Wow, time has whizzed! Bea's 7th birthday today, and while a regular school day he made a request to go to the Blinde Kuh (Blind Cow) restaurant in the evening, which was everything
but regular! Although the chefs are fully-sighted, you are served in absolute TOTAL darkness, and guided to your table—after checking the menu in the only lit part of the restaurant—by forming a train and placing your hands on the waitresses' shoulders (who are blind or partially-sighted) and being led through several sets of theatrical dark curtains until you are surrounded by total blackness. I've never experienced darkness like this (you can see NOTHING), and you are left to rely on only sound and touch to find your way around the food on the table. While clumsily rooting around for the glass of wine and knocking cutlery on the floor (which was impossible to use), it struck me at how much better the children were at getting their bearings. As if playing a game, Bea shot under the table to pick up anything that headed down under without problems whereas I didn't feel I could even leave my chair, and Ili tunneled between papa and I like a mole underground. Bea managed to pour his own drink from a bottle, and when asked if he needed more by the waitress, was able to deduce without hesitation the coke bottle was still half full (we were shocked) — but he did it by feeling the cooler temperature towards the bottom of the bottle. For the first five minutes or so, Ili was asking for the light to be switched on (as expected), but soon settled into the "challenge" of eating and drinking in the dark, and of course, eating with hands is not a problem, and her strong hearty voice helped call the waitress when we were ready to leave! It was actually quite noisy as there is a great need to keep talking to "feel" were everyone is. Bea loved his roast lamb, and even in the dark managed to avoid his vegetables and generally found it a whole lot more entertaining that we did. Dinner games turned towards doing all those things that are fun while going unnoticed, like hiding drinks (and worse!) and the urge to have a huge food fight had to be controlled. But a fascinating and eye-opening (metaphorically) experience none-the-less!
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| Arriving at the Blindekuh |
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| The only lit area, with the menu. |
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| Survived eating in the dark. |
