It’s about 8:30 PM, and we’re back from our one full day in Oslo. There’s a lot we could have done, as Oslo has many museums and activities for the curious. But Bill and I are old, and we really enjoy people watching and doing our own thing. So that’s kind of what we did today. We walked down to the center of Oslo, right by Aker Brygge, and enjoyed the day.
After a leisurely breakfast, which starts at 8 AM at our hotel on weekends, we stopped at the Historical Museum, mainly because I needed to pee. But I reminded Bill that we stopped for the same reason in San Juan, Puerto Rico, at the Museum of Modern Art. Many years later, he still talks about that visit in Puerto Rico. Today’s museum visit was very informative and interesting; we learned about Samurai Warriors, among many other things. But it was also a very handy stop for a whiz…
We had a healthy lunch at a fast food/smoothie/ bowl/wrap restaurant. Bill’s lunch was vegan, while mine had chicken in it. They were delicious bowls, which we washed down with water. Then, afterward, we took a two hour cruise around the Oslo Fjord, and met an American couple from Idaho, and a German couple. We don’t know where the German speaking couple was from, but the wife was a total hoot and very funny. I got some nice photos, although I think our Bergen pictures will be even more impressive.
After the cruise, we walked around for a bit, then stopped at a place called Beer Palace and enjoyed some beers. Then we went to an Italian restaurant called Papyon and had a less expensive and lower frills dinner than last night’s French extravaganza. Every bar seemed to be showing the Norway vs. Scotland football team. Lots of incredibly beautiful women are here, too.
We’ll be getting up early tomorrow, packing our bags, and heading to Bergen for the next four nights. I’m really looking forward to it. I have a feeling it will be amazing.
Below is a sampling of photos from today… When I do the blow by blow later, there will probably be more.
Yesterday, we had a rare busy Saturday, as we went out for business and pleasure in TWO different nearby cities. There was a time when we were younger when accomplishing this would not have been so notable for us, but COVID kind of took the wind out of our sails and made us enjoy being homebodies more. Bill often needs to rest on the weekends. But sometimes, we do manage to get out of the house. Yesterday, we went to both Wiesbaden and Hofheim.
If you’ve been reading my recent posts, you might know that in a couple of weeks, we are planning an epic vacation. We will start with six nights in Norway– two nights in Oslo and four in Bergen. After we do the Norwegian land based part of our trip, we will fly from Bergen to Stockholm, where we will spend one night prior to boarding Regent Seven Seas Splendor. Our week on the ship will include stops in Helsinki, Finland, Tallin, Estonia, Riga, Latvia, Visby, Sweden, Liepaja, Latvia, Ronne, Denmark, and finally, Copenhagen, Denmark, where we will disembark. We’ll spend two nights in Copenhagen, then fly home.
We plan to be away for about two weeks. Although one of those weeks will involve a cruise, it’s still a lot of luggage hauling as we make our way around to the different places we’re planning to visit.
Since about 2011 or so, Bill and I have been using Red Oxx bags almost exclusively. I like them for their handy compartments, tough construction, and beautiful colors. Bill also likes the fact that the company is in based in Billings, Montana and was started by veterans. We have a whole bunch of Red Oxx bags, and we’ve used them for a whole lot of traveling…
BUT…
On this trip, I’m going to be celebrating my 51st birthday. I’m not getting any younger, and my back is not what it used to be. Red Oxx bags do not come with wheels, meaning that I have to carry them. I typically use a Sky Train convertible backpack, which I’ll use on this trip, too. And when I go on big trips, I also use the Beanos Duffel bag, which can hold a lot of stuff, but isn’t the easiest thing to carry. It can be very awkward. I decided that for our upcoming trip up north, I wanted a bag with wheels.
Often I’d shop for such an item online, but I decided that I wanted to actually touch and pick up what I was buying before I made a final decision. Luggage is one of those items people tend to keep forever, and I didn’t want to be stuck with a “lemon”. I told Bill I wanted to go to the Karstadt Galeria in Wiesbaden to see what kinds of luggage they were selling. The Galeria recently announced that they were closing quite a few branches of their department store. Wiesbaden has had two branches, but soon will just be left with the one we visited yesterday at the Mauritiusplatz.
Bill was a little hesitant. He’d made a 7 PM reservation at Ariston Greek Restaurant in Hofheim. I looked at my watch. It was about 1:30 PM. 😀 I love my husband very much, but he has a tendency to be a bit neurotic sometimes. I guess he was afraid I’d dawdle in the store, and we’d miss our reservation or– horrors– arrive there late!
I said, “It’s just a fucking dinner reservation! Are you really telling me we don’t have time to go into Wiesbaden hours before dinner?”
Bill admitted I was right, so off we went to our fair host city. While we were at a light, Bill was getting annoyed at a guy who was in the wrong lane and had turned on his blinker.
“You’re gonna make me miss my light, buddy.” Bill muttered.
“We’re NOT going to be late for our reservation, Bill. Going out to dinner is supposed to be FUN!” I reasoned.
“You’re right.” Bill said.
I remembered we were going to be passing the Globus Hypermarket, which is kind of like WalMart on steroids. It’s a bit closer to where we live. I said, “Maybe we should just go to the Globus. I bet they have luggage.”
Bill disagreed with my ideas about the Globus, but finally relaxed about the time. We got to Wiesbaden and parked the car in the Market Garage, which is not where we usually park. It’s closer to the Galeria than our usual place is, although the store also has its own parking garage.
Wiesbaden was ALIVE yesterday. I wanted to stay longer.
As soon as we walked in, Bill spotted the luggage section, which was actually pretty large. I was immediately drawn to the Samsonites, which of course, were priced “top of the line”. But, just to do my due diligence, I looked at the other suitcases available. It had been a long time since I last shopped for luggage with wheels! I was surprised by how lightweight the bags were.
Fancy!
