courtyard was a staircase leading down to a garden in what was in effect the old city walls. A fenced-in area bordering the lawn enclosed some deer that were feeding on some fruit lying on the ground. At the center of the old walls was a building that housed a cafe and restaurant, where some guests lingered on the terrace. Then, on one end of the garden was a huge steel sculpture in spiral form - a perfect subject for some photos.
We took our time taking shots of the sculpture, before heading back to the restaurant where we were to meet the others. A funny thing was the name of the restaurant: Zur Bums'n. Earlier, we met a group of people headed our way, who started giggling as they espied the name on one side of the building. That's because "Bums'n" in the local dialect means making love.
Our group had reserved the Jagdstube, or the hall where the hunting trophies were displayed. On the menu that night was Bratl, or roast pork with potatoes, cabbage, and dumplings accompanied by a side dish of pickled radish. A good old hearty meal that reminded me of the roasts that Gerald's Oma and Opa used to make - and they even served it in the same roasting pans that we know so well.
I only took one helping of a cut of ribs and taters and dumplings, and heaps and heaps of radish and gravy. It didn't look much, but there was a lot of tender juicy meat wrapped around those ribs. Mmmm! At that moment, I didn't care how many calories were packed in that meal, but it sure tasted like heaven. Rounding off the meal were tiny glasses of Schnaps for everybody. Gerald, who never takes alcohol whenever he has to drive, just wet his lips with it before passing his glass on to me. It used to be that a shot of Schnaps would pop my eyes out as well as burn my throat. "You should always drink it in one gulp," my father-in-law said to me once. "When you do that, it wouldn't burn." So there. Two shots of Schnaps, and I'm transformed into
Indy's friend Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Going back to the name, it turns out that it origins aren't even salacious after all. The restaurant or Wirtshaus is also a brewery, and the word Bums'n is related to this history. In the old days when brewery workers would load and unload beer barrels on their horse-carts, they would make a banging sound on the cobblestone floor, hence the onomatopoeic Bums'n.
Another interesting detail is the opening hours. Sometime in the 1990's after the Wirtshaus was renovated, they decided to hold their opening hours every day from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight. That's sixteen hours every day. We were only there for a few hours, but it was packed full the whole time. When you're passing by in Schärding, be sure to make reservations ahead of time.
The weather was warm and sunny, and upon arrival we went to locate the restaurant where we would meet our friends. It turned out to be an easy find, and as we turned left in the one-way street coming from the old city gate, we found it at the end of the street.
After parking the car, we scouted around for interesting subjects to shoot. A few meters behind the restaurant was a medical center, and a small courtyard fronting it. Just off the courtyard was a staircase leading down to a garden in what was in effect the old city walls. A fenced-in area bordering the lawn enclosed some deer that were feeding on some fruit lying on the ground. At the center of the old walls was a building that housed a cafe and restaurant, where some guests lingered on the terrace. Then, on one end of the garden was a huge steel sculpture in spiral form - a perfect subject for some photos.
We took our time taking shots of the sculpture, before heading back to the restaurant where we were to meet the others. A funny thing was the name of the restaurant: Zur Bums'n. Earlier, we met a group of people headed our way, who started giggling as they espied the name on one side of the building. That's because "Bums'n" in the local dialect means making love.
Our group had reserved the Jagdstube, or the hall where the hunting trophies were displayed. On the menu that night was Bratl, or roast pork with potatoes, cabbage, and dumplings accompanied by a side dish of pickled radish. A good old hearty meal that reminded me of the roasts that Gerald's Oma and Opa used to make - and they even served it in the same roasting pans that we know so well.
I only took one helping of a cut of ribs and taters and dumplings, and heaps and heaps of radish and gravy. It didn't look much, but there was a lot of tender juicy meat wrapped around those ribs. Mmmm! At that moment, I didn't care how many calories were packed in that meal, but it sure tasted like heaven. Rounding off the meal were tiny glasses of Schnaps for everybody. Gerald, who never takes alcohol whenever he has to drive, just wet his lips with it before passing his glass on to me. It used to be that a shot of Schnaps would pop my eyes out as well as burn my throat. "You should always drink it in one gulp," my father-in-law said to me once. "When you do that, it wouldn't burn." So there. Two shots of Schnaps, and I'm transformed into
Indy's friend Marion in Raiders of the Lost Ark.
Going back to the name, it turns out that it origins aren't even salacious after all. The restaurant or Wirtshaus is also a brewery, and the word Bums'n is related to this history. In the old days when brewery workers would load and unload beer barrels on their horse-carts, they would make a banging sound on the cobblestone floor, hence the onomatopoeic Bums'n.
Another interesting detail is the opening hours. Sometime in the 1990's after the Wirtshaus was renovated, they decided to hold their opening hours every day from 8:00 a.m. to 12:00 midnight. That's sixteen hours every day. We were only there for a few hours, but it was packed full the whole time. When you're passing by in Schärding, be sure to make reservations ahead of time.
posted by Maria-Fe Parco Ortner at 8:56 PM
<< Home