Dorfplatzfest 2026…

It’s been pretty hot and dry lately. Bill has been very busy at work, so we haven’t been out and about. Actually, this summer has been pretty devoid of outings. I think part of it is that we’re both getting older and more tired, and going places can be exhausting. Bill and I both got sick in May, and Bill is still coughing a lot from that.

However, if there’s one thing Breckenheim is good for, it’s local events. This weekend, we’re having the Dorfplatzfest, which is a yearly party held in our little village square. This year’s fest started last night, and we had wine, beer, food, and live entertainment. Dr. Konrad Blendinger, our neighbor and veterinarian, was performing with his band.

We have never seen Dr. Konrad Blendinger for vet services, because he mostly works with animals intended for breeding. His wife, who is also a vet, has seen our dogs, as have most of the vets employed at the practice. But since he’s our neighbor, he’s seen Noyzi and Charlie in the neighborhood. I think he admires Noyzi, who can’t be bred, but strikes an impressive pose.

Dr. Blendinger plays guitar and sings, and he’s even written an original song about Breckenheim. I didn’t hear his song about Breckenheim last night, but there were some pretty good covers of classic American songs.

Bill and I didn’t eat at the fest last night, but we did enjoy beer and wine, and good conversation with Germans. One person who sat with us was a man we met several weeks ago. He brought his dog on that first encounter, but left her at home last night. It was pretty hot and busy, and she probably wouldn’t have enjoyed the party as much as we did.

As we were talking, we learned that our new friend grew up in West Berlin. Since he’s Bill’s age, he was born there during the Cold War, when the city was walled in. He said it was like growing up in a prison. I’m sure it wasn’t quite that extreme, but I got point he was trying to make. It was hard to drive anywhere without encountering the Berlin Wall.

Unfortunately, his English skills aren’t quite as extensive as he would have liked, and our German skills are even less sufficient. So it wasn’t easy to get too far in depth about what it was like to grow up when Germany was divided, and Berlin was split into two sections. Our friend also told us that his mother, who had come from Poland, managed to escape to the West by sheer luck. She got on a train before she could be stopped by the guard who had told her that her papers weren’t in order.

I really value conversations with people who have lived through that bygone era in Germany and other countries that were once behind the Iron Curtain. I fear that kind of totalitarianism could one day affect the United States, if we aren’t careful.

Another older man, whose name I didn’t catch, talked to Bill for a long time about traveling in the United States. He knew Gaby and Boris, a older German couple who don’t speak much English, but seem to like Bill and me. I wonder if it’s because we always get to the fests early and score a table. No one wants to sit with us, because we’re Americans, so they’re pretty much guaranteed a place to sit. 😁 I’m kidding, of course. They’re very nice folks, and we always enjoy practicing our crappy German skills with them. And yes, I know I should be fluent by now.

Bill wore a t-shirt I bought for him last year. There’s a picture of Socrates on it, and the quote “Meh… good enough” on it. Under the picture of the philosopher, it says “Mediocrates”. Another acquaintance asked Bill about the shirt, and he explained. I had totally forgotten that I bought him that shirt.

Below are some photos from last night…

I don’t think we meant to stay as long as we did. It really was fun, though, and it continues today, starting at 2 o’clock. However, it’s raining right now, so I’m not sure if or when we’ll attend. My liver might appreciate a break. Below are a couple of photos I took of my neighbor’s flowers this week. Sadly, they both now badly wilted because of the hot, dry weather.

The only other thing that happened this week was some random older guy dressed in white banged on the door. I had just gotten out of the shower and wasn’t dressed. I opened the door, and he started speaking rapid fire German. I said, “I’m sorry, I don’t understand you. I have to go.” Then I shut the door. I think I heard him cursing.

I always feel bad doing that, but people who randomly bang on the door are usually wanting to sell something, begging, casing, or otherwise being pests. I don’t like being rude to people, but if I’m at home, minding my own business, and the visitor doesn’t have an appointment to see me, I also don’t feel obligated to interact. Still, it goes against my raising to be so abrupt.

Anyway… we’ll see if we go to the fest today. We might decide to hole up at home and enjoy the rain. We really need it!

Celebrations, Hessen, Sundays

A summer visit to Villa im Tal…

Yesterday, Bill and I decided to go out to lunch at one of our favorite Wiesbaden area restaurants, Villa im Tal. I’ve lost count of how many times we’ve visited this lovely place out in the woods. Every time we’ve gone there, we’ve had a good time, and enjoyed excellent service. Yesterday was no exception.

Our main reason for visiting Villa im Tal was to celebrate Bill’s birthday, which was on July 7th. We didn’t go out on the actual day because he was sick, and it was a work day. He was still sick last weekend, and not up to being around other people. Yesterday, he was feeling about 95 percent recovered from his latest respiratory viral illness, so we put on nice clothes and headed out to the bucolic restaurant where we get recognized by name.

I’m not sure, but I think there might have been some kind of an event going on in the main dining room, so we were seated in the back dining room. It adjoins to Villa im Tal’s lovely terrace, which has a retractable roof and walls. We didn’t want to sit outside, because oddly enough, it was actually kind of chilly yesterday. I brought a wrap with me to ward against the cool breezes that wafted into the dining room.

Below are some photos from yesterday’s delightful lunch. We had aperitifs– a non alcoholic house cocktail for Bill, and a limoncello spritz for me. I usually go for the boozy version of the house cocktail, but I wanted to try something different yesterday. I liked the spritz fine, but I think I prefer the house cocktail. The spritz was a little sweet. We also had the usual bread service with butter and Spundekäs.

I started with tiger shrimp and curry lentils, with cherry tomatoes, frisée, and spiced papada. Now that I’m looking at the menu, I see that they actually brought me the wrong thing. I had wanted a soup that had tiger shrimp in it. But I was definitely not disappointed in the tiger shrimp appetizer. The shrimps, in particular, were absolutely delicious.

Bill had ice cold watermelon with feta cheese, coconut flakes, Persian mint, and toasted flatbread. He really enjoyed that starter, remarking that it would be especially excellent on a very hot day.

Next came my entree of Iberico pork with celery puree and Mediterranean vegetables. Bill went for a vegetarian dish with mother-of-pearl barley risotto, avocado, sun dried tomatoes, curry lemongrass nage, and mangoes. I almost had that myself, as Bill eyed the surf and turf that was being offered. But since I wanted to try the pork, he opted for the vegetarian dish so I could try it.

We had a lovely Austrian pinot noir to go with lunch, and spent a couple of hours just enjoying ourselves, and the beautiful surroundings. The service was perfectly paced, relaxed, but very professional, as usual. And as we were about to order dessert, a pretty woman bearing flowers for the tables came in and smiled. She said, “You’re the Crossens, aren’t you?” Bwaahahahahaha! That doesn’t happen so often in Germany, but they always seem to remember us at Villa im Tal.

*This was a nice smokey pinot that went so well with the pork!*

For dessert, I had creme brulee with strawberry sorbet. Bill had an Albi-cup, with bourbon vanilla ice cream, pumpkin oil, and pumpkin seeds.

I always enjoy having a leisurely lunch with Bill, especially at a nice restaurant. We’re at a point in our lives when lunches are better than dinners, when we go out. Neither of us really enjoys late nights anymore. Besides, a lot of times, lunches are less expensive. As it was, yesterday’s repast set us back about 240 euros, before the tip.

I forgot to get a picture of the gorgeous building. We’ve gone to Villa im Tal so many times that I guess I’m not so dazzled by it anymore. I did notice that there weren’t a bunch of guys hanging out by the Adamsborn natural spring, yesterday (it’s also known as the Carl-von-Ibell-Quelle). They had been congregating there, trying to sell people containers for the water. But I also noticed that it didn’t look like the spring was running. Upon further investigation, I have discovered that the well is not working right now. Too bad, since the water is known for being very cold and free of charge. On the other hand, it’s nice not to have to dodge the guys who loiter there when it does run.

