Here’s a very quick post about last night’s wine stand, which was blessed with sunshine and relatively warm temperatures (for a change). Recently, we’ve been bringing Noyzi, the Kosovar wonderdog, to the wine stands. We hope to get him a little more socialized and used to crowds, noise, and people.
Noyzi has made a lot of progress since we adopted him in October 2020. When we first got Noyzi, he was afraid of most people, especially men. Now, he’s still a little nervous and skittish, but he clearly loves people and wants to interact. And he’s very gentle– not a single aggressive bone lies in his massive doggie body.
We probably would have gone to the wine stand last night, no matter what, but we did have a good reason to celebrate last night. Bill got a very nice raise yesterday. He gets them yearly, but this year, it was double the size of last year’s raise. So we definitely raised a glass or two to that.
We got to tell Noyzi’s story to a German couple who were intrigued by him. They spoke a little English, we spoke even less German, but we still managed to bond over our street dogs. It turned out the couple has one, too. I think they said theirs was from Romania.
Noyzi was pretty fidgety at the wine stand last night, but a quick walk around the Dorfplatz helped him calm down a bit. I think by the end of the summer, the wine stand will be old hat to Noyzi and he will be much better in public places. After about an hour, he was settling down enough that I thought he might even lie down, but we never quite made it to that point.
We met another guy with his big brown dog, Sam. Noyzi and Sam hit it off famously. As we were leaving, Noyzi made a point of saying goodbye to his new canine village friend. One thing that makes Noyzi good at the wine stand is that he’s relatively quiet. We seldom brought Zane and Arran to these events because they were both pretty loud and obnoxious, and they had each other to hang out with. Noyzi is a totally different kind of dog, and I think he will eventually become really good at these gatherings.
Below are a few photos from our excursion to the Dorfplatz… I also included a couple I took yesterday morning on our walk.
And here are a couple of short videos… One is of Noyzi as we were about to go to the wine stand, and the other is of our very full village brook, which is really rushing right now. I suspect that pretty soon, the heavy rain will stop, and the creek will be much shallower and slower.
Noyzi used to be afraid of leashes and Bill. Now he loves both, and enjoys excursions. He likes people and other dogs, too, even if he is a bit nervous.
The creek is FULL. I don’t think I’ve ever seen it this high.
We had no plans at all for Saturday. It was rainy and chilly, though, so we figured people would probably be hanging out in the spa area. We decided to take a drive instead. I can’t even tell you exactly where we went. Bill just got on the road, heading north, and we drove through several nice, picturesque towns. At one point, I was enchanted by the sight of rushing water, so we stopped so I could get some pictures. We eventually turned around when we got to the town of Rastatt, which looked to be pretty decent sized.
A small shrine near the rushing water…I enjoyed playing with my camera’s settings…Got plenty of cool photos of this picturesque area north of Baiersbronn…This is the Murg River.And then we passed through Gernsbach, where Schloss Eberstein sits on a hilltop.
After a couple of hours of good music and conversation, we headed back toward Obertal. It had started to rain and it was time for lunch. Despite all of the eating we did on Friday, we were hungry. I decided that I really wanted to stop at the Forellenhof Buhlbach, a restaurant owned by Hotel Bareiss.
If you are a food lover, you might know the Bareiss because it is where Baiersbronn’s other Michelin Three Star restaurant is. That restaurant, also known as Bareiss, is led by Clauss-Peter Lumpp, who has been working there for decades. I read about Chef Lumpp in that amazing New York Times Magazine article about Baiersbronn I posted at the beginning of this series. Now that I’m looking at the hotel’s Web site, I’m thinking that maybe if we go back, we should look into staying there!
In any case, we had driven up to the Forellenhof Buhlbach restaurant earlier in the day, so I got a good photo of it before the crowds showed up. It’s only open from 11:30 until 5:30 every day, and it’s a popular place that specializes in serving fresh trout. Reservations are not accepted. When we arrived, the place was pretty full and there was a line to get in. Since we didn’t have anything else to do, we decided to stick around. That was a good decision. Our wait was only about ten minutes and the meal was outstanding. No, it wasn’t fancy gourmet fare, but it was still very good food. I love fresh fish, and it doesn’t get much fresher than what is served at the Forellenhof. We did enjoy trout that was just as fresh when we visited Slovenia in 2016. The place in Slovenia was a bit more rustic, though.
Here are some photos from a fantastic lunch!
There was a covered area near the front door where people could wait. We signed in using Luca and the server checked our COVID pass.Wines by the bathroom…Too bad they are only open during the daytime.The menuThey have them in English and probably French, too. France is very near.Bill was very happy he listened to me.Wine list.This was a nice wine– very crisp and went beautifully with the fish!Bill’s smoked trout came with horseradish sauce and roe.He got parsley potatoes and market vegetables as his two sides.I had my fish Müllerinart– dredged in milk and flour and lightly fried in butter.And I had the market vegetables and creamed potatoes with scallions. Those potatoes were delicious! They were small chunks, slightly mashed.For dessert, Bill had Grandma’s cheesecake, which was served plain, but had raisins in the crust.And I had Schwarzwaldschnit… more Black Forest cake, more modestly cut.The drive out… Happy sheep.I would love to live in such an idyllic place.
