Glorious day!  We couldn’t waste it, because winter is coming, my friends…

I woke up this morning feeling pretty “meh” about life.  But we were blessed with absolutely perfect weather, with sunny skies and refreshing temps in the low 70s.  I couldn’t very well let the day go to waste.  Bill and I had been talking about going to the Stuttgarter Weindorf, but I wasn’t really in a wine drinking mood.  Bill suggested a trip to Tübingen, which is always a spirit lifter for me.  We got to the college town at about 1:45pm.

As we were walking to the main thoroughfare going through the city, I tripped and almost faceplanted in front of a whole bunch of Germans.  Fortunately, I was able to save myself from falling, even though I cussed pretty loudly.  For some reason, we crossed on the left side of the street instead of the right, which led us to pass a restaurant we’d never noticed before called Laf Laf: Taste the Middle East.  I don’t know how long this fast food place has been in town.  This was the first time I’d seen it and I was attracted not by signage, but by the smells of grilled food.

Bill was about to walk past when I said, “Hey Baby, come check out this menu.”  One minute spent perusing the offerings convinced Bill we needed to try out this place.  We proceeded to have an excellent lunch for about 22 euros.

Laf Laf, which also has a delivery service, runs like your every day ordinary fast food eatery.  You walk up to the counter, order what you want, grab a drink from the cooler if you want one (all alcohol free) and enjoy.  I had the Multikulti Bowl, while Bill had the Halloumi Bowl.  We shared an order of Hummus Tapas.  They also have a Hummus Bowl, which I imagine will really stick to your ribs.

It’s a little restaurant, very close to the big parking garage…

Bill stands at the counter, ready to order.

They have a nice outdoor seating area, but I only saw one indoor table.  

More tables…

This is the Hummus Tapas.  The hummus is smooth as silk and spread in a layer on the inside of the bowl, with whole chickpeas, pomegranate seeds, cilantro, mint, and a little balsamic vinegar and oil.  It was heavenly and put me over the edge of fullness, but I just had to try it!

Bill’s Halloumi Bowl, which was vegetarian.  It came with falafel, fried cheese, taboulleh, salad, and either yogurt or sesame dressing.  He totally cleaned the bowl and pronounced it delicious.

Lemon soda for me.  Bill had raspberry iced tea.

My Multikulti Bowl had crispy chicken, chicken shwarma, falafel, fries, kraut salad, pickles, garlic sauce, yogurt sauce, taboulleh, and yogurt dressing.  I could have also had this with steak.  I ate maybe half and Bill packed up the rest for later.  I have a feeling he’s going to pig out on the garlic sauce later.  

Sides of lavash.

 

After you’re finished, you bus your own table.  As I mentioned before, this was a very cheap, filling, and delicious lunch.  Everything was very fresh and it was such a nice change of pace.  We will definitely have to go back and try some of the other stuff.  I probably would have missed it if I hadn’t tripped and crossed on the other side of the street.

After lunch, we decided to hit our favorite Biergarten at the Neckarmüller.  It was just perfect weather for sipping beer by the river and watching the antics of all the punters…

We ran into this on the way there…  I’m not really sure what was going on, but we had to stop because some guy was taking pictures and I didn’t want to photobomb.

The candy store was selling craft beers and beer glasses full of gummi bears.  We didn’t stop in there, but we did visit Vinum to pick up some Georgian wine.  

The Biergarten was lively today.  

Obligatory Bill shot…

These guys were having a lot of fun.  Right after I took this picture, they started doing flips off of their boat into the water.  I got video of some of their jumps, including one where a guy got “pantsed” right before he did his flip into the Neckar River.  He basically ended up mooning everyone sitting in the Biergarten!

A good time was had by all…

And if you love beer, you can be beer royalty…

One of these days, Bill and I are going to try punting…

Maybe we’ll do it sooner rather than later.

But we’ll be sure not to be unauthorized users of the Parkhaus, since we don’t want to be punished…

 

Today was a perfect example of why Tübingen remains one of my favorite towns in this area and why we’ll miss it when we eventually leave.  I pined for Tübingen during the five years we were back in the States.  It really is a great town!

Maybe tomorrow, we’ll hit the Weindorf…  we’ll see.