Anyway, that was our Sunday outing. We came home later and enjoyed the rest of the day listening to music, chatting, and drinking beer. Can’t beat that life, although in retrospect, maybe we should have taken a walk, instead. Maybe we’ll do that next weekend, if it’s not too hot.

anecdotes, C.G. Jung, Celebrations, Funny stories

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part eleven)

By Thursday, June 25th, I was looking forward to going home. I know that’s kind of foolish, given the beautiful surroundings and great food we were enjoying in Switzerland, but I missed the dogs. I also wanted to do laundry. Several days in sweaty conditions can make one’s clothes a bit icky.

Bill had two more days of class to go, so off we went to breakfast. The wait staff was getting to know us. A few folks seemed surprised we were still at the hotel. I don’t think it’s a normal thing for most people to book six nights… except for maybe some people who are going to the Jung Institute.

I didn’t get the sense that there were too many Jung Institute students staying at the Sonne Seehotel. The one exception was at breakfast on Thursday. An American man came in with a younger woman, and Bill said he later saw both of them at the Institute. He said the man was an author of a book he’d read, and also taught at the Institute. The woman was someone on the brink of getting her diploma.

As for breakfast, I decided to go for something conventional. I had scrambled eggs and bacon. (I thought) Bill had the Egg Royal– like Eggs Benedict, but with smoked salmon, avocado, and roe. The Egg Royal is probably my favorite dish at the Pavilion Restaurant during breakfast. But, of course I needed to try as many things as possible. On Thursday, we also got to try the fruit plate, along with the usual etagè and rolls. And that, my friends, is why I have so many rolls. 😁

After breakfast, we went back to the room, hung up the Do Not Disturb sign, and I got to work on my blogging. Bill went off to school. His schedule on Thursday had him attending classes until 5:30 PM. I think he had three that day.

It was another hot day, and once again, I noticed the canvas barrier was up at the lakeside. There would be another event. Actually, Thursday turned out to be a rather obnoxious day for hotel events. But, during the afternoon, I did my usual swimming and sunning under the shady trees. Below are a few artsy pictures I took from our room. There’s always something to see on Lake Zürich, especially during the summer!

*I saw this guy a few times over the week. He is very fit!*

Something funny did happen on Thursday. While I was sitting by the lake, enjoying the cool breezes and fresh air, there was some kind of private event happening on the other side of the canvas barrier. It sounded like maybe it was a work party, or something like that. A man gave a speech in impassioned German, having summoned everyone’s attention by striking a glass with a utensil.

I wasn’t really paying much attention to what the man was saying. I was trying to relax, and wishing I had ear buds. At one point, the speaker on the other side of the barrier said something, and the crowd cheered. At that very same time, a group of school kids– maybe about eleven or twelve years old– were passing by the garden.

Just as the crowd behind the barrier started laughing and cheering, the kids– egged on by one especially naughty boy– also started cheering enthusiastically. It was pretty funny, and the whole group of adults at the luncheon started laughing.

As I was sitting there alone, listening to the laughter, it occurred to me that the luncheon was probably “mandatory fun”. The people were dressed nicely, enjoying lunch on a hot day, next to the very cool and inviting lake. They sort of half listened to a speaker droning on about something, politely applauding at appropriate times. And then, all of a sudden, a cheeky boy broke the tension by letting loose with a hearty cheer.

I observed a lot of kids in large groups, often with adults, heading to the pier so they could catch a ferry. Usually, the kids were really young– kindergarten aged or even younger, wearing orange safety vests, hats, and sunglasses. But sometimes, the kids were older, and traveled in noisy, unruly packs. Such was the case on Thursday, as the funny kids got on a ferry and continued to cheer… trying to prolong the joke. They weren’t quite old enough to realize when a moment had passed. 🤭 I can relate to that!

After the afternoon “mandatory fun” luncheon was over, the participants dispersed, and I got a brief respite from company. But then a family of four showed up. They were clearly Americans, consisting of a mom, a dad, a daughter, and a son. The son appeared to be about 13 or 14, and he’s the only one whose name I caught, because his parents had to keep correcting him.

At one point, the whole family decided to go into the lake. They were all wearing shoes of the Croc variety, which wouldn’t necessarily recommend for swimming. They might protect your feet from rocks, but they don’t let water flow out so easily, because they’re basically clogs.

The mom brought her phone into the lake, and her son said, “Why are you bringing your phone into the water? That’s a STUPID idea!”

The mom ignored the lad, took a few pictures from the water level, and then, maybe a minute or two later, exited the water with her daughter in tow. I think it was too cold for them.

Personally, I have to agree with the young man that taking a phone into the water, unless it’s highly waterproof, isn’t the greatest idea. The rocks at the bottom of the steps are pretty slippery. More than once, I almost fell down from a combination of slippery rocks, lack of balance from an awkward stance, and the odd strong current. Of course, it was none of my business, so I just observed in silence.

The boy soon grew bored with the lake and said he wanted to leave. He was clambering around near the rocks when the dad admonished him to be very careful and avoid getting hurt. He said he couldn’t afford for the boy to be injured. I’m sure that’s true in Switzerland, where healthcare is expensive. I don’t know if it’s on par with the United States, though.

The young man finally left, and soon it was just mom, dad, and daughter. The females seemed content to hang out by the lake, while the dad kind of paddled around, much like I did all week. 🤭

***

The day wore on, and finally it was time for Bill to come back from his classes. I was sitting in the hotel room, when a large boat pulled up to the pier. I noticed it, because it was blaring music. There was a sign on the boat that read LS Stäfa Festschiff (party boat).

I could see signs that there were more private events going on. I’m not sure if the people who booked the Festschiff were staying at the Sonne, but the boat turned up at about 4:00 PM and kind of loitered near the pier, sharing its music with everybody. After it departed, the cool looking Stadt Zürich ferry was back.

When Bill arrived later, he said the restaurant was closed, due to a private event. We hadn’t booked a reservation anywhere, and I wasn’t really in the mood to get dressed up… even if it meant putting on makeup that would melt off within minutes. We decided to eat at the hotel’s Biergarten.

I thought it would be good to go there as soon as possible, because I worried there would be nowhere to sit. When we were at the Biergarten on Wednesday afternoon, a woman got very excited when we stood up to leave, implying that she’d been patiently waiting to claim our table. 🙄 I feared something similar would happen Thursday night. But, actually, it wasn’t so bad…

Before we went down to the Biergarten, though, LS Scäfa returned to the pier with its loud music. I got the sense that this was where it was pickup up partygoers, as this time, there was a Tina Turner impersonator singing her hit songs. She wasn’t bad, although I don’t think Tina’s spirit came down to help her out. I could sort of see the woman from the window, and it looked it she wore a short dress and a leonine wig, just like Tina did, back in the 1980s.

It was not surprising to hear Tina Turner’s music blaring from the ship. Tina Turner became a Swiss citizen in 2013, when she married her longtime German boyfriend, Erwin Bach, at their home in Küsnacht, Switzerland. She famously lived at a lakeside estate called Villa Algonquin, and if I’m not mistaken, she couldn’t buy property there unless she became a Swiss citizen. So that’s what she did… and she later sold Villa Algonquin and rented it, with the arrangement that she would be allowed to live there until she died. She passed away in May 2023.

According to an article in People Magazine, Tina also dined at Rico’s cosi, just as Bill and I did on Wednesday, June 24th. And when she walked into the place, people’s jaws and eating utensils dropped! Apparently, she was a regular there, having celebrated her 60th birthday at the restaurant! Lionel Richie was also there, and sang to her. I recently read Lionel’s book about his life, and I think he’s got a Swiss girlfriend now.

