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Welcome back to Stuttgart… part 2– back to the fabulous Waldhotel and dinner at Finch

Back in the summer of 2016, Bill and I discovered Stuttgart’s wonderful Waldhotel, a four star property in Degerloch.  It’s located in a beautifully forested area in Degerloch, right next to the TV Tower, and a Sportsplatz.  We stayed there the first time because we wanted to see Van Morrison in concert and didn’t feel like trying to come all the way back to Unterjettingen from Stuttgart late at night.  We enjoyed the experience so much that, counting this past weekend, we’ve been back four times.  They’ve hosted us for Van Morrison in 2016, Sting’s March 2017 show at the Porsche Arena, The Rollings Stones’ June 2018 show at the Mercedes-Benz Arena, and now for Elton John’s show.

So far, we’ve only gone to Waldhotel when we’ve had concerts planned downtown, but I can see us staying again whenever we have business in Stuttgart.  Waldhotel is very convenient to the U-Bahn, yet in a quiet, scenic area.  The staff is friendly and service-oriented, and the facilities are beautiful.

I booked the hotel via Expedia.com a few months ago.  Since we had stuff to do besides seeing Elton John, we stayed three nights.  I usually book their Superior rooms, but I decided this time, I wanted to try something different.  I upgraded us to their Junior Suite.  The Waldhotel used to be smaller than it is now; the superior rooms are in the new part of the hotel.  The classic rooms and the junior suite are in the older part.  Although the price difference wasn’t insignificant, I really wanted to see another part of the hotel, and let’s face it.  I’d rather upgrade than downgrade.  Waldhotel also has a suite, but I thought that would be overkill.

We were warmly welcomed as we checked in.  A staffer showed us the suite, since it’s a bit unique.  To reach it, you open a door that is common to room 500 and 502.  502 is the junior suite and, to reach it, you have to climb a small staircase.  I think the room also connects to room 500.  There was a mysterious stairway in the junior suite, but since we didn’t rent room 500, we didn’t have access.  It looked like a really small bedroom comparatively speaking.  I’ll admit I only got a peek when the housekeeper was cleaning it.  Edited to add: my German friend says that room 500 is a little room connected with the junior suite that can be booked for children.  I guess they don’t rent it to people not in the junior suite.

Anyway, here are some pictures of our fabulous room!

Room 502… at the top of a small staircase.

 

As the receptionist was showing us the features of the room, I mentioned that we’d been to the hotel a few times and this was the first time I hadn’t booked the superior room.  It was strictly because I wanted to see another room.  The superior rooms are excellent… I especially love the showers in them, which I think are even better than the one in the junior suite.  They have this large “square of water” and mood lighting.  On the other hand, they don’t boast an enormous bathtub that can accommodate two adults…

This bathtub was the bomb!  Bill and I were both able to enjoy it… at the same time!

A view of the suite from the behind the tub.  It’s very comfortable.

Nice bed!  I missed the headboard, though.  The superior rooms have them.

In the sitting room.  Two couches, a little desk, a full sized mirror, and a credenza for tea and coffee.

 

One of the views from the windows….  All of the windows are shaped the same and, to be honest, the views aren’t great because the windows are small.  They each have covers on them that can be used to block out light.

The TV emerges from the console.  Just push a button.  There’s also a small fridge with apple juice, orange juice, water, and beer.  It’s free, even in the lesser rooms.

The WC.  It’s a bit of a walk from the bed, but very comfortable.  I scowl at the square toilet seat.  We are replacing the one in our house and those things are expensive!  If I ever have my own house, I will not have a square toilet seat!

 

The shower room.  It’s large and the shower is nice, but it’s not quite as awesome as the showers in the newer part of the hotel.

 

His and her sinks.  There’s another sink just like it on the other side.

 

A nice vanity for the ladies.

 

Mysterious stairway.

 

They brought us a lovely welcome treat.  Riesling, fruit, and chocolates!  That will win me over every time!

 

We never did turn on the TV.

 

The receptionist kindly made reservations at the hotel’s restaurant, Finch, for 7:00pm.  We’ve eaten at Finch a few times.  It’s always a lovely experience, albeit somewhat expensive.  Here are some pictures from our Thursday night dinner.

