Tag Archives: Cafe Tagblatt

Baden-Württemberg, short breaks

A winter break in Waiblingen… Going home! (part eight)

By Sunday morning, I was feeling ready to go back to Wiesbaden. I missed my dogs and my bed. I also needed to do laundry. Still, I’m really glad we took the opportunity to visit Waiblingen and try out some of the restaurants there. It really is a cute town, and a nice escape from Stuttgart, for those who prefer a lower key place to spend a weekend.

If I ever have to have dental work done at Dr. Blair’s office again, I’ll probably go back to the Wald Hotel, which is probably our favorite Stuttgart area hotel. But for just the routine stuff, I think we’ll just keep looking for interesting alternative places around or near the city. If we manage to stay in Europe long enough for another cleaning, maybe we’ll even stay in Heilbronn for a weekend. I’ve been curious about it for years, and it’s not far from Stuttgart. We could reach it easily by train.

Since the car was parked in the garage, and that is a short walk from Bachofer, we decided to pack up and load the car before breakfast. No one was at the hotel when we checked out, so we left our keycard at the desk outside our room, which seemed to serve as a basic reception, even though we checked in from the restaurant. We didn’t have a chance to pay for the stuff we got at the honor bar. Bill later sent Bachofer an email and they said they’d debit our card. They also thanked Bill for his honesty. 🥰

On Sunday, the Kauffmann Bakery and Konditorei was closed. Sachsenheimer Cafe was not going to be open until 9:00 AM, and we didn’t want to wait that long. So that left Cafe Tagblatt as our option for breakfast. Given a choice, I would have probably picked the Sachsenheimer for our last breakfast in Waiblingen; it was my favorite in terms of food. On the other hand, Cafe Tagblatt was probably the most charming.

When we walked into the place, there was one couple sitting there having breakfast. Another lady was finishing up her breakfast outside. A young man with black hair said something to us that we didn’t quite understand properly. First, he asked if we had a reservation. When we said we didn’t, Bill thought he responded that if we didn’t have a reservation, we had to leave.

I said, “Never mind, let’s just go.” I figured the Sachsenheimer would also be booked.

But then the male half of the German couple said, “No, no, no… He said you’d only have 45 minutes to eat, because the restaurant is booked until 9:30 AM.”

We thanked the guy profusely and proceeded to order Französisch breakfasts. We had actually planned to do that, anyway, because we weren’t wanting a big breakfast that would take a lot of time. The Französisch breakfast at Cafe Tagblatt was just a croissant with butter and jam and some fruit. We also had freshorange juice, and Bill had coffee, while I had hot chocolate. That was plenty, and we stayed under the 48 euro (24 euros each) limit.

A last look at the Bachofer Restaurant and Hotel
Breakfast at Cafe Tagblatt
Kinda light, I guess.

As we ate, more people showed up, and I got the distinct impression that Sunday morning is when people in Waiblingen customarily like to go out for breakfast. I could see the charm in that, as it’s a super cute town, and people seem to know each other well.

We paid the waiter with our Bachofer vouchers. He then became a lot friendlier and asked us where we’re from. We told him the truth (🤭), and he said (in accented German) that he’d moved to Waiblingen from Switzerland. Aha… maybe that’s why we didn’t quite catch exactly what he said when we came into the restaurant. We thanked him and give him a Trinkgeld, then said goodbye. I hope we were good representatives of Americans, even though our President is a total piece of shit. Sorry… he really is. 🤬

Our drive home was completely uneventful. We didn’t even need to stop anywhere for a pee! Sunday mornings are a good time for driving on the Autobahn, if it’s not a holiday weekend. I found myself unexpectedly tired after our short break, so after I did some basic chores, I decided to lie down on my bed, where I promptly fell asleep and took a much-needed LONG nap. The dogs later came home and were delighted to see us! They love going to the Birkenhof, but they also love to come home. Charlie, especially, was thrilled to be with his “daddy” again.

Well, that about does it for our trip to Waiblingen. Stay tuned for my “ten things I learned” post. I think I have enough energy to write that one today. 😉

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Baden-Württemberg, short breaks

A winter break in Waiblingen… A little Asian food and pizza! (part five)

Featured image is of a mural under the old Rathaus in Waiblingen.

Friday was probably our least interesting day during our trip to Waiblingen. Bill had been under the impression that the long course he’d taken on Thursday morning was a single course being offered twice. He’d originally signed up for what he thought was the Friday class, but changed it to Thursday so we could hang out more together during the morning.