I hope Tina got better service at Rico’s than we did. 😏 Apparently, she and Rico were friends, so I’m sure he took good care of her and Erwin.

Anyway, Tina’s impersonator sounded enough like her that I knew she was going for Tina’s sound. And the fact that I could see her hair from our hotel window tells me that she was also going for her look. I don’t mind Tina’s music at all, so I thought it was cool. In fact, the party boat looked kind of fun, although it appeared that the Tina Turner impersonator was probably hired separately.

***

Bill and I snagged a table in a corner, right by Lake Zürich. It was still very hot outside, but people were all dressed up for the party in the Pavilion Restaurant. They had a woman singing and playing saxophone, and later, there was a DJ. It looked like a classy party from our sweaty spot in the Biergarten. Of course, the partygoers were also sweating, because there was no air conditioning in the restaurant!

For dinner, I had short ribs, and Bill had a sandwich that was advertised as a burger, but was really more like a pulled beef barbecue sandwich. Of course, there were fries and beverages… and later, there was also wine. The ribs were kind of messy, but they tasted good. I think Bill was mostly happy with the “burger”, although he said they didn’t really melt the cheese on it. Bummer.

We hung out at the Biergarten until the sun went down. I got more photos, especially of the ducks, who came by to beg for food. I’m always surprised how the birds in places where tourists and water meet tend to attract waterfowl and songbirds who are almost tame. Maybe I shouldn’t be surprised, though…

And the LS Scäla came back to unload some passengers, but the Tina Turner impersonator had apparently retired for the evening.

I do already miss the sunsets on Lake Zürich. What a beautiful place. I can see why Tina was happy there… and why she had no qualms about giving up her US citizenship so she could be Swiss. The older I get, the more appealing that idea sounds to me, too.

adventure, C.G. Jung, Celebrations

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part six)

The featured photo is just one of many majestic sunset pictures I took on this trip to Switzerland.

On Sunday morning, June 21st, we went back down to Jack’s Brasserie for breakfast. Philippe, the cool waiter, served us a hearty meal. I decided to have Belgian waffles that day, and a side of bacon. I don’t remember what Bill had… I think it might have been scrambled eggs. If it had been something interesting, I would have taken a photo!

After breakfast, we bid farewell to Philippe, picked up our luggage in our room, and headed down to the front desk to check out. As we were leaving the Schweizerhof, the receptionist gave us Bern Bears, little cakes that taste like almond and vanilla, which I guess is a thing in Bern.

The bears came in handy during the week, because I don’t like eating in restaurants alone. The breakfasts at the newly renovated restaurant the Sonne Seehotel were so huge that I really didn’t need to eat lunch. But small snacks were handy for tiding me over until dinner.

Then, Bill and I headed the short way to the Bern train station. We didn’t know it when we arrived in the rain on Friday, but the train station is literally just across the street from the hotel. We had read it was that close, but came out of the wrong side of the station to see it for ourselves.

We had first class tickets for a brief journey from Bern to Zürich Hauptbahnhof. I think it took about an hour. The train was a bit older than the Deutsche Bahn train we took on the way down to Switzerland and back to Germany. I amused myself by taking pictures, especially of the really chill Labrador Retriever in the front row. And I also took a few other photos, reminding me of how pretty Switzerland is.

We arrived in Zürich at a little after 1:00 PM. Then we got on a regional train that would take us to Küsnacht. I think that train ride lasted maybe twenty minutes or so. It was pretty painless.

The Romantik Sonne Seehotel is also VERY close to the train station, although maybe not as close as the Schweizerhof is. To get to it, you have to walk down a hill and under a bridge, once you get off the train platform. Thankfully, there was an elevator there. I don’t even think the Bern station had an elevator for our platform. We had to walk up a ramp.

The lady who checked us in at the Sonne Hotel informed us that our room, which turned out to be 410, was not ready for us when we arrived. Since it was lunch time, we decided to try out the hotel’s brand new restaurant, Pavilion. We were told it just opened last week. As of this week, they were just starting to serve breakfast. It was interesting to see how the service evolved over the course of the week.

The gentleman who served us lunch bore a striking resemblance to Prince William, Britain’s Prince of Wales. We later found out that he’s from Mannheim, though, and he’s likely a bit younger than William is. We decided to go all out for lunch and then, maybe, have some snacks at dinner time if we were hungry.

Below are some photos from that delightful first meal. I had a wonderful starter called “Scampi” (shrimp, lobster, roe, avocado, and a delightful sauce, surrounded by endive. Bill had melon and prosciutto. For our main courses, I went for the Perlhühn (Guinea fowl), while Bill had “crispy fish”— hake. Naturally, there was also Swiss wine, sparkling water, and fresh bread.

*The “Scampi” was absolutely delightful!*

For dessert, I decided to stick with the cooling theme. I had a scoop of lemon sorbet with champagne, candied lemons, and verbena. Bill had a blackberry tart with sour cream ice cream. I really enjoyed the sorbet, on such a HOT day! But it wasn’t even the hottest day of the week.

When we were finished with lunch (about 300 Swiss Francs! 🫪), we went up to our room. I booked and prepaid for a junior suite, which is the class of room we stayed in last fall. This time, we got the room above the one we were in last time.

It was a very “cool” room… but it was also a very hot room. Like most buildings in Switzerland, the Sonne Hotel does not have air conditioning, and rudimentary science knowledge will remind you that heat rises. The room also doesn’t have the large windows that room 310 has. They did provide a fan, though, and the views were still awesome, in spite of the heat.

The stairs you see above lead into the room. The other suites are also located halfway between floors. To get to room 310 or 210, you have to up or go down half a flight of stairs. To get to the bedroom part of 410, you have to navigate these stylish glass steps. Thankfully, neither of us fell down the steps, although I did hit my head on the ceiling/floor as I was going down one time. Obviously, that room would not be a good choice for anyone with mobility issues.

This room has a closet, a mini bar, a desk, TV, phone, and high ceilings that remind you that the hotel is OLD. We were in the top of the tower that overlooks the lake. The bathroom is open, but it has a stall for the toilet and an enclosed, walk in shower, as well as a bath tub. The bed was comfortable, except for the heat.

Lunch and travel left us tired and needing to digest. We laid down on the bed, and soon I fell asleep. I woke myself up snoring a couple of times! But I was probably out for an hour or two before lunch was properly dealt with by my digestive system.

After I woke up from my nap, we immediately decided to strip down and put on our bathing suits. After being in Bern and longing to swim in the river, I was more than ready to brave the lake. It was awesome! The water was cold, but not freezing. The only difficulty we had was entering the lake without slipping on the rocks or stepping on something sharp. I soon got good at that… I think the direct lakeside access is one of the things I loved most about the Sonne Seehotel.

I think Bill found the water chillier than I did. He complained of “shrinkage”… 🤣 He only managed one swim, but I spent many hours by the lake. For that reason, the rest of this series will probably be briefer, because sitting by the lake, swimming, reading, and writing, was pretty much all I did all week!

Oh… and I did a lot of eating and drinking… We did stop by the hotel’s newly renovated Biergarten, too. We enjoyed some fries and beer, along with guitar music by a very talented guy who came by every night, playing for spare change. I did also get a few enchanting sunset photos.

So… that about does it for June 21st. I’ll be back tomorrow to continue this series about how I got older, and Bill got wiser, in dear old Switzerland. Watch this space!

adventure, Celebrations

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part five)

Featured photo is of the Aare River mist near the restaurant where we had lunch.

