A wonderful weekend in Amish country Berlin Ohio.

My son had decided that we would go to Amish country near Berlin Ohio for a long weekend break. We have been there last year too – near Millersburg which has the largest concentration of Amish homes, shops and restaurants – their food is outstanding and really tasty. The town of Berlin itself is very simple. We chose a cabin near Berlin – the last one going as it was the end of the high season. The greenery and serenity is something you never get in daily life in Mumbai !  

The immensely serene view right across the cabin's front room. I could sit there all day!

Scenes from inside the usual "antique" shops in Berlin and other towns. They are more bric-a-brac and stuff from house sales rather than antiques. 

One of the delights of going there is to visit their furniture showrooms – Amish are brilliant craftsmen. Everything is handmade, hence slightly expensive, but it’s the quality which you look at and admire. Every piece is hand sawn, hand sanded and then hand polished / varnished – the latter processes multiple times as this is what gives it the marvellous smooth finish and lifetime endurance. 

Shrouded in the morning mist of a late September morning! 

An Amish off on an errand

See the high tech natural spider's web..
Saw many of them around the lawn

The hot tub closed as
it was too cold

The kitchen

The TV on top of the fire place - a fire hazard! 

Your author ! 

Modern technology meets trad transport! 

This is the cabin we wanted but it was booked so we had to take the one below

Every single requirement was catered for in this cabin, except for a few strange features of creativity in design, we enjoyed it thoroughly. Too many trees were cut to give this luxurious feel.  

The large bathroom 

the bedroom upstairs

The Amish are well renowned for their natural cuisine - the best chicken, pork and steak meat one wants without any artificial feeding or chemicals. Their desserts are just divine - not meant for those on a diet!! This was one of the two restaurants we visited. 

The photo below is their version of a young 3 year old child's lunch!! on the right is a portion of onion rings. 

A nice healthy portion of pecan pie 
  

My all time favourite - a lemon souffle pie

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The great Weiner Race 2016 in Cincinnati! Dachshunds galore

I love dachshunds... to me, they are one of the best dog breeds – with their sweet disposition especially as a family dog, always “smiling” face and their short stubby legs, and they are very endearing. The fact that they “cant” climb on to beds, but actually manage a lot more, is also to their advantage. One can’t get angry with them even when they are upset.

My dachshund Lucy tore up a whole mattress when she was left alone. We came home to find cotton fluff flying all over the place – she had destroyed the mattress in its totality as her sign of displeasure. But that’s her!! 

She had us all looking after her every need during her short life of nine years. 

Vice Mayor welcoming everybody 

So imagine when we found that as part of the Oktoberfest in Cincinnati, there was going to be a dachshund race – we just had to go!!

It was held downtown at a new location of 2^nd and 3^rd street, between Walnut and Elm. The police arrangements were good – traffic was blocked off as after 5.30 pm, the main activities of drinking and eating were going to start. Whilst we watched the races, there food and drink trucks etc were being set up.

The race was over a distance of around 70 feet. There were ten heats of ten dogs in each heat. There was a final heat to determine the 1^st, 2^nd and 3^rd place winners. There was a huge crowd of a few thousand people cramming the rectangular area, madly cheering each time a race got under way. I was lucky as I got onto the emcee stand and stood at a height to enable me to take my photos – I got a clear unrestricted view.

The races began at 11.30 am with a short introduction and welcome by the Vice Mayor and Emcee. Then the dogs were lined up and they were off. Each dog had a “bun” wrapped around its middle – hot dog !! Sausage dog!!  They looked really cute. The dogs were focussed but once or twice, they got distracted and did not reach the opposite side where a familiar face was waiting and calling them. 

We stayed for three races as basically we had come a long way and had to see some other things in the city. Roaming amongst the crowd, one saw the tremendous love and affection the owners had for their dogs. As did the crowd. A wonderful idea of a race which I think suited this particular breed ideally.

   

Text and photographs copyright of the author. No part of this article or photographs maybe transmitted or reproduced by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without written permission. Do contact the author on email -- helpthesun@gmail.com