After we visited the wood carver, we decided to go back to the hotel. I could have used a swim. It was hot outside. But I also wanted a drink, so we went to the bar and had the bartender make us a round. I had a gin and tonic with a locally produced gin– Edelschwarz Organic Gin. It was served with a blue ice cube. Bill had one a couple of nights prior made with a yellow ice cube. He laughed and said my drink looked like the blue water in a Tidy Bowl… and his… well, it looked like something else that goes in a toilet.
Thursday night’s dinner was the seven course tasting menu. And, as nightmarish as Tuesday’s mushroom debacle was, Thursday night’s dinner was worse, if only because I ended up getting sick. It wasn’t because I drank wine or because I got food poisoning. Again, it’s because I have some aversions to certain foods. I blogged about Thursday’s meal on my main blog, so if you want the dirty details, you can find them here. Suffice to say, it was a struggle to get through the meal. Here are some photos of what we ate.
Tidy Bowl! But it tasted good. 
The dining room reminded me of a cruise ship, complete with funky lighting and, at least on Thursday night, funky music. Most other nights, they played Muzak. 
Course one… cauliflower cream with cherry tomatoes. It was kind of strong, but not too bad. 
Course two… mascarpone cheese wrapped with cucumber and served with olive tapenade. 
The evening’s wine… 
Course three… Orange ginger soup… 
Course four… Ravioli with cheese and pesto. 
Course five… sorbet 
Course six… Here’s where things went awry. This was veal with asparagus and some kind of earthy sauce… 
Course seven… Raspberry ice cream with cake and some kind of weird topping that tasted like garlic to me. 
And chocolates…
I was mostly okay until we got to course six. I try not to eat veal. I can eat veal, but I choose not to. This was served with asparagus and a sauce that tasted very earthy to me. I never even touched the veal. The asparagus, which I am sure was fresh, but was kind of mushy, blended with the sauce, turned my stomach. I almost got sick at the table. I went to the ladies room and managed to calm down my stomach enough to finish the meal. But then, once we got back to the room and I started doing my routine before bed, I knew it was all over. I’m sad to say, that tasting menu meal didn’t stay with me.
I’ve read a lot of reviews of this hotel. Many people really like it. I will say that there were things about the hotel that I liked. I didn’t think the food was terrible, either. But I have definitely had much better and I shouldn’t have thrown up after a tasting menu. Yes, there was booze involved, but that’s not what made me feel so icky. I just don’t think half board is a great idea for me, although I did okay with it at Hotel Kristall.
The next morning, we got up, had our breakfast, loaded up the car, and checked out of the Klein Fein Hotel Anderlahn. I did like the staff very much, and I thought the hotel was stylish and had a nice spa. But I think the management needs to decide if they want to be a family hotel or a spa hotel. Unfortunately, the way it’s laid out, the hotel is not so good for people who don’t have children, especially in the summer when the windows have to be kept open. Still, the staff presented us with a bottle of prosecco and some red wine salt after Bill settled the bill with them. He also contributed a tip to the piggy bank, the contents of which are divided up and shared among the staff each month.
On our way out of Italy, we stopped at Speck World, a shop run by Moser, a company that makes and sells pork products. They have a processing plant in Sud Tyrol. I didn’t realize it when we stopped in, but their shop also has a cool little museum and a public restroom.
All of your favorite bacon and sausages. 
And other gourmet treats. 
They even have a swine museum… 
Even the Iceman likes it. 
I thought this was an interesting bit of history. 
Hallo!
Once we picked up some salami to take home, we stopped in another little shop where a bunch of guys were sitting around drinking beer. They were also selling Moser pork products, so we bought olive oil and wine.
There’s a pretty brook that passes the grape vines. 
This little shop had pork products, cheeses, beer, wine, olive oil, and lots of guys drinking in the morning. 
The scenery was a real treat as we made our way toward Switzerland. 
I saw places I’d like to visit in the future. 
Like here…
Our drive to Switzerland was pretty interesting. Back in 2009, when I was looking for a place for us to visit, I strongly considered booking us a room near the Reschensee (Lake Reschen). This is a manmade lake near Reschen Pass that dates from 1950. Prior to 1950, the area was known as Graun im Vinschgau. It once was a normal town in northern Italy, until the powers that be decided to flood it by building the lake. All that remains visible of the former town is an abandoned church tower, which dates from the 14th century. We ended up passing it as we made our way north. It’s said that on some nights, one can hear the church bells ring, even though they were removed the week before the town was flooded.
There’s a naked male statue between these horses. 
We should have stopped… 
So I could have… 
gotten a better picture.
This little town on the Reschensee is very close to both Austria and Switzerland. However, our route took us into Austria for quite a ways. I was surprised how long we drove in Austria before we got to St. Gallen. More on that in the next post.