Here’s the promised second part to my birthday post, for those who are interested. I know there are at least a couple of folks reading, so I will continue onward.

After our disappointing look at the Bear Pit, which denied us any views of bears, we decided to continue our walk along the Aare River. That turned out to be a good decision. As one leaves the Bear Pit area, there’s a beautiful shady trail right next to the river. Once we walked under the trees, the temperature dropped noticeably, and there were lovely views of the river.

I didn’t know it at the time, but I totally could have gone swimming. I wished I had worn a bathing suit under my clothes, because the water was very inviting. I saw a lot of people who were enjoying the swift current while riding on tubes or little inflatable boats. Some people swam.

Below are a few artsy photos…

Bill and I chatted as we walked, and we stopped at the convenient benches along the way. We were in no hurry, and just wanted to enjoy the sights and sounds of the water, and the waterfall at the end of the trail.

As we got closer to the end of the trail, we noticed a little island in the water. There were also a couple of restaurants where I was sure cold beer awaited. But first, I wanted to put my feet in the water, so I did… and it felt so good! Luckily, I was wearing my Keen sandals, which are great for walking in rivers where there are a lot of rocks.

Not great photos of me, but I was definitely happy… I love a good swimming hole.

Below is a video that features the very refreshing water. The misty part in the video is where the restaurant was… I don’t know if it was part of the engineering or a natural feature of the river. My guess is that the misty part was manmade.

What an awesome river. I want to go back and swim in it.

After my quick walk in the river, we decided to have lunch. There appeared to be an events facility there, as well as a couple of restaurants. One was away from the river, and looked pretty traditional. The other was built on the river and had several venues to include a formal restaurant, a casual restaurant, and a self-serve Biergarten. We got a table for lunch at the Restaurant Terrasse Schwellenmätteli, and enjoyed some surprisingly good food.

*Schneider Weisse is everywhere we’ve been!*

After lunch, we decided to walk back the way we came, mainly because the other side of the river was not shady and probably would have required climbing stairs. On the shady side by the Bear Pit, there is an elevator that will take visitors to the top of the trail. I need to exercise, but these days, I have to pace myself, especially in the heat of the summer. I ended up having to duck behind a bush to pee… it wasn’t easy, because there’s a steep hill by the trail. But I could easily see I wasn’t the only one who did it. Some people left behind napkins.

I was sorry to leave the cool river, but we needed to get back to the hotel and prepare for dinner at Zimmermania, a French restaurant Bill reserved a table at on the night of my birthday. So we headed back down the main drag, and got caught behind a lot of kids who had little situational awareness… along with their equally inattentive adult minders.

*I thought Bill’s daughter might like to see Swiss pastries, Bern style.*

We enjoyed a short break in the hotel room, cooling off in the rare air conditioning which, while rather special in Switzerland, was still not quite chilly enough. Nevertheless, I pulled out a lightweight, navy blue, Merino wool dress I bought from Bergfreunde, a few years ago. I was dismayed to see a couple of tiny holes made by moths. 🙄 We have since invested in some “wasps” to eat the moths, but I’m still finding clothes that either need repair or retirement. The dress is still wearable, for now. I’ve worn it twice on this trip.

Then we walked through the crowds to Zimmermania, which was located on a quiet cobblestone street. Zimmermania is a well-regarded, but rather no frills establishment. Bill and I enjoyed the food, and probably could have been more casual. I was glad to see fish on the menu, since I was pretty tired of red meat by June 20th.

*I had delightful salmon with spinach, as well as fregola sarda, a pasta from Sardinia I am going to have to find at home! Bill had filet of sole with potatoes allumettes…*

After dinner, we walked back through the crowds reveling in the city fest. I got more photos…

In all, we walked over six miles on June 20th. I was a little tired and sore at the end of it, but delighted by the day. I definitely wish we could have enjoyed one more night in Bern. It’s a lovely city, and we didn’t see nearly enough of it. I hope we’ll have a chance to return someday… especially if there isn’t a city festival happening! Unfortunately, the noise kept me awake on the second night, too.

Oh well…

The next day, we headed to Küsnacht. I will continue with that part of the story in the next post.

adventure, Celebrations

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part four)

Featured photo is on a beautiful wooded trail in Bern, Switzerland.

Saturday, June 20th, was my 54th birthday. I woke up to a birthday greeting from Bill, and two very irreverent cards. For your amusement, I have made a very short video that offers a whiff of our love for each other…

Highbrow humor…

After he presented the above cards, we got dressed and headed down to breakfast, where we met Philippe, a very charming waiter. We enjoyed egg dishes– Eggs Royale for me and Eggs Benedict for Bill. The difference between the two is that Eggs Royale have salmon and spinach and Hollandaise Sauce, and Eggs Benedict has ham or bacon. Of course, we also had our usual coffee and juice, and we took a trip to the buffet, which offered the usual breads, fruits, cheeses, and cold cuts.

As we were finishing our breakfast, Philippe wished me a happy birthday, and then presented me with a “surprise”… a beautiful chocolate mousse cake and a card from the hotel staff! The cake was surprisingly high quality, too… we really enjoyed it over the rest of our stay at the Schweizerhof Hotel.

After breakfast, we decided to take a walk. Bern is a very attractive city, and if you walk down the main shopping drag, you can even do a lot of it covered by a shopping arcade. It was a bit crowded during our visit, but I still managed to get lots of photos…

We soon approached Bern’s famous Zytglogge, a clock tower that dates from the early 13th century. The clower tower has also served as a prison and a guard tower during its long history. It reminds me of the astronomical clock in Prague, and indeed, Bern’s astronomical clock dates from the 15th century. I got lots of pictures.

Since I’m typing this on my laptop, it’s a bit of a pain to select photos… Bear with me!

We encountered another piano busker, named Luke Gajdus. He was playing hypnotic music that was so interesting that I stood in the middle of the street and didn’t hear the oncoming bus. The buses are all electric, anyway, so it’s hard to hear them come up from behind, especially if you’re distracted. Bill had to pull me away from the vehicle’s path. And then we bought one of the busker’s CDs, called In Breath, which I look forward to uploading on my desktop computer at home.

A sample of Luke’s music. I love finding and buying music by buskers. Some of my favorite souvenirs have been CDs I’ve bought while traveling.

*He plays divinely. Apparently, he’s a music therapist and plays in cities around Europe.*

This shopping drag took us all the way to a bridge that crosses the Aare River. It’s also where the famous Bear Pit is, although we didn’t manage to spot any of the residents during our too brief time in Bern. It was probably too hot for them. I think it was about 90 degrees Fahrenheit during our visit and, as you can see, very sunny.

On the other side of the bridge, there’s a little one room “hotel” where one can book a stay. It’s called “Zollhaus”, and if you rent it, you can “sleep among the bears”. I had seen it advertised the first time I was considering a visit to Bern. Now that I’ve seen where it’s located, I’m not sure I’d want to book it. It’s right in the thick of hordes of tourists! But it is definitely in a picturesque area, and the concept is novel. There were signs nearby advertising it for rent.

Here are a few more photos of the area near the Bear Pit, which is free to visit, or you can pay for a ticket and get a tour at the Bern Zoo, where you’ll see bears and a lot of other animals.

*Lots of donors made the Bear Park a reality…*

I think I will stop at this point and write more about my birthday in a new post. I have lots and lots of pictures, plus my birthday lunch and dinner to write about. Plus, the room needs to be cleaned.

Stay tuned for part five!

Annoyances, Celebrations

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part three)

Featured photo is one I took in Bern on my birthday.

Now it’s time to get down to the business of actual travel. We decided to use trains on this trip to Switzerland. The main reason we decided on train travel is because it’s convenient, especially for our destinations.