I ended up choosing a pretty marine blue Samsonite. I wanted to look for new towels, too, but Bill seemed too nervous, so I told him I’d get them another time. 😉 He would have obliged, of course, but he was making our shopping trip more complicated than it needed to be. What I really needed for now was the suitcase, and we accomplished that mission. I got some pretty cool photos outside of the store, too…
We went back to the car and Bill paid for the parking. When he got back, I said, “See? We have plenty of time. We could have had lunch!”
Bill said, “You’re right. Do you want to go have lunch?” Then he said, “Shit, I’ve already paid.”
“No, let’s go home to Noyzi.” So we went home, and started watching Amazon’s docuseries, Shiny Happy People. I’d already seen it, but Bill wanted to watch it, too. That kept us occupied until it was time to go to Hofheim for our dinner date.
The last time we tried to visit Ariston Restaurant, it was early March and everybody was out and about. They had no tables. Remembering that experience, Bill made a reservation. It was not necessary last night. Ariston was having a pretty slow night! Still, we decided to eat out on their tiny patio, and enjoy the pleasant June weather. It was about 70 degrees out and sunny. I had a Gyros Teller, which was gyros, souvlaki, tomato rice, t’zaziki, and salad. Bill had the Bifteki Teller, which had gyros, bifteki, pommes, t’zaziki, and salad. We also had a small carafe of house wine, our usual sparkling water, and for dessert, a round of Pils beer.
The very kind lady who looked after us was so nice. Bill gave her a generous tip on the bill, which was around 60 euros, and she touched her heart as she thanked us. It’s been too long since our last Greek food fix. When we lived in Stuttgart, we used to go to Greek places all the time. We don’t have as many Greek restaurants up here, though… We seem to eat more Italian food now. Not that that’s a hardship!
My Gyros Teller was excellent!I enjoyed this Pils.The inside of Ariston is very nice. We will have to go back.Pigeon in flight. I think they were mating. They had a nest near the restaurant and were making quite a racket.
After dinner, we headed back to the car, and I took a few more photos. Hofheim has sort of replaced Nagold as our “go to” town for casual recreation. It’s not quite as pretty as Nagold is, but it does the job. Likewise, I think we think of Mainz as our replacement for Tübingen, even though they aren’t that much alike, other than both being university towns.
We didn’t know it, but Ariston has parking available. We probably should have parked there, but then we would have missed out on the pretty walk through Hofheim. It’s a very nice place in the evening. We need to go there more often.
Someone drew a garden gnome near the museum.
I’m not sure what we have in store for today. The weather is beautiful again, though… Maybe we’ll venture out. Maybe we won’t.
Sunday’s plan included a trip to a brand new, beautiful chocolate museum. I’m referring to the Lindt Home of Chocolate, a gorgeous facility that opened to the public in September 2020. This is the place where chocolate lovers go to pay homage to the sweet delight of a well-known brand. Bill tells me it was my idea to visit. I’m not sure how I heard of it– someone probably alerted me to its presence. We would have discovered it regardless.
Let me just state upfront that I LOVE chocolate, and I like Lindt chocolate very much. It’s not my favorite chocolate, but I certainly won’t turn it down. And if you take the chocolate tour, you can satisfy your sweet tooth. This is a very tasting heavy place that is kid friendly. There are many excellent interactive exhibits, as well as headsets for those who want to learn everything. I did take a headset, but never used it. I prefer to read… and all of the exhibits at the museum have explanations in English and German.
Unlike at the Haus C.G. Jung museum, it’s perfectly fine to take photos at the Lindt museum, although you’re supposed to stow your bags in lockers. I took a lot of pictures, and we left there with a huge bag of chocolate that we’ll be enjoying for awhile. I did notice a sign that forbade strollers, so keep that in mind if you have a small child you’re considering bringing along for a tour.
It sure looks like chocolate heaven to me. This is a huge chocolate fountain.There’s a chocolate cafe. We didn’t visit, because we were chocolated out at the end.Cacao beans.I wasn’t quite tall enough to see through the magnifying glass. This was an exhibit about “no see um” midges that threaten cacao plants.Try your hand at raking.Roots!This was the only exhibit I saw closed. I was curious about what it was. This was pretty cool. The items on the plate lit up at intervals, as did the mug of hot chocolate.The smoke stack lit up on this display.They covered all kinds of aspects of chocolate making, including advertising and milk production… They had some antiques, there too…Including classic wrappers!And chocolate molds.This is probably the most fun part… You get to taste chocolate!They also had milk and dark chocolate.And models of the factory production.At the end, there’s a game for your kids to play!Part of the game.One kid is having some fun with the game.Flavor profiles…Put your hand under the bottom and the machine spits out a piece for you to try and guess what you’re tasting.The “cosmos” chocolate exhibit.Then, at the end, more tasting!There were several different kinds to try!And, if you like, you can get a souvenir photo made. We didn’t bother.Hang on to your ticket. At the end, you can scan it and get ANOTHER piece of chocolate. See the video below.Then comes the gift shop. There are free samples there, too.Vegans aren’t ignored.You could go crazy in here.If you like chocolate, this place is worth a stop! Family tickets are available. At this writing, an individual adult ticket is 10 Swiss Francs.
Cool way to end the tour!
The museum also has special tours and classes available. You can also buy vouchers as gifts for others. Bill said the experience reminded him a little of Swarovski’s Crystal Tour in Wattens, Austria, which I’ve done twice. I agree with him. The Lindt Home of Chocolate is a really cool museum, even with the face masks… and a great representation of the Lindt brand. There’s a huge parking garage at the museum, so you don’t need to worry about parking if you choose to drive.
After we finished at the chocolate museum, we decided to take a drive along the lake, where we promptly ran into a rain storm. I was looking for cute places to have lunch, but it was Sunday, and if you live in certain European countries, you know that means a lot of places are closed. We weren’t that hungry anyway, after all the chocolate we ate in the museum. We were a little afraid of being caught in flooding, as the recent German floods were fresh in our minds. When the rain really started coming down hard, we turned around and drove back into the city, parked in a much less expensive garage, and went looking for lunch.
