Germaninity

With a bit of pushiness, an extreme amount of stubbornness, and a dash of good old-fashioned charm (are girls allowed to be charming?), I convinced my mother and grandmother to accompany me to Frankenmuth, MI, on Sunday. Frankenmuth is a sweet middle-of-nowhere town that used to be German but is now Tourist. After planning to go for such a long time and hearing so much about it, my expectations were perhaps a bit too high. Still, overall, it was an enjoyable trip.

Our first stop, Bronner's Christmas Wonderland would have been a shop of dreams when I was a kid; now, I still found myself enchanted by some of the moving displays and quite a few of the village layouts, despite my situation as an adult visiting in June. There was a whole European village layout, complete with a castle on the top of the hill, the sea at the bottom with a towered bridge and boats, and on the other side the cathedral standing out. Near that was a layout resembling Israel, which, when followed in a proper circle around the table, depicted everything from the Nativity up through Easter day. There was also a very clever Halloween village, though how that and the multiple other non-Christmas items I saw throughout the store fit in remains something of a mystery to me. The villages were only a small part of the whole shop, a shop we spent a total of two hours in without walking through even half. If they missed any possible Christmas-related item, I missed their missing it.

Our next stop was in Frankenmuth proper, where we found free long-term parking at the visitor center on Main Street. From there we went straight to the Bavarian Inn for dinner. The building itself is nice, and with hardly any wait we were seated in the edelweiss room. The costumes of the waiters and waitresses were not something I recall seeing anyone at all wear in either Germany or Austria, outside of one particular dance, but they didn't seem to mind and the staff were all very friendly. And the menu! My joy at seeing Munich's Hafbrau on the menu was so great that fond memories quickly won out over my initial intent to sample the local beer and I instead relished a glass of liquid imported straight from Germany. The meals seemed expensive - until we realized just what was included in a meal and how wonderful the food was. There was the requisite bread, of two types, with jam, as well as three types of salads, a cranberry sauce, and soup for appetizers, all of which were included in the meal. Delivered with the meals, we also received dressing, potato cakes, noodles, sauerkraut, and green beans. And every single bite of it was delicious.

From there, of course, we proceeded to walk around the town, and this is where I was disappointed. Every available surface proclaimed the fact that you were indeed in Frankenmuth, just in case one managed to forget inbetween buildings. And every other building was not only geared toward tourists but was decorated with everything from surprisingly well-done murals on the buildings to ten-feet-tall-with-cheese mice next to them to catch your attention. We were too full to actually stop in the candy, fudge, or ice cream shops, and you can forget about the coffee and cheese bar. The debate about whether to stop in St. Julian's winery was non-existent because the winery was closed - that part was completely our fault for the day and time we chose to visit. Had I been able, I would have liked to stop, as I have previously enjoyed a few of their wines. In fact, I've a bit of cream sherry still in my cupboard.

Not to sound completely down, some of the architecture and even the designs painted onto the buildings were definitely worth seeing, as well as the occasional fountain and a lot of gardens and flowers. The horse-drawn carriages might have been generic tourist-city features, but were also familiar features, and not unwelcome. We also made a side journey a couple blocks off Main Street to find a park and rose garden. The rose garden was unfortunately tiny, but the park was huge, very family friendly, and contained a large band shell complete with a band playing (I heard alternating country and loud - Mom, however, claims it was all old Eagles songs, and I assume she's right) and a large crowd including everyone from babies to grandparents sitting on the hillside listening.

I wouldn't recommend driving from Minnesota to see the town. But if you happen to be in the right part of Michigan... it might be worth a visit. The three of us had a very pleasant afternoon and evening.