I mentioned in yesterday’s post that both of our hotels are within a few minutes’ walk from train stations. While it not feel like they’re that close when you pack as much as I do, they are actually super easy to access. Train travel means not having to deal with traffic, or expensive parking. And it also means Bill can do this…

Bill bought us first class tickets from Frankfurt Airport to Bern. Then he bought first class tickets from Bern to Küsnacht. Finally, we have first class tickets from Küsnacht to Frankfurt Airport. We took a cab to the train station from our house, and we’ll take another cab home on Saturday.

The trains going to and from Switzerland are Deutsche Bahn, while the train between Swiss destinations was SBB (Swiss Federal Railways). This is an important note, given what happened on the way to Bern. I’ll explain that down post.

On Friday, June 19th, we headed to the Frankfurt Airport train station. Our cab driver showed up in a Tesla, and we had to figure out how to open the door. We were a bit early, and I had a headache that turned out to be because I was hungry. We stopped by Burger King, where we saw a man who was the spitting image of our village’s manager. I don’t know if it was him, but it sure looked like him… or maybe his long lost twin! We also saw the cab driver in there!

Below are a few photos from on the platform… It was a hot day!

We managed to get two seats next to each other, going in the correct direction of travel. As I sat down in my first class seat, I realized how much more comfortable train travel is than most airplane travel. We had plenty of legroom, a large window, and a tray table that didn’t poke me in the beer gut.

One thing I didn’t like about our trip down to Bern was the noise in the train car. I like to sit in the quiet cars, but I guess we got one where it was okay to use one’s cellphone. A group of loud French speaking men were on their phones almost the entire four hour trip to Bern. We were also a little bit delayed, on account of something that happened before Bill and I boarded.

I noticed the air in the train was a little stinky. It smelled a little like halitosis. Maybe it was from all of the people talking so loudly. Anyway, I tried not to let it make me grumpy. The beer definitely helped.

*This is an Erdinger beer. Our ex landlady was from Erding. I like the beer a whole lot more than I liked her.*

By the time we got to Basel, Switzerland, we were about eleven minutes late. The Zoll (border patrol) guys came on, got one look at us Euro-looking Americans, and walked on by.

I think the train drivers changed, too, because I noticed a different voice on the intercom. He spoke perfect German, French, and English. And he made a point of telling everyone that we were delayed because of an incident that had occurred in GERMANY. 🤭 The way the driver said it was funny. It was like he was disgusted that we were eleven minutes delayed. I noticed that he also encouraged people with connecting trains to hurry, because the trains were waiting for them. The Swiss take punctuality VERY seriously, especially when it comes to public transportation.

I noticed after we got going in Basel, the train driver started to really haul ass. We we were going noticeably faster, and Bill and I were, at that point, riding backwards. Fortunately, we only had to do that for a short time. Bern isn’t all that far from Basel.

When we arrived in Basel, it was almost 6:00 PM. Rain was falling, and the driver had made up about five minutes of the delay. I noticed the beautiful Aare River, as the train pulled into the busy station. We got off the train and followed the crowd… and wound up exiting the station on the wrong side, which meant we had to walk the long way to the Schweizerhof Hotel.

I also didn’t know that from June 19-21, there was a Stadt Fest going on in Bern. The city was teeming with people, and there were DJs everywhere, blasting music. Although I usually enjoy a good city party, I was kind of hoping for quiet after listening to French business calls for four hours. Nevertheless, we made our way to the hotel, where we were welcomed by a lovely young lady named Lavina, who checked us in and gave us access to Room 516.

I booked a junior suite, which came with two bathrooms. They actually came in handy for Bill.

The bathtub in our suite was pretty fancy. It even had a TV mounted into the wall, and a remote control. We didn’t use it, but I was kind of impressed, nonetheless. The hotel left us bottled water and two green apples, which later came in handy in Küsnacht.

As I mentioned in yesterday’s post, the hotel is a rare property in Switzerland with air conditioning. And unfortunately, the room had chandeliers that we couldn’t turn off, if we wanted to use the lamps. I don’t like overhead lighting, especially when it’s really bright. But we were only there for two nights, so it was no big deal. Naturally, there was also a well stocked minibar, but there was enough room in it to store the lovely chocolate mousse birthday cake I got at our first breakfast.

Below are a few shots of the “party” going on in Bern on June 19th…

Since it was evening when we arrived, we changed clothes and headed out to our first dinner reservation. It was a chain steakhouse called Williams ButchersTable. Bill picked this location before we left Germany, and I probably would have enjoyed it a lot more if not for a few things.

There was a huge DJ setup outside of the restaurant, blaring music so loud we could barely hear each other.
The chairs were not very comfortable, and wouldn’t have been, even if I had a smaller ass.
The restaurant is also a “Metzgerei”, and one of the gimmicks they have is that you go to a meat counter and choose what you want. I felt uncomfortable standing behind a group of several men, picking out their cuts of meat. It was crowded and awkward, and I eventually told Bill to just pick something for me.
I had been eating leftover steak all week, prior to our arrival, and was really sick of red meat.

I know I shouldn’t complain, though. I am very fortunate that we were able to go to such a restaurant for dinner. I probably would have liked it a lot more if not for the loud music outside. I did lighten up a bit as we drank some nice Chianti Classico. And I have to admit, the steaks were good. I also had a dry baked potato, because I prefer potatoes with butter, rather than sour cream. Below are a few photos of the restaurant and food we enjoyed. Bill and I both had Swiss steaks, but his had cheese on it. He also had truffle fries instead of a baked potato. This restaurant does have vegetarian options, but you have to request them. They aren’t listed on the menu.

By the time we finished dinner, we were in a slightly better mood. The music had switched to 70s and 80s dance music, and I was enjoying watching the white people dance. Also, a lot of people were ordering bone marrow, which is apparently a popular specialty at Williams ButchersTable. I watched people holding a big bone to their lips as the wait staff poured vodka down the middle.

We ordered dessert. Bill had stracciatella tiramisu, and I had Ovo Mousse, which turned out to be mousse made from Ovaltine! I used to drink Ovaltine when I was a kid, but it was introduced to me by a former friend of mine. My mom didn’t buy it for me until I tried it at my friend’s house. I guess Ovaltine is popular in Switzerland. I did enjoy the malted dessert made with it!

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel. We were both kind of tired and cranky. On the way back, I took more photos of the rowdy crowds! All kinds of people were there… including what some might call “Jesus Freaks”. Check out their signs!

*These people were holding up signs about Jesus.*

We were ready for bed, but the rest of Bern wasn’t. The windows in our room were not quite a match for the loud, pulsating music. It went on until the wee hours of the morning. I looked up the schedule of events, and I noticed that something was planned until 5:00 AM! We were told this is NOT the norm for Bern, so we’ll have to visit again on a less rowdy weekend.

Fortunately, I had Advil PM, which helped me doze off at some point… I needed to rest up for my birthday, which I will write about in the next post!

C.G. Jung, Celebrations, Education

Older and wiser in Die Schweiz… (part one)

I took the featured photo in Bern, Switzerland on June 20, my 54th birthday.

Several months ago, my husband Bill was accepted to the C.G. Jung Institute in Küsnacht, Switzerland. He is now in training to become a Jungian psychoanalyst.

The decision to become an analyst is one that has been a few years in the making. I remember for Christmas 2010, Bill specifically requested that I purchase a copy of The Red Book, by Jung, because he wanted to learn more about analyzing dreams.

Then, we adopted our dog, Noyzi, from Meg, a woman who was studying at the Jung Institute. Bill talked to her about her studies, and we planned our first trip to Zürich, in the summer of 2021. We visited Carl Jung’s house, right on Lake Zürich. Bill later told Meg about a dream he had about rescuing dogs, which she used in her final paper. Meg will be graduating from the Jung Institute next week. We also adopted our other dog, Charlie, from Meg.