As it turned out, the class was in two, three hour parts– the first part on Thursday morning, and the second part on Friday. He’d also signed up for an afternoon and evening course, because before we’d planned our dental holiday, he was going to take a day off work and knock them out at home. He was thinking about blowing off the morning class, but I told him he should go ahead and complete it so he’d get full credit. So, Friday morning I spent more time writing in my blog, reading, and messing around with Facebook, while my scholarly husband did his schoolwork.

However, before class began, we had breakfast. On Friday, we visited the Cafe Tagblatt, an establishment with a prime location on the Marktplatz. This was one of the three choices we had for breakfast covered by the Bachofer, and it looked to me like it was a place much beloved by the locals. We chose it on Friday, because it opened at 8:00 AM, instead of 9:00 AM, as the third option did. According to its Web site, Cafe Tagblatt has been in Waiblingen since 1985… which doesn’t seem that long ago to me, but then, it’s hard for me to admit I’m in my 50s.

Cafe Tagblatt offers breakfast, lunch, and dinner, as well as seating outside. On the market days– Wednesday and Saturday– I noticed a lot of people enjoying a coffee and a cigarette in their outside area. We ate there twice during our Waiblingen trip, both times for breakfast. On Wednesday, we went for more substantial offerings. Bill had a plate with breads, fruits, cold cuts, and cheeses, while I had a Pfännle with eggs and bacon, and a side of toast. We both had fresh orange juice, and plenty of coffee.

This was a lot of food, and in fact, we went slightly over our allowance, probably because we both had a small cup of coffee. The eggs were more than I could eat, and slightly overdone. Bill really liked his dish, although again, it was a bit more than he needed. The service was friendly and professional, and I enjoyed the morning vibe. I can see why it’s a popular place for locals, especially on the weekend. We learned on Sunday, that if you want to have breakfast at Cafe Tagblatt, you’d better make a reservation!

Bill took his three our lecture, and then, grateful for some sunshine, we decided to take a walk around the town. We ended up having lunch at an Asian place called VU Asia Wok. I had noticed it on our first afternoon in Waiblingen, and figured Bill would like it. They had Vietnamese, Thai, and Chinese cuisine.

Bill went for a Vietnamese dish called Mien Xao Ga. He got his with chicken, but it was also offered with beef. I probably should have had what he had, but I opted for sweet and sour duck. Unfortunately, a lone mushroom slipped into my dish and kind of put me off. VU Asia Wok appeared to be a very popular lunch stop. It was almost full when we arrived.

At one point, what appeared to be the young son of the proprietor showed up. He looked to be about six or seven years old, or so. I noticed how he hung up his jacket and sat down at a table near us, where he immediately got started with his homework. He went upstairs to the family’s home before we were finished eating. I went up the stairs to use the ladies room, and the little boy helpfully turned on the light for me. Charmed, I said “Danke” to him. Then, when I was leaving, I said “Ciao.”

He responded with a cheery “Bye!” 🤭 He probably already speaks better English than I do.

Since the weather was holding for us, we took a walk, and I got a few more photos of Waiblingen on our way back to the Bachofer. We were too late for Bill to catch his lecture, which he was fine with, because he wasn’t all that keen on the guy presenting it…

I was kind of glad the tower wasn’t open, so I didn’t feel obligated to climb it.
Charming Greek Orthodox church!

Bill decided to take the evening lecture. It turned out the original lecturer had to cancel, probably because there was a lot of snow in Zürich that day. So, the guy who presented the earlier lecture that Bill skipped, filled in for the guy who had to cancel. Bill got his lecture with the “self-promoting” Klugscheisser, anyway. 😆 He sure made good use of his time on our dental break!

By the time Bill’s lecture was over, it was about 7:30 PM. The weather had turned crappy again. Neither of us felt like going out to eat. Bill decided to go get some wine and snacks from a grocery store, and he also picked up a pizza from a spot on the Marktplatz called Il Divo. He said it was a tiny place, full of Italians, and a rather eccentric looking proprietor. Too bad we didn’t get a chance to dine there, because the pizza was one of the best I’ve ever had in Germany. I didn’t get a picture of it, though… It looked like most salami pizzas, and was plenty for us!

I did get a couple of shots from our room, as the weather got yucky again…

I wish we’d felt more like venturing out, but I find that as I’m getting older, I don’t always want to go out at night– especially when the weather is cold and wet, and it’s well into the dinner hours in Europe. Besides, we had big dinner plans for Saturday night. More on that in the next post!

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