More on that in the next (and probably last) installment.
The boat arrived at Küsnacht-Heslibach at precisely 1:35pm. Bill and I got off and started the short walk to the Haus C.G. Jung. As we were disembarking, I noticed a little beach right next to the pier. It looked inviting and, indeed, people were swimming and sunning. I noticed a few ladies had brought their playful dogs, which made me miss ours. We could have gotten off at the previous stop, but it would have been a longer walk to the house. The Küsnacht-Heslibach stop is just around the corner from the Jung house.
Before I knew it, we were at the end of the driveway, walking down to the house itself, a stately and unique mansion with well-manicured gardens and a lawn. I noticed there was a swing set there, no doubt for Jung’s descendants, who still call the place home. How nice of them to allow Jung enthusiasts to visit! The house was built in 1908, much of it paid for by the inherited wealth Jung’s wife, Emma Jung-Rauschenbach, brought into the family. They had five children. It seemed like they had it made, especially since Jung was a well-regarded psychiatrist who had studied with Freud, was an artist, and knew several languages.
Well… nobody’s perfect, and that also applies to people like Carl G. Jung. He had an open affair with his assistant and former patient, Toni Wolff. Emma tolerated the affair, and the three seemed to work harmoniously so that Jung could create his science of analytical psychology. I don’t pretend to know a whole lot about Jung– he’s really more Bill’s interest than mine. But as someone who has seen a psychologist and studied social work, I did find the museum very interesting for a lot of reasons. Artists will also enjoy it, since many of Jung’s works are displayed on the first floor, which is the self-guided part of the tour.
Carl Jung was a very unusual person with great vision. His house has a tower that he wanted built. He’d actually hoped the tower would be a library, but that didn’t work out. The tower has stairs instead of books. On the brief guided tour, we did visit Jung’s library and inner sanctum. When we walked inside, I noticed it reeked of tobacco. Our guide said that Jung was a heavy smoker. I thought I smelled whisky, too. It wouldn’t surprise me, although the guide didn’t mention a love of alcohol. I asked her how many languages Jung spoke, since I noticed books in several languages, including English. She said he spoke German, French, English, and had studied Greek and Latin. I was amused to see a book about yoga in the library… our guide said he’d read pretty much every book in the carefully arranged library.
Our group probably consisted of about ten people, all of whom were younger than Bill and I are, and none of whom appeared to be American. One couple was very young– the female half was pretty and had a very beautiful figure, which she showed off with an obscenely short skirt. Or maybe they were actually shorts. I don’t know what they were, although she did distract me when she bent over to look at something and gave me a full on view of her privates. I was really glad she’d worn underwear. The funny thing is, when I saw them approaching, I had a feeling I was going to end up seeing something I shouldn’t. I have some empathy, though. When I was younger, I made some unwise clothing choices, too. And I’ve never had a figure as pretty as hers.
We were supposed to leave our bags and cameras in lockers provided by the museum. A couple of people brought their phones with them, and one lady took forbidden photos inside the museum. A chaperone was quick to admonish her. I thought the way he did it was kind. He said she could keep the image she’d taken, but not to take others. Then, much to my amazement, she asked if she could climb the ladder to the top shelf of books! That request was denied! It is allowed to take photos outside, on the grounds.
The grounds at the museum are very beautiful and peaceful. It was a pleasure to walk around them and take in views of the lake. There’s also a public restroom outside of the house, which came in handy. Below are some photos from our visit. Tickets for adults are 22 Swiss Francs; kids from 0-11 years old can visit free of charge. I think they’re worth the price if you’re into Jung. The tour guide wasn’t the most energetic or entertaining, but she did seem very respectful and knowledgeable about Jung’s life and work. No one tried to stump her, though.
You can see the tower on the approach.
Jung had to make some concessions…
A swing set. I don’t know if that’s for visitors or family. I noticed a vegetable garden, too.
The front door.
View of the lake.
Backyard…
Lovely tree… it’s probably seen a lot.
They have a boat, too.
The sunroom looks like it was added on.
This is a lovely shot from Jung’s house.
I guess the upstairs is the family’s sunroom. I saw people up there.
Sunken garden.
A bee was busily doing work in Jung’s garden.
A storm was brewing…
Monolith in Jung’s garden.
We walked back to the dock, where we had about half an hour to kill before the boat came back for us. I watched the lake and got lots of video. I was trying to capture lightning on video, but it didn’t work out for me. I did get lots of thunder and plenty of people enjoying the lake, even as the storm approached. I kept hearing the voice in my head from all the lifeguards who demanded that everyone get out of the pool! I was surprised no one was doing that in safety-conscious Switzerland. Below, you can see how I amused myself with my big, fancy, digital camera… I need to play with it some more and learn to take better pictures.
A little of what I was seeing on Saturday.
It started raining as we waited for the boat. At first, it was pleasant and refreshing… but then it started to get heavier. By the time we got on the boat, it was coming down. I was suddenly glad Bill had given me an umbrella, even though I had complained about having something else to carry in my purse. We ended up sitting outside, barely managing to score chairs under an overhang. After a couple of stops, we were able to move into the restaurant, where I had another beer. 😉
While we were outside…
Inside, as evidenced by the glare…
Lindt Home of Chocolate… where we went on Sunday.
After we got off the boat, we decided to go eat. I was kind of hoping for something interesting, but we ended up at what appeared to be a Swiss beer hall based on the legend of William Tell. Yes, it was very tourist friendly, but I did get to have some surprisingly tasty Swiss style “mac n’ cheese”. Bill had a veal schnitzel… and yes, we drank more beer. The restaurant was called Das Zeughauskeller, and if you walk down the main drag past the Hermes store, it’s doubtful you’ll miss it. Our table was reserved from 6:00pm, which gave us plenty of time to enjoy a sumptuous Swiss meal.
My husband, the goof!
This is a popular place. Every table was reserved for dinner.