Then, later in 2021, Bill started seeing Max, an American Jungian analyst living in Berlin, online. Max was nearing the end of his training, and he helped Bill learn more about himself. Bill, in turn, provided Max with some material for one of his lectures. He and Bill had a great rapport. Bill eventually decided he was interested in learning how to be an analyst, himself.

Last summer, Bill and I visited Zürich, so Bill could take the summer intensive course. This is a program that helps prospective students determine whether or not they want to study at the Jung Institute, and gives matriculated students a chance to pick up some credit hours.

Last year, Bill had a very positive experience there, while I watched life go by as I sat by Lake Zürich. A few months after our 2025 visit, he applied to become a student at the Jung Institute. After six interviews, a few of which he did in person in Switzerland, he was accepted.

It is now June again, and, once again, time for the summer intensive course, as well as the summer block. Bill has to do some courses in person, so we needed to visit Küsnacht again. The courses happened to be going on in time for my 54th birthday, so this year, we decided to plan our usual birthday trip for Switzerland.

We started with two nights in Switzerland’s capital city of Bern. Neither Bill nor I had ever been there before, so we were curious about it. Then, we moved on to Küsnacht, where I managed to book six nights in a junior suite at the Sonne Hotel. We also stayed at this hotel last fall, although we had a different room.

The Sonne Hotel’s restaurant has undergone a massive renovation project. It wasn’t open when we were here in the fall, but as of right now, it’s newly reopened to the public. In fact, this morning, Bill and I were the first to have breakfast in the newly renovated restaurant. We had lunch there yesterday, and the waiter told us it had only just reopened days prior.

I expect this series about our combined birthday/Jung Institute trip will be full of fresh stories. Every trip, even to places we haven’t been before, generates new memories and experiences. Last summer, we stayed in a self-catering apartment in the Seefeld district of Zürich. It was a very nice and convenient place to stay, but it didn’t offer views like this one…

*Of course, there’s a price to be paid for such a stunning view…*

I feel like many events have conspired to lead us to where we are today. It’s almost as if fate prescribed it. I didn’t know about Meg’s time at the Jung Institute when we met. I was just looking for a new dog. Well… I got two new dogs, and a lot more… So did Bill!

Anyway, since I’m basically killing time while Bill goes to class, I think I’ll begin my series now, instead of waiting until we go home to Germany. So, if you’re interested, watch this space for fresh, honest to God, travel posts about our trip to Switzerland! So far, it’s been a real blast!

Baden-Württemberg, Celebrations

Things aren’t bad in Baden-Baden… Part five

Sunday was the day we’d been waiting for. It was the day we planned to brave the Friedrichsbad, well known around the world for being an old fashioned Roman-Irish bath. I remember when I first heard of the Friedrichsbad bath. It was back in 2015, when I wrote about how, in France, men have to wear Speedos at public swimming pools. In that post, I mentioned that my husband, Bill, would not want to wear Speedos for anything, but I was working on getting him to consent to a visit at the Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden. At that time, I was also a bit leery of being naked in front of strangers.

Well… as of June of 2017, Bill and I both took the naked plunge for the first time when we visited Palais Thermal in Bad Wildbad, which is a mostly nude spa. Since that bold day in early June, we’ve done the naked thing a few more times at the Schwabenquellen in Stuttgart, and at Böblingen’s own Mineraltherme. The Schwabenquellen is all nude except on certain days and/or at certain times. The Mineraltherme is nude in the saunagarten on the bottom floor, which has a pool area. Frankly, having now seen the Mineraltherme’s whole complex, I think not going to the saunagarten is a waste. There’s a whole lot more to do in the nude area.

The Friedrichsbad is different, though. It’s not really like the other nude spas we’ve been to. For one thing, it’s a very old bathhouse and looks it. It was opened in 1877 and does not have any of the new fangled finery of the other spas. Hell, it doesn’t even have 1980s era finery. This is an old school spa. However, of all of the spas we’ve done, I like it the most.

We decided to do the Friedrichsbad before we tried neighboring Caracalla because I knew Caracalla was going to be like the other places we’ve been. Also, I had a feeling that the Friedrichsbad was an experience best had first thing in the morning… and also, we happened to be out for breakfast without our towels or bathing suits and we didn’t feel like going back to the room to fetch them. There is no need to bring a bathing suit or a towel to the Friedrichsbad. They provide everything, even shower gel.

We had walked into the downtown area in search of an economical breakfast and found one at the assembly line like bakery called Peters am Leo. This place was doing quite a brisk business when we arrived at about 9:00am.

Very cheerful and busy!

We noticed they had a breakfast deal for two people priced at 19,95 euros, so we went for that. It was a lot of food… more than we needed.

We got fresh fruit, some kind of “vanilla mousse” with raspberry, butter, and jam…

Scrambled eggs with bacon mixed in, cold cuts, cheese, and a big basket of bread, hot drinks (I had hot chocolate and Bill had coffee), and a choice of either Sekt or orange juice. We had orange juice. We couldn’t finish everything.

Coffee!

I was treated to a nice view of the action.

I started to enjoy breakfast until I suddenly heard the unmistakable sound of someone gearing up to spit. I glanced over at the table catty cornered to ours just in time to see the guy who was sitting there spit into his plate. It really grossed me out, which seems strange, since I have neither a filter nor an appreciation for the concept of TMI. Fortunately, the guy got up and left, but not without leaving part of his breakfast on the table.

I was eager to forget about the “loogie hocking” guy, so we made our way to the old bathhouse. When we entered at about 10:00am, things were pretty quiet. A pleasant and very laid back looking black lady was sitting at the admissions booth. She would later help us when we decided to visit the Caracalla spa next door. I think she recognized us, too.

The famous baths on a sunny Sunday morning. I think that may be a great time to go to the baths. It wasn’t very busy when we arrived, but business was picking up as we left.

Anyway, when we met her the first time, she greeted us kindly in English and was patient as we ordered the luxury plus package. Priced at 59 euros per person, this is the most “luxurious” of the packages. It includes soap and brush massage, a cream massage, a meal, and a drink at the spa restaurant in the Caracalla. If I’d had more time to read up, I would have gone for the luxury ticket, which eschewed the meal. It turns out the meal and drink offered at the spa restaurant are limited to salads and pasta. Also, I would have rather eaten somewhere else. Leave it to me to go for the most expensive deal.

The luxury and luxury plus tickets allow up to four hours in the baths. We didn’t need that long to go through the whole experience, but it’s nice to know we could have stayed longer if we’d wanted to. Those who don’t want the whole experience can opt for a basic ticket, which doesn’t include soap or cream massages or the wellness ticket, which leaves out the cream massage. Each progressive step in inclusiveness adds another ten euros to the cost. We paid 118 euros. Credit cards are accepted.

Once we paid our admission, the lady gave us waterproof wristwatches… the same kind we’ve gotten at every German spa we’ve ever attended. Sunday happened to be a “mixed” day, which meant men and women were coming from both sides of the spa. Some days, the sexes are split. Women go to the right and men go to the left. I wanted to experience the baths with Bill at my side, so we chose the mixed day.

Here goes…

After we found lockers, we grabbed the sheets that were left inside, got completely naked in changing rooms (which now seems ridiculous under the circumstances), and were beckoned into the baths by a bunch of very brawny looking men in white uniforms. I soon realized that the other side of the spa was staffed with similarly attired women.

The men, a couple of whom spoke English, directed us to get shower shoes and then take showers under the old style open bay showers. They had big levers that controlled the water temperature in a rather crude way. It kind of reminded me of a prison shower, not that I have any experience with prisons, mind you. It’s just that it was very crude and not private at all. And though we had entered the baths covered with a sheet, that lasted maybe a minute before they were taken away.

