<<Disclaimer: Verify this information before applying it to your situation.>>

                    Travel to Germany and Austria
                    -----------------------------
                          by Regina Kukielka

My husband and I planned a tour of Germany and Austria with Trafalgar
to which, as a Celiac, I was not looking forward.  But I faxed diet
instructions to Trafalgar and made copies of the German language
restaurant card I had found in a previous issue of The Sprue-nik
Press.<1> I took along some gluten-free (GF) crackers and rice cakes.

Noel, the tour director had never heard of this condition, but when I
explained it to him, he realized that it was not just a fad diet.  He
did a wonderful job of planning the menus.  There was another Celiac
lady on this tour but she was embarrassed to ask for this strange type
of diet.  She asked for a dairy-free diet and planned on eating what
she could on her plate.  After she met me, and realized that she was
not the only one in the world with this condition, she accepted the GF
meals also.

Noel called ahead to the restaurants and showed a copy of my German
restaurant card to the cooks.  But the wonderful thing about Europe is
that most cooks understand the diet.  Usually we got plain meat/fish,
potato/rice, vegetable, and fruit.  At the food stands I ate salad,
potatoes fried with onions, or fruit.  I got to enjoy roasted
chestnuts for a snack.

One restaurant owner told us we would get a GF meal because his cook
has Celiac Disease.  Joan, the other Celiac and I had the most
wonderful meal with soup and all the works.  (I never eat soup in a
restaurant.)  The owner of a Hungarian restaurant said "not to worry",
so we took a chance and ate the goulash, sauerkraut, and sauce he
recommended on our meat and potatoes and we were fine.  The sauce was
out of this world.

I did not bring along any candy, and I was afraid to eat the European
candy.  One day I think I was having a goodies withdrawal; I was
depressed.  I walked into a coffee shop in Oberammergau and asked if
they had any cake with no flour.  I really didn't expect the man to
say yes, but he did.  I thought "sure, this is just a
misunderstanding".  But he said wait, I don't speak English well.  He
called a young lady to speak to me and she said that her uncle makes
GF cakes and cookies.  She's sure they are GF because she can't eat
gluten either.  I had a piece of this sinfully rich layer cake and
Joan had something made with egg white and no dairy.  Then the young
lady opened up a case with GF cookies made with Marzipan.  Joan and I
bought most of the store's supply of GF goodies to take with us.  We
were in heaven.

This was a learning experience for the tour director, and of course
most of the people on the tour learned something about Celiac Disease.
They tried to look after us and help us remember to ask about
ingredients.  One lady (bless her soul) told me to be sure that I
don't drink that special Wheat Beer.  I didn't have the heart to tell
her that we can't drink any beer.