Yummy Swiss mac n’ cheese– vegetarian! It comes with potatoes and caramelized onions. I enjoyed it! I could have gone totally native and paired this with apple sauce.
Bill’s veal schnitzel and “rosti” (hash brown) potatoes.
Lots of beer.
And for dessert, chocolate mousse for me, and vanilla ice cream with whipped cream and hot Hershey’s sauce for Bill.
Nice place… kid friendly, too.
Another nice scene from downtown.
We made our way back to the hotel– first paying the huge parking fee– where we relaxed and watched Father of the Bride on TV. The TVs at the hotel got all sorts of channels– there was something for everyone! Bill and I enjoyed watching BBC. I also enjoyed the bathtub again. All in all, it was a good day.
We had big plans for Saturday. As I mentioned before, Bill has an interest in the work of Carl G. Jung. His home and museum is located in Küsnacht, which is on Lake Zürich. Jung died in 1961, but his home is still in the hands of his descendants, who live there. Because of that, Carl Jung’s museum is not open every day. In fact, it’s only open on Thursdays and two Saturdays per month during the summer season. We were very fortunate that we happened to be visiting at a time when Jung’s house would be open. Bill purchased our tickets online prior to our visit, thus guaranteeing us a spot on the tour. You can buy tickets on the day of your tour, but only if space allows. The first floor of the exhibit is self-guided, but the library and Jung’s office can only be visited as part of the tour, which is about fifteen minutes long and conducted in German or English or both.
Also on the agenda was a stop at the Fraumünster church in Zürich, home of stained glass windows created by Marc Chagall, a French-Russian artist of Belarusian origin. I’m not a particularly religious person, but I do like visiting European churches and admiring the architecture, windows, and pipe organs. Our friend Meg had suggested seeing Chagall’s windows, as well as a few other places that, sadly, will have to wait until the next visit!
After breakfast, we headed downtown, which was very close to the hotel, but was made more complicated by the construction zone I mentioned in part one of this series. Then, once we got to the city, we had to find parking. Unfortunately, Bill chose to park at a garage owned by an upscale department store, not realizing how very expensive it would be. A whole day’s parking at Jelmoli’s garage cost about 49 Francs! Bill was impressed when the machine spit out a paper to help him remember which level he parked on… well, there’s a price for that kind of service, isn’t there? 😉
Anyway, we were blissfully ignorant of that when we parked and set off toward the church. It was five Swiss Francs to enter the church, but it was fine to take pictures and visit the crypt museum. I liked Chagall’s windows fine, but I actually preferred the other windows, which were made by Augusto Giacometti. The crypt museum was just opened in 2016, having previously been sealed from the public. The pipe organ, which consists of 6959 pipes, is the largest in the entire canton of Zürich. The church itself dates from July 21, 853! Below are some photos from our visit to Fraumünster.
Chagall’s famous windows… We will have to see the ones he did for St. Stephan’s Church in Mainz.The fantastic organ!Outside…Augusto Giacometti’s work…In the crypt museum…The ceiling in the choir.
After we left the Fraumünster, we went to the Grossmünster, which is very close by. On the way there, we ran into a wedding party… actually, there were a bunch of them on Saturday. I saw at least three brides in dresses having pictures taken and quaffing champagne. Augusto Giacometti also made windows for the Grossmünster. Below are some photos from that period between churches.
Cheers to the bride and groom!I saw many, many Orthodox Jewish people over the weekend. Quite a lot of them appeared to be heading for the synagogue on Friday night. These two happened to pass as I was trying to take the next picture.More beautiful windows by Giacometti.And charming women, dressed inappropriately for church…Normally, I’d be up for climbing the tower, but not in a face mask in July. A charming restaurant. It wasn’t open for lunch.The sign reads, “Sorry, there’s nothing for you here, Human.” It’s a pet store.
Once we were finished looking at the windows, it was just after noon. I wanted to eat lunch (and pee), mainly because I have a tendency to get “hangry” when I get hungry, and our tickets were at 2pm, which I figured would put me over the line of hostility. I suggested lunch after our church visits, but Bill looked at his watch and said he was concerned about the time. I reminded him of what I’m like when I’m hungry. Again, he said he was worried about missing our appointment at 2:00.
At that point, he wasn’t sure if we were driving or taking a boat to the museum. I told him to make up his mind. He told me it was my choice. I got pissed off and said, “You’re always trying to lead until it’s time to make a decision. Either lead, or don’t lead. This museum visit is important to YOU, and you’ve done the research, not me.”
So then we headed toward the dock… and I said, “So, hot dogs for lunch, then?”
Bill tried to deny that was what was coming… but when we got to the dock, sure enough, that was what was available. So I made him pose for a photo. The short lake cruise takes about 90 minutes to go round trip, or you can do one way trips or get off at stops. And, for the curious, yes– there are concessions on the boat, and bathrooms. I think Bill paid about 6 Francs per adult for our tickets. It’s a pretty good deal, especially for Switzerland. Below are some photos from our pathetic hot dog lunch and our cruise to Küsnacht.
I almost forgot to mention, while we were waiting for the boat to arrive, we wound up standing near a group of obnoxious young Americans. One was a guy, who looked to be about twenty or so, and there were also three or four young women, who looked to be the same age.
The guy was very obnoxiously smoking a pipe, trying to look cool and failing miserably. I wanted to grab the pipe from him, because it was bad enough we were all standing in line, waiting to board the boat in masks. He had to pollute the air with a pipe, too… and he looked really stupid in the process. And making matters worse was that they were loud, talking about their adventures in Geneva and other areas of Europe. I did agree with one of the young ladies, who said the weather was agreeable. I’m sure that wherever they came from in America, the temperatures were a hell of a lot higher. The pipe smoking guy, though… he was making my temperature rise with temper. What a clueless jackass! I was glad they didn’t follow us to Jung’s house and we didn’t bump into them again.
A flea marketA most unappealing lunch.Hot dogs for lunch, indeed…But at least I got to drink more Swiss beer.We got off at the next stop, which is much quieter and closer to Jung’s house.Where we got off… there were lizards everywhere!The boat and part of my finger.