The shower shoes, at least on the men’s side, were huge and way too big for my feet. But I only wore them for a short while, as we sat in a warm room for ten minutes, then a hotter room for five. The shoes were necessary because the floor is very hot and will burn your feet if you walk in there unshod.

After we sat in the hot rooms, we took another shower, then were summoned for the soap and scrubbing, and a massage. Bill’s therapist was a big German guy who spoke English. I got a burly Russian man whose German seemed rather elementary– or, I’m going to assume he was Russian. He could have been Bulgarian, Polish, or Ukrainian, for all I know. I don’t think he was German, though.

He invited me to lie face up on the table as he scrubbed my body with soap and a scrub brush, rinsed, then had me roll over so he could do the other side. Then, he gave me a vigorous massage that made a couple of joints crack audibly. It was a rather surreal experience… almost clinical, yet kind of primal, too.

There I was, naked as the day I was born, lying totally exposed on a table with bright lighting shining down on my bare body, as if I were in a hospital. And yet, despite decades of feeling ashamed of my body, I didn’t really care that much. I mean, the staff sees all kinds of people day in and day out. They were totally professional, and it’s not even like I was the biggest and ugliest person there. Besides, after a few minutes, the nudity thing doesn’t really matter at all. Everybody’s naked, and I think most people just stop noticing.

After our enthusiastic massages were finished, we went into the first of two steam rooms. The first room was kind of warm and smelled heavily of sulfur. We were in there for ten minutes, sitting on “butt pads”. Then we went to a warmer steam room for five minutes. I looked to my right and noticed the very old equipment that was making the steam from Baden-Baden’s ancient thermal springs. After another shower, we went to station 9, which was the first pool. It was nice and warm and very tranquil as we soaked for ten minutes. That was really what I had been waiting for the whole time. It was heavenly and extremely relaxing.

Next came a short time in a shallow pool that bubbled. We sat there until it was time to hit station 11, which is the beautiful round pool that is featured in all of Friedrichsbad’s literature. What I didn’t know was that the water in that beautiful pool is very cold! We did our five minutes there, then went to the other side of the pool. This was where things went a little awry.

Unbeknownst to us at the time, we were supposed to stay on the side we came in on. When we went to the pool on the other side of the round pool, we ended up on the wrong side of the baths. This is only a big deal because we needed to be on the side where we entered in order to access our lockers. When we got to the end of the line, which included more showers and a dip in an ice cold pool, a female staffer turned us around. I now realize that if we’d done the last part on the female side, we would have had to somehow get to the other side while naked. Either way, we had to backtrack or else flash everyone in the public part of the building.

So, we turned around and walked back through the stations until we got to the men’s side. We were greeted by the same big dudes with big hands, who wrapped us in warm towels and invited us to wait for the cream massage. The same Russian guy who did my soap scrubbing took me to a private room, while Bill got a different German guy. The Russian guy expertly rubbed herbal smelling cream all over my naked body. Once again, I was strangely uninhibited. He was very much an expert. I left his care with skin like a newborn baby’s as he directed us to drink tea in the “reading room”.

Actually, we were supposed to go “sleep” for thirty minutes in the sleeping room, but to be honest, I was alright with skipping that part. I doubt I would have slept, anyway. Besides, it was just nice to relax on the lounger in the “reading room” with unsweetened hot tea and Bill at my side. It was a very restful experience for me, although I will admit that it’s not for everyone. I know many people would prefer not to bare their bodies to the world. But, I have to say… now that I’ve gotten into nudity, it doesn’t really faze me at all anymore. In fact, I find it quite liberating. Maybe I’m more German than 23andMe says I am.

When we were finished relaxing at the Friedrichsbad, we went back to the locker room, got dressed, and went back to the hotel. After a short break there, we packed up day bags with swimsuits, towels, and robes. I wasn’t going to leave Baden-Baden without trying both of its best known spas. Also, because we got the Luxury Plus ticket, we were owed a meal at the Caracalla spa.

The guy at the spa restaurant who waited on us was quite the smooth talker. I noticed he was easily mingling in French, German, English, and even a little bit of Russian. I was a little cranky because most of their beer was non-alcoholic. In the restaurant, they do have wine and one “real” beer. I ended up with a non-alcoholic hefeweizen, which wasn’t bad, but wasn’t great. I also got a Coke because it came with our coupons.

I somehow ended up with a side of duck, which wasn’t covered by the coupon. At least it tasted good.

Bill had a chef’s salad.

I had a “fruity” salad, which was made with shrimps, mangoes, cherry tomatoes, onions, and greens. The bread was excellent. It was soft and not too crusty.

After lunch, we tried the Caracalla Spa… and, I gotta say, I was much less impressed with it than any of the other spas I’ve been to. First off, it was very crowded yesterday. It’s also been around awhile, as evidenced by how everything looked. The tiles were all faded and somewhat discolored. The water looked a little bit cloudy. I guess I’m used to the Mineraltherme, which was just extensively refurbished last year.

They were repairing the “blue grotto”, which probably would have been packed with people, anyway. The only thing I really liked about the Caracalla Spa was this really cool current alley in one of the outdoor pools. It was almost like shooting the rapids as it propelled spa-goers down a pass. But we had to be careful not to be shot into someone standing on the side of the pool. I think some people were oblivious to the danger of careening bodies in the strong currents.

As crowded as the Mineraltherme gets sometimes, at least their snack bars have wine and beer and really good food. The one thing the Caracalla had that the Mineraltherme didn’t was fresh squeezed juices, which were admittedly delicious. Bill and I tried their orange juice, which was nice after a couple of sauna sessions. Other than that, I was not all that impressed with Caracalla. I would much rather visit the Friedrichsbad again. The Caracalla also has a saunagarten that costs extra, but it doesn’t have a nude pool. Instead, there are a bunch of saunas and one whirlpool that was packed the whole time. It wasn’t very relaxing at all. We paid for three hours and left about halfway through.

When we were finished at the Caracalla Spa, we walked back to the hotel and I took a shower. We enjoyed a rest after our big day of relaxing baths. Actually, I was surprised by how tired I was after hitting two spas in one day. As the sun went down, I told Bill that I wanted to have dinner somewhere, so we wouldn’t end up sitting around drinking wine. We decided to try Rizzi & Co., which is a wine bar very close to the hotel. I was glad to try it, because I had been eyeing the menu the whole time we were in town. We were also lucky because they happened to have one two top open for us. The next couple who showed up without a reservation was out of luck.

The menu looked good.

Obligatory menu shot of Bill… We weren’t very hungry, so we went with something fairly light.

I had salmon filet with broccoli and a maple glaze. I enjoyed the salmon, but especially liked the broccoli, which was really more like broccolini. It was surprisingly tasty.

Bill had rare tuna, served with chopsticks, soy sauce, and wasabi. It was just the right size. Naturally, we also enjoyed a very nice red wine.

The bar area was pretty cool, although they were playing dance music that made us feel ancient. I think a lot of Russians frequent Rizzi & Co. It looks like it caters to the young and hip.

For dessert, I had Le Colonel, which is lemon sorbet with a shot of vodka poured over it.

And Bill had vanilla mousse, which was covered with mangoes… I thought it looked like cream of corn soup!

It’s a very hip place.

Since we were told we had 90 minutes, we were quick about eating dinner. I was ready to go to bed, anyway. I think we were both out cold before 9:30pm. In fact, I remember waking from a sound sleep at just past eleven for a potty break. It’s exhausting trying to relax. When we got back to the hotel, one of the receptionists said, “Good night, Mr. and Mrs. Crossen.” That really blew Bill’s mind. It’s something when the staff at a big hotel remembers your name. It happened a few times during our visit. I think it’s the hallmark of superb service.