One of the other guests at the Forellenhof was a nun. She seemed to be enjoying her lunch with her companion. This restaurant is quite reasonably priced, especially compared to where we ate on Friday. I think we got out of there having spent less than 100 euros. There are other menu choices besides fish, too, although the trout is definitely the star attraction at the Forellenhof.
Since we were pretty full and lunch was later, we decided to hang out in the bar instead of having dinner. The crowd changed a bit. There were many French people there, no doubt wanting to eat some excellent cuisine. I did notice that there weren’t many Americans around, especially in our hotel. In fact, most of the people in our hotel didn’t speak English, which I found rather refreshing. Bill got to practice his German a lot, and I found that I understood more than I realized.
I got to try out a new dress, too…I got a kick out of this art by the restrooms by the hotel.
There were a few things that made our trip a little more stressful than it should have been. All of it had to do with my inability to unplug from social media. I was especially nervous after having read about a gang of women in our neighborhood who have been trying to break in to people’s houses. One of Bill’s co-workers even caught someone trying to break into his car a few weeks ago. After reading about the neighborhood creepers, I ended up buying more renter’s insurance. I am a BIG believer in insurance.
We checked out of Hotel Engel Obertal at about 9:00am yesterday. As a parting gift, they gave us water, a small loaf of fresh farmer’s bread, and salt. Our final bill for the bar and restaurant, taxes, and one night of parking in the garage, was about 400 euros. All in all, we spent about 2000 euros on the hotel. I would stay at that hotel again, although if we go back, I’ll probably book somewhere else for the different experience. To anyone who is looking into visiting Baiersbronn, I would recommend the Hotel Engel Obertal. It seemed pretty popular with seniors, although we also saw a number of young families there. It has a nice family vibe.
Our drive back to Wiesbaden wasn’t bad at all, although I did a fair amount of bitching… mainly due to stuff that was completely unrelated to our weekend. Overall, we had a wonderful time, and now I’m thinking our days of staying in downtown Stuttgart when we need to see the dentist may be over forever. I’m all about staying in the Black Forest now, and am even thinking of other towns I’d like to explore next time. A bonus was that when we got home, our house was fine, and the dogs were delighted to see us. Noyzi even jumped into the back of the Volvo all by himself!
I hope anyone who’s been following along enjoyed this look at Baiersbronn. There are plenty of reasons to go back… more “stars” to see, if the opportunity presents itself. Until next time!
Poor Bill had his second Moderna shot yesterday. The installation opened up some walk in slots for the second vaccine, so Bill went so he could spare himself a long drive to Landstuhl today. He went to Landstuhl for the first shot, back in late April. It’s not such a bad drive to get there, but it does take about an hour just to get out that way. Then he’d have to get through the process and drive back. It’s much easier to get the shot locally, which is what I plan to do myself in a couple of weeks.
He was feeling okay after the shot, but by about 3:00am, he started feeling like he did when we both got swine flu in December 2013. Today, he’s taking it easy, lying in bed. Luckily, the sheets are nice and fresh, since we washed everything yesterday.
I just took the dogs for a walk. I didn’t mind, since my new Apple Watch gives me pep talks about exercising. Bill usually walks the dogs if he’s home, but he’s not up to it today. So off I went, and I managed to get some photos of the flowers blooming in our neighborhood, along with some meddlesome nettles. No, they aren’t particularly exciting pictures… and I look forward to when we can get out and see and do more. Hopefully, that won’t be too much longer, as COVID-19 infection numbers continue to drop here in Deutschland. I think it’s partly due to the weather, and mostly due to people becoming vaccinated, at long last. After a slow start, Germany has kicked its immunization program into high gear! Hooray!
I started with a shot of these horrid plants… nettles! They are EVERYWHERE in Germany.
Pretty purple flowers…
growing with the nettles next to the creek.
I love walking past the creek…
Wish I could see it a little more clearly.
I love the sound of rushing water.
Daisies… I like how Germans will mow around patches of wild flowers.
More daisies and buttercups and dandelions…
As I was taking this photo, Arran was doing his part to fertilize. 😉
If there weren’t an Autobahn on the right edge, this would almost look bucolic. You can’t see our Rewe, either.
I like how bursts of color pop up through the asphalt.
These last four…
are pictures of…
my neighbors’
well-tended gardens…
I meant to get a picture of this one lady’s tree, next to her well-tended house. Under the tree is a carpet of beautiful purple flowers. I noticed it the other day and thought it looked so pretty. I feel fortunate to live in a safe, clean, country where people work to beautify the surroundings, especially in the spring. Maybe tomorrow, I’ll get a chance to take a photo of that pretty flower adorned tree. Perhaps Bill and I can even take a walk together, like we did in the old days.
The elderly lady who lives in that house has a little female dog who does NOT like other dogs. We run into her quite frequently, and her little dog always acts like the proverbial bitch, wanting to take a piece out of Arran and Noyzi (and Zane before him). Her dog barks, shows her teeth, and strains against the bright orange leash the lady uses to keep her in check. It’s a myth that all German dogs are perfectly trained. But the lady is nice enough and always says “Guten Morgen” when we pass each other.
The featured photo is the rainbow that appeared after it rained all day and the sun came out. The rainbow only lasted for a couple of minutes, so I was lucky to catch it. I hope it’s a good omen that means better days are coming soon. At the very least, Bill should be feeling better tomorrow. And then we can look forward to when shot number two knocks me on my ass.
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