In part six, I’ll write about our visit to the museum. Stay tuned!
Now that I’ve described the hotel, on with the rest of the trip. I was actually kind of dreading trying to find dinner on Friday night. I used to wait tables, so I know what dining out on Valentine’s Day can be like, both for wait staff and patrons. We were unable to make dinner reservations anywhere special, so I had a feeling dinner would be spectacularly un-special. And that’s what ultimately came to pass…
But before dinner, we were keen to visit the The Historic Wine Cellar at Strasbourg Hospices. My German friend, Susanne, told me about this historic wine cave, which was created in the year 1395. The cellar was used for storing wine, but it was also used for storing other perishables like grain. Today, visitors can visit the caves free of charge and pick up a bottle or two of wine. Very old wines are stored there now, including three historic barrels dating from 1472, 1519, and 1525. The barrel from 1472 even still has 350 liters of wine from 1472 in it– the oldest in the world aged in a barrel. It’s only been served three times in five centuries:
In 1576 to Zurich, when the Swiss proved that they could come quickly to help their friends in Strasbourg.
in 1718 for the reconstruction of the main building ravaged by a fire two years prior.
in November 1944 to General Philippe Leclerc de Hautecloque, liberator of the city of Strasbourg.
In 1994, the wine was tested by local oenologists who determined that even though the wine is over 500 years old, it’s still wine, and in fact, has “a very beautiful bright, very amber color, a powerful nose, very fine, of a very great complexity, aromas reminiscent of “Vanilla, honey, wax, camphor, fine spices, hazelnut and fruit liquor …” I wonder how much longer they’re going to age it and what made them decide to keep that particular wine for so long!
Bill and I took a taxi to visit the museum, because Bill thought maybe we’d be tasting some wine there. Alas, wine tastings are only done for special events. However, we did enjoy some beer after our visit to the cave. Here are some photos of the museum.
We passed the Russian consulate.
The cab driver dropped us here. It took a few minutes to find the cave.
Goethe was here…
Here’s the place, on the other side of the big gate.
This was on southern side of the cave. Only 50 meters remain…
of what used to be an underground passageway all over Strasbourg.
Many huge barrels…
The wine from 1472 is behind bars.
500 years old!
Le Magnum!
Impressive wine press.
Guest book!
This tower was picturesque, but smelled of pee… despite France’s lovely tradition of providing free public toilets.
We really enjoyed our visit to see the historic wines. If we had driven to the museum, we probably would have picked up a few bottles of their current wines, too. Maybe if we go back to Strasbourg, we’ll stop in again. Incidentally, the cave is closed on Sundays and public holidays. If you visit, you can either read the signs, as we did, or get a headset, which will provide more information and stories about the history of the wine cave and its relation to the historic hospital complex. It doesn’t take long to see this attraction. We were there maybe a half hour, and that was because we were reading everything, taking pictures, and going slowly. It’s still pretty cool to visit there, though.
After our visit to the museum/cave, we decided to find ourselves some beer in town. We didn’t have to walk far before we reached our first destination, a bar called La Taverne des Serruriers/ La Schloss Brasserie. More on that in the next post.
Tuesday was to be our shortest day driving. We planned to drive to Gedser, Denmark, where we would pick up our second ferry. Unlike the first ferry ride, which only lasted about twenty minutes, this one would be almost two hours. It would also cost about three times as much. We left the city bright and early, at about 8:30am. I got some pictures of Copenhagen’s rush hour, which seemed to include as many bikes as cars. I thought the Dutch were bike happy. They’ve got nothing on the Danes!
I wish we’d had a day to explore Copenhagen. Maybe we’ll have another chance to do a proper visit. Last time we were in Copenhagen, it was during a cruise. I got some good photos, but no real feel for the culture.
The drive from Copenhagen to Gedser was very pretty. I was thinking I’d like to explore Denmark’s countryside more. I even noticed what appeared to be a “treewalk” in the distance as we drove on the highway. These “tree walks” are opening up all over the place and they’re really fun and cool. I see the one in Denmark doesn’t have a slide, like the one near Stuttgart has. Unfortunately, we didn’t have time to stop for a visit, since we needed to catch the 11:00am ferry. It was delayed, and the next ferry, at 3:00pm, was cancelled.
Pretty Danish countryside…
Danish “tree walk”.
Pretty impressive Danish engineering.
Once you drive your car onto the ferry, you have to go to the upper decks for safety reasons. There, you can eat, surf the Internet, or hang out on the sundeck, where the wind will try to blow you off the boat. I got a few photos from the trip.
Driving up to the toll plaza.
Into the ass of the boat…
When you buy your tickets, they give you vouchers to buy duty free tobacco. Apparently, you’re supposed to smoke it all on the ferry… Good thing I don’t smoke.
We saw one guy breaking the rules, hanging out with the vehicles.
A Lamborghini was next to us.
It was hard to stay topside, due to the high winds.
But you could have a buffet lunch, schnitzel, fish & chips, or sandwiches.
I had a schnitzel, which was surprisingly good, even if it was served with cocktail sauce instead of ketchup.
We landed in Rostock in the mid afternoon. It’s a very pleasant East German city with kind of a dark past.
Part of the reason I wanted to go to Rostock is because there’s a very cool museum there. Rostock is where many East Germans who were arrested for political crimes awaited trial. There’s a prison there that was used until 1989. I read about it in a book last year and somehow learned about the prison museum in Rostock. There is also one in Berlin. I was really hoping to visit it during this trip, but they are currently doing renovations and the museum is closed until next year. Maybe we’ll get back there. I did get some pictures of the outside of the prison, which I’ll share in the next post.
“Lovely” East German architecture. It looked like it might have been refurbished.