This morning, we decided to have breakfast at the hotel. We went back to the breakfast room and loaded up at the buffet and enjoyed the excellent coffee. I was thinking maybe we wouldn’t have eggs again, but a very charming German gent, whose name was Friedrich and had probably worked there for awhile, charmed us into having scrambled eggs. He indulged Bill’s German and also greeted him by name, without any prompting. Maybe we were easy to remember since I don’t think there were too many Americans there during our visit. We also had a shot of espresso for the road.

When it came time to check out, we were warmly welcomed by the same chap who had checked us in. He was delighted when we gushed about our weekend and invited me to sign up for their email service/newsletter, which is free of charge and entitles us to perks like free breakfast (which is well worth it). Since we’re moving to Wiesbaden and Wiesbaden isn’t all that far from Baden-Baden, I could see us coming back to Brenners Park, even if it is super expensive. We really enjoyed ourselves and the service is absolutely top notch. Of course, I’m not sure how we’re going to downgrade from a junior suite. They’re probably counting on that!

I wondered what this was. Bill showed me that it’s a coat rack.

Perfect scrambled eggs. Better than the eggs at the bakery yesterday… and no one hocked a loogie.

This is Brenner Park’s resident cat, Kleopatra. I never saw her, but we did see evidence of her presence. Evidently, she eats on the second floor of the hotel, which is where we were staying. Her food bowl and water were neatly laid out in the hall.

I think all told, we spent about 3.000 euros. That included a couple of nights in the bar, a couple of breakfasts for two, two spa treatments, and parking for four days. And yet, even though that’s a lot of money for us, we were both smiling as we got into the car to go home. The hotel staff had kindly provided us with a small bag that included waters and snacks for our drive. It was the kind of service Bill and I have experienced on luxury cruise lines, notably Hebridean Island Cruises, which costs a mint but offers stellar service. If you’re interested in my Hebridean experiences, you can easily read about them in this blog. We have sailed with them four times– in 2012 (back to back cruises, and written about on my main blog), 2016 (whisky cruise), and 2017 (Scotland and Northern Ireland).

A shot of the countryside on the way home. This isn’t far from Seewald, which is not far from where we are living until next Tuesday. Then, it’s off to Wiesbaden.

Anyway… so ends our very ritzy trip to nearby Baden-Baden. We had a great time! If we manage to make it back there, we will have to make a point of seeing and doing more in the area, which surely offers more than spas and shopping! But then, Wiesbaden is a lot like a more cosmopolitan Baden-Baden. So we’ll see…

Celebrations

Celebrating 14 years in Ireland! Part twelve

We spent Saturday driving from Sligo to Dublin, eventually stopping in Mullingar for lunch. As luck would have it, the weather happened to be beautiful on Saturday. It would have been a great day to explore Sligo and the surrounding areas. Ah well. Now we have an excuse to go back to western Ireland.

We stumbled across the Newbury Hotel in Mullingar after a quick search. The hotel was old fashioned and kind of cute. I wished we could stay there a night instead of in Dublin. It was a nice place to have lunch, though. It appeared to be very popular with the locals, who were sitting around two televisions. One was tuned to a rugby game and the other, which was closest to where Bill and I were sitting, was set to a steeplechase.

Oops!

Obligatory shot of Bill.

I grew up around horses, so I’m always attracted to equestrian sports. I don’t remember seeing a lot of steeplechase in the United States, but it appeared to be a very popular sport in Ireland. There were several guys watching the races. Bill noticed that some of the horses had full body clips, which I had to explain to him. Sometimes, horses involved in serious competitive sports have all of their body hair clipped off. It makes for easier grooming as well as allows them to keep cool if they grow a heavy winter coat.

Steeplechase!

Anyway, the steeplechase kept us occupied while we waited for lunch. A handsome but somewhat inept young fellow brought us a couple of overflowing Guinnesses. I had a bacon panini and Bill had a chicken and cheese “whoppie”, which was basically like a panini made with tomato bread. The sandwiches were served with excellent chips (french fries).

Nice hotel!

Mullingar looked like a pleasant town.

After lunch, we finished our drive to Dublin. I had booked us a room at the Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport. We had a real problem getting to the hotel because it was located in a strange area. Bill made several wrong turns before he finally managed to get there… just in time to run into a huge influx of people. It turned out someone was having their wedding reception at the hotel and we happened to arrive just as they did. The lobby was teeming with people in their Sunday best, swilling Budweiser and obstructing things.

I was pretty tired from the drive and really just wanted to go take a nap. After a speedy check in, we went to our eighth floor “suite”, which was really just a big room. I took a shower and climbed into bed. We spent the evening watching TV over a meal provided by room service. I’m happy to report that the food quality at the Clayton Hotel Dublin Airport was much better than at the Clayton Hotel in downtown Dublin.

Unfortunately, the wedding party then proceeded to have a very loud reception, complete with blasting music that we could hear in our room. The noise made me very grumpy because I just wanted to rest up for yesterday’s journey back to Germany. Advil PM came to the rescue once again!

Yesterday morning, we got up and went to breakfast, which I had pre-booked. Unfortunately, the guy running breakfast couldn’t seem to find where I had pre-booked. It took a couple of minutes for him to tell us to just go eat and he’d sort it out with the reception. The breakfast at the hotel wasn’t all that good in terms of food quality. Fortunately, there were plenty of things to choose from, from fresh fruits to cereals, that couldn’t be screwed up by someone cooking.

This was the meal we had on our Dublin to Zurich flight. They also had lasagne. I might have had that, but I was too worried about fungus.

After breakfast, we checked out, paying the nine euros to park our rental car in the hotel’s enormous garage. Then we made our way to the airport, where we dropped off the car and checked in at Swiss Air. This was my first time flying Swiss Air. It was great to try it for the first time in business class. In fact, I’d say I liked Swiss Air better than Lufthansa. The food was better and the service was impeccable. Aside from that, the business class lounge at the Zurich Airport is fabulous.

My only complaint was that Bill ended up sitting behind me instead of next to me. The lady sitting next to me had a daughter who sat across the aisle from her, so we weren’t the only ones a little put out by the seating arrangement. But the flight was only one hour and forty minutes, so it was no big deal. I noticed the flight attendants made a point of being nice to the lady’s little girl and even invited her to go see the cockpit.

We had a long layover in Zurich, which we spent in the Swiss Air Business lounge after we got through passport control. Once again, I had to explain SOFA to the lady who looked at my passport. I guess next time, I’ll give her my military ID, too.

Our flight to Stuttgart was super short– maybe 30 minutes in all. In fact, the pilot turned off the seatbelt sign, only to turn it right back on seconds later. Even though it was a short flight, we were still given a snack and a drink in business class and it was actually edible. Our Stuttgart flight was on Austrian Airlines. It was a turbo prop aircraft. Everyone in business class got an empty seat next to them, so Bill sat behind me again.

Edible snack on Austrian/Swiss Air.

Once we picked up our bags in Stuttgart, we were in a hurry to get to Dog Holiday to pick up Zane and Arran. I had been fretting about Zane all week, worried because he had a mast cell tumor removed. As it turned out, Zane was a little out of sorts while we were gone. I’m taking him to the vet on Wednesday, so I’ll have her take a look at him. I did have him on Benadryl, though, so that could have been why he was so listless. Despite that, both dogs were very happy to see us. Arran kept his head on my shoulder the whole way home. Both dogs gave us kisses and were very excited about getting back to their people.

I’m glad to be back, too… although now the heat seems to be off in the house. It’s always something, isn’t it?

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

Category Archives: Celebrations