Aside from East German horrors, Rostock is also a very charming port city with beautiful architecture, decent restaurants, and plenty of talented buskers on the streets, which are crammed with good shopping. We chose to stay at the Radisson Blu. Given another opportunity to visit Rostock, I don’t think I’d stay there again. Right from the beginning, things got off on a perilous foot when Bill missed the turn for the parking garage. He wound up driving into a “walking area”, earning a lot of dirty looks from locals, as well as the shame of embarrassment.
The hotel was undergoing some renovations during our visit, which I hope will include an updating of the rooms. Our room was very large and had a nice view, but the decor was truly nightmarish. It looked like the set designers of The Lion King threw up all over the interior, with loud colors, safari-ish accents, and stuff that was cool in the early 1990s. Service was decent at this hotel, but our room had at least one dead outlet and the bed was extremely firm and uncomfortable. Also, I’m not absolutely certain, but it’s possible that we might have picked up bedbugs there. If we didn’t get them there, there’s a chance we got them in the next hotel, which is where we actually found a bug, as well as bites on one of my legs. More on that in a future post.
Here are some pictures of the room.
Bill was excited about the trouser press in the closet.
That print on the wall gave me nightmares.
I didn’t think to take a picture of it, but our room had both a shower/tub and a stand up shower.
After we checked in, and Bill mentally recovered from the error he made in driving through the walkplatz, we took a walk around town. I got more pictures.
Cool fountain near Rostock’s University, 600 years old this year.
A university building.
This busker was playing a song for the little kid, bravely approaching him. It was super cute! The weather was cool, so people were bundled up. I wished I’d brought a jacket.
The Rathaus…
I didn’t get pictures of inside of the Marienkirche, because it appeared that they weren’t allowed. However, it really is a beautiful church and is well worth a visit. It even has an astrological clock.
The tower at the Marienkirche.
We were looking for dinner, but most places either didn’t have what we wanted or were heavily populated. So we ate dinner at the hotel’s restaurant, L’Osteria. It wasn’t bad, mainly because we were the only ones there until we were almost finished eating.
Bill had beef strips and shrimp with tagliatelle and spicy sauce.
I had salmon with creamy mashed potatoes and a cucumber salad with dill and a bit of vinegar. It was surprisingly good, although the salmon was just a little overcooked.
For dessert, I had an apricot tart with salted butterscotch ice cream.
Bill had affogato– espresso with vanilla ice cream.
Probably my favorite part of the meal, though, was the focaccia bread, which was served warm with olive oil and some kind of black currant vinegar. It was delicious! They only had wines by the glass. I think it was because of the renovations. The bar area was totally dismantled, so it appeared that they had diminished ability to serve drinks.
“La Fontana” is one of the restaurants we encountered before we decided to eat at the hotel. I didn’t want to go in there because the signs had typos. Here’s a PSA for all of you readers. There is no reason to use an apostrophe for simple plural words. Apostrophes are mainly used to show possession. I know it makes me sound like a freak, but I had a visceral reaction to this sign. It also sparked a very interesting Facebook thread.
We were finished with lunch at the Louvre Japanese Restaurant just around the time the Criminal Museum opened for the afternoon. During the low season, it’s only open for a few hours in the afternoon. However, if you have any interest in crime and punishment, especially during the medieval era, I would highly recommend visiting the Criminal Museum. It’s very large and extensive. We spent over an hour in there and we didn’t read everything. If you take your time and read all there is, you can easily spend a couple of hours looking at exhibits and learning about the ways people of a bygone era dealt with those who committed offenses.
Below are some pictures I took of some of the more interesting exhibits. Suffice to say, you had to stay on a straight and narrow path to avoid being publicly humiliated, tortured, or executed.
The outside of the museum. It’s connected to a church and we heard the organ playing as we passed it before the museum opened.
Pillories, where many people were forced to endure public shaming.
“Paddy wagons” with bars on them.
This is a spiked chair– obviously a torture device for people who needed correction.
Throughout the museum, there were cool little exhibits that reminded me of dollhouses. They showed how people were punished. Another showed how kids in school were disciplined.
The two above pictures were taken in the very extensive exhibit about the original Martin Luther and the many witch hunts that took place in medieval times.
An executioner’s cloak.
A drunk tank. Men who drank too much were forced to wear this barrel, sometimes weighted down for extra punishment.
One of many masks worn by people who needed to be shamed. This one was an especially nasty one.
The above photos depict an exhibit showing how children in school were punished.
An iron maiden.
As a musician, I got a kick out of this device, meant to shame bad musicians.
Admission to the museum is 7,50 euros per adult. I thought it was well worth the price because it’s so extensive and everything is translated into several languages. It looked like a number of young kids were also enjoying the exhibits. We ran into one couple who were telling their sons about the double “violins” people wore that basically yoked two people together who couldn’t get along. They were forced to wear the device until they stopped fighting.
Another exhibit explained how couples who fought could be shamed. If a man let his wife beat him, the roof of his house could be torn off. He and his wife would be publicly punished and they were forced to give their neighbors a tankard of wine. Premarital sex was also a no no and violators were publicly shamed. They weren’t allowed to marry in a church. Instead, they had to marry in an inn. Later, the husband would go to jail while the wife spent some time in a pillory.
After the Criminal Museum, we went back to Anno 1499 and enjoyed a little CNN and a brief rest. Bill got some love from our dogs, who were enjoying getting to vacation with us.
Zane isn’t much of a kisser, but when he does kiss you, he does it on the nose.
We decided to have dinner in town, even though I was kind of full from lunch. Originally, we were going to try an Italian place we saw on Saturday. I kind of wish we’d done that, since it was rated #1 on Trip Advisor. Instead, we went to a German restaurant at Hotel Reichskuechenmeister, a place about a block from the Marktplatz. On the way there, I took more pictures…
More Schneeballen and other baked goodies.
This time of year is nice, if only because it’s dead on a Sunday night and I can get some good night pictures.
Stop right here! Your dream job (at a bank) awaits!
We decided to eat at the Hotel Reichskuechenmeister because it smelled good. When we walked inside, I could see the place was pretty full, which is always a good sign. A waiter opened a small dining room on the side for us. Although I was tempted by a pasta dish with scallops and shrimps, I decided to have fried carp. Bill went with goulash made with venison.
Substantial salad I shared with Bill. It came with my fish.
Bill listens intently as I flap my gums at him. He’s a good sport. I had to use the ladies room, which involved taking the elevator to where the guest rooms are. I guess their public restrooms are being renovated or something because they had what looked like a tiny single hotel room set up as a WC. They placed a Schrank so that you couldn’t access the room, but I could see it was very small and had a traditional Bavarian twin sized bed in it.
I enjoyed the presentation of my fried carp. It was position to look like it was jumping out of water. It tasted good, too… very fresh. However, there were a lot of bones.
Bill liked his hearty goulash, which included cranberry sauce and spatzle, as well as the dreaded mushrooms I hate. He had a dark beer with his dinner while I had a glass of locally produced Sylvaner, a crisp white Riesling.
Outside by the front door… I think we spent about fifty euros on dinner. It was a pleasant experience. Next time, we will have to visit the Italian place where we were originally headed.
And a few more window displays…
My last post in this series will be my traditional “what I learned” post… Stay tuned!
Special shout out to Dianne, who recommended today’s activity a few days ago. It’s been quite hot in the Stuttgart area lately and she recently shared a link to the local travel group about the Laichinger Tiefenhöhle, a very cool (literally) vertical cave in Laichingen, a town about an hour’s drive from the local military installations.
Bill and I decided to visit Tiefenhöhle today. From our home in Unterjettingen, it took about 90 minutes to get to the cave. Once we got there, it was about 1:30pm and there was very little parking. The place was teeming with Germans enjoying the small biergarten on site and the Kletterwald, which is a big play and picnic area, along with a ropes course. We didn’t take time to explore the Kletterwald, although it did look like the people who were using it were having a lot of fun.
I happen to love caves. When I was in high school, I took an advanced biology class that offered many amazing field trips. One of our first trips was to two wild caves in Virginia. Ever since I took that trip in 1989, I’ve enjoyed spelunking. Last year, Bill and I had a great time visiting Postonja Cave Park in Slovenia. Well, I’m here to tell you that Tiefenhöhle bears very little resemblance to Postonja, Europe’s largest show caves. This pit cave in Laichingen is much smaller and requires a lot more stamina to visit. But it was well worth the effort and the price was right, too. It was just four euros per adult to take the self guided tour. The cave is open every day from 9am until 6pm from April 15-November 15.
This was a busy place today! Parking is free, but I did notice some people weren’t very considerate about how they parked. There were several spots that were almost, but not quite, large enough to park our Mini Cooper. We ended up having to make a spot on the grass.
This building is where you buy your tickets, visit the small museum, and perhaps enjoy cake or beer after your trip through the cave.
Once you buy your ticket(s), you head down a flight of stairs where there is a small introductory exhibit. As you can see, you can press the button and hear about what you’re looking at. Bill pressed the button for English, immediately outing us as Auslanders (as if anyone had a doubt).
He was a little embarrassed by the spectacle.
I’d be interested to hear the German for kids. There are several of these stations in the cave, too.
Once you’re finished with the first exhibit, you open the door to the cave and start walking…
Seems harmless enough.
Start the very steep walk down…
My thighs got a workout…
These steps are really more like ladders. I advise wearing long pants and good shoes. The steps are often wet, cold, and can be slippery. You may also want to wear gloves because the metal railing gets icy cold. You definitely need to use the railings. This is not a place where you’d want to faceplant!
Toward the bottom of the cave… This is the deepest show cave in Germany and the only vertical cave that can be visited by the public. Once you’ve reached the bottom, you are about 55 meters below the Earth’s surface. The deepest part of the cave is 80 meters down, but that is not part of the tour.
Now it’s time to climb up. I hope your heart is strong!
I recommend stopping to take a lot of pictures as you catch your breath.
You may also want to wear something you don’t mind getting wet. There is an area where water drips constantly and it will get on you.
A steep climb!
Bill is happy! He likes it when I find stuff for us to do besides drinking beer.
One last shot before we started the last painful set of stairs. I was pretty winded when we finally reached the exit.
Some readers may remember that Bill and I visited Blautopf in March of this year. Blautopf, in the pretty town of Blaubeuren, is located about 16km from Tiefenhöhle. If you wanted to, you could easily do the cave in the morning and then visit Blautopf, to see where the cave system ends. In the museum at the cave, there is a cool display that shows how the caves wind up at Blautopf. After you visit Blautopf, you could stop in the Hammersmith museum. That would easily kill most of a day and use up plenty of energy.
Here are a couple of shots of the play equipment at the adjoining ropes course/picnic area at Kletterwald. We didn’t hang around too long because it was time for beer.
This was just what we needed to regain our strength. Leave it to the Germans to reward you after a tough climb! We were joined by a very friendly German family. The man of the family brought coffee and cake for the ladies– looked like his wife and two Omas. Then they were joined by people who appeared to be friends, having a great time. Across the way, there was a lady who had brought her adorable and very well behaved beagle!
The museum is small, but interesting. You can stop by the restroom, too. They are free of charge!
This is a skeleton of a cave bear.
As you can see, it’s a lot bigger than your garden variety brown bear.
Bill was impressed.
The caves are closed during the cold months, probably to give the bats a break. I did actually see a bat flying in the cave.
These are pictures of the 3D display they had of the cave system. In the first picture, you can see Blautopf, while the second shows the Tiefenhöhle.
I had to get a picture of this car in the parking lot. I think it’s for moms who have just given birth and want to reclaim their bodies! But Bill wondered if it was something involving kangaroos wearing boxing gloves. I wonder if being so deep in the ground did something to his thinking!
It didn’t take us long to visit the cave, although we didn’t necessarily take our time. Needless to say, this is not a stroller friendly activity, nor would I want to take young kids in this cave. You have to be pretty surefooted and cautious to explore it safely. I am not kidding when I say the steps are very steep both going up and down and it is quite strenuous, especially if you’re a fatass housewife like me.
There are areas in the cave that are low and/or narrow, so tall people or very overweight people may want to be especially cautious. This is not an activity for anyone with mobility issues, claustrophobia, or heart problems. You will probably work up a sweat, too, even though the cave is refreshingly cool.
I wore shorts and Keen sandals when we toured the cave. The shoes were okay, but I wish I had worn long pants and/or socks. The steps are not very deep or wide, so my bare skin kept touching the icy cold metal on the steps. It wasn’t an altogether pleasant sensation and I got pretty dirty around my ankles. Edited to add: there are spats available to borrow for protecting your lower legs. I didn’t see them until after we finished.
Other than that, though, we really had a good time exploring Tiefenhöhle. I would definitely recommend it to anyone who enjoys exploring caves. Tomorrow, we will probably visit another cave attraction. Stay tuned!
Some days, I really wish I had kids to entertain. I am myself a bit a of a big kid, so having a kid to play with would give me a good excuse to visit kid friendly museums and attractions. Bill and I didn’t actually plan to do anything kid friendly today. We stumbled across our fun, just like we always do. And now I’m going to pass along our good fortune to readers who have kids and enjoy science.
We had absolutely perfect weather today. Bill wanted to know what we should do today. We went looking for a fest. I remembered that next weekend, Freudenstadt would be hosting a fish market. Then I remembered that next weekend is the weekend before my birthday and we’ll probably be out of town. I’ve always been intrigued by Freudenstadt. It’s a decent sized city not too far from where I live, in Unterjettingen. We always drive through it when we go to France. One time, we stopped and had lunch at the Turmbrau. I remembered that lunch with fondness, so we decided to visit there today and wander around…
It turns out Freudenstadt is undergoing a lot of major road work.
It’s a bit of a mess in some parts of the city.
I noticed the name of this store and it made me laugh. “To Crazy”, huh? I think they meant “Too Crazy.” But that’s no worse than Der Wienerschnitzel in the United States, which is also incorrect.
There is an art fair and flea market going on today and tomorrow.
And someone was getting married. I took this right after withdrawing money from an ATM. While I was doing that, a couple was changing their baby next to the machine. I guess the baby left a deposit.
We didn’t linger too long at the market. We wanted food and beer.
Bill checks the menu.
We enjoyed housemade beers. Bill had a Maibock and I had a Hefeweizen.
For lunch, I had Schweinshaxe, which I couldn’t finish. It wasn’t as big as some I’ve had. At the Turmbrau, this dish comes with sauerkraut. I have to be careful with that or else it’ll be a very windy night at my house.
Bill had roasted pork with fried potatoes. This was served with a beer gravy that was very good. The pork was also tender and flavorful. I think I liked Bill’s dish better than mine. My pork knuckle was a trifle overdone.
But it did come with beer bread.
Turmbrau has live entertainment, too.
And a really excellent looking Biergarten. We probably should have sat out there, since I wore plenty of sunscreen.
Brewing!
This is a great place for lunch. Both times we’ve been, it’s been busy. Service is friendly and efficient and prices are fair. We had a couple of weizens for dessert. With the extra round of beer, the bill came to just under 35 euros. We made the waitress smile when we topped it up to 40.
Because Bill didn’t want to drive so soon after our second round, he wanted to walk around Freudenstadt. I had a better idea. On the way into town, I noticed a sign for a museum. After looking up the word “Erlebnis”, I determined a visit to Experimenta might be a fun way to sober up… even if it was kind of a kid oriented place. Like I said, despite last week’s fun, I really am a big kid. Experimenta turned out to be a no frills kind of science museum, but it was surprisingly fun for us! We did, however, get curious looks from other visitors.
Experimenta is open daily from 10-6. Tickets cost 6 euros for adults and 5 euros for kids. A young guy was manning the desk. It looked like the building was once a music school.
The first exhibit was about time zones. I noticed the signage was all in German, but with a little effort, I could understand a lot of it. A lot of the exhibits are very intuitive anyway.
Here’s an exhibit about size perception.
Bill has fun with balls. That silver thing was blowing air
I never did figure this out… it involved a marble. Edited to add, my German friend Susanne says there is a bigger Experimenta in Heilbronn and she shared a picture that shows how this activity works. I want to also mention that a lot of the activities had step stools for little ones.
Spyrograph.
This was the room I really got into. Bill and I built a bridge.
And we learned how holes affect the speed of cylinders.
I brushed up on my terrible geometry skills.
Bill loved this activity…
Pictured above is a logic activity involving a man who has to move a goat, a wolf, and food across a river. He only has room on the boat to move one at a time. Bill really got into telling me how the man could move each. I giggled at him because it was fun watching him turn into a little boy, much like the young kids who were enjoying the activities.
Next, we made a bridge out of magnets. This was a very interesting exhibit because it forced us to learn the logistics of building a bridge and what you have to do to make it work. I am still a confirmed former English major, though, and couldn’t explain this if my life depended on it.
Next, I saw how water can propel a boat…
I learned about human organs.
And bones.
And the tongue!
I think my favorite room was the last one we entered. On the main floor, there’s an exhibit about electricity…
I played with these for a long time…
And then I discovered the black light. Sorry for the ugly photos but…
You can’t see it in this picture, but in person, it was really obvious which of my teeth is an implant. Hard to believe I’ve had it for a year now!
I may never have teeth this white again.
I made a short video of our fun today… It offers an example of what you can expect at Experimenta!
Like I said, I wish I’d managed to have kids. We live in an area that’s really great for kid friendly activities. If I had a kid, I’d make of a day out of Freudenstadt and its environs. You can stop at the awesome Barefoot Park in Dornstetten, which is on the way. After that, head to Freudenstadt and have a good lunch at one of the many restaurants in the town. Then visit the science museum. By the time you’re done, you’ve killed a few hours. And… as you can see below, the countryside is BEAUTIFUL! God bless Germany!
Look closely and you can see a glider…
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