We started at the bar, where the Waldhotel’s awesome Italian bartender, Angelo, was waiting for us.  Every time we’ve stayed at the Waldhotel, he’s been there.  He makes a mean cocktail, and he’s very charming too.  I had a gin and tonic.

Bill had a Campari and soda.

 

When we were finished with our drinks, we went to the restaurant and sat in one of its very impressive and private booths.  The food is nice at Finch, but I have to admit to loving their booths, which are totally enclosed and offer a view of the terrace.

Deciding on dinner.  

 
 

Bill selected this lovely Chilean red, made from grapes that came from vines imported from France.  The French version of these grapes are almost “extinct”, due to an infestation of phylloxera, but have become one of Chile’s most important grape varietals.  After the infestation, French vintners opted to grow grapes that were easier to tend.  I really enjoyed the Carmenere, which had a distinctive peppery flavor that somehow also reminded me of very fresh Concord grapes, minus the sweetness.  I would order this again.  It’s considered a “cousin” of Merlot, but it didn’t remind me of Merlot.

 

Out came the bread and butter…

 

Then the amuse.  This was very fresh salmon.  Since we both opted for lighter fare, the waitress asked if we were vegetarians!  I don’t get asked that very often!

 

I started with a delicious vegetarian Thai-Curry-Asparagus soup.  It was garnished with peanuts and passion fruit. 

Bill had marinated burrata, which was creamy cheese, green asparagus, mango, pine nuts, balsamic vinegar, and plum tomatoes.  He loved it!  I am getting braver about cheese lately and even I enjoyed a taste of this.

 

For my main course, I had risotto with saffron, white asparagus, half dried potatoes, and grilled prawns.  The risotto was perfect, but I wanted to save room for dessert.

Bill had the asparagus tart, which was vegetarian.  It was made with soy yogurt, smoked tofu, and cashews, as well as a wild herb salad.  He really enjoyed it.  I was feeling pretty virtuous about dinner, but then it was time for the happy ending.

 

I had semi-sweet chocolate mousse with a scoop of vanilla ice cream, raspberries and meringue.  It was a generous serving, but I managed it.

Bill had the passion fruit cheesecake with coconut praline and passion fruit ice cream.  He said it was just the perfect size and very delicious.

Finch’s food is usually very good and Thursday night was no exception.  They change the menu routinely, so it’s worth repeat visits to see what they have to offer.

After we ate, we went back to the room.  I found a nice letter from the manager thanking me for staying again.  The housekeeper had kindly left us some very soothing tea and cookies and turned down the bed for us.  All in all, it was a nice way to start off our visit.

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Staycationing in Stuttgart #2… the Wald Hotel and Finch Restaurant

Tuesday, March 28, 2017 was a day Bill and I had looked forward to for months.  On the 29th, we would both see Sting perform in concert at the Porsche Arena.  On the 28th, we’d have a lovely meal at a hotel restaurant called Finch.

Early that morning, Bill took our dogs, Zane and Arran, to Max at Dog Holiday.  In the afternoon, Bill came home early from work.  We packed our bags and headed toward Stuttgart.  As it turned out, we had appointments to get our teeth cleaned that day.  We made the appointments last fall, before we even knew Sting was coming to town.  When Bill found the appointment card in his coat pocket, he gave some thought to rescheduling.  But then I reminded him that we’d be in Stuttgart anyway and might as well kill two birds with one stone.  So our staycation began with getting our teeth cleaned.

After we visited Dr. Blair downtown, we headed to the Wald Hotel, which is located in a sports complex very close to the TV tower (Fernsehturm).  We were quickly and professionally checked in and given room 309.  The room was familiar, since it was much like the one we had last summer.

Comfortable bed with duvets rather than sheets and blankets.

A small sofa with a table and complementary beverages in the mini bar (beer, water, and apple schorle).

The view from our balcony.

And the balcony itself.

Fabulous rainfall shower.  Unfortunately, there is a window that faces into the room, so if someone showers early in the morning, the whole room ends up illuminated.

After we dropped off our bags and got cleaned up, we headed to the hotel’s bar. Wald Hotel has a very nice bar area manned by an Italian gentleman.  Bill recognized him from our last visit, after he made us excellent martinis.  This time, we asked for gin and tonics, which he made with Hendrick’s gin and garnished with cucumbers.  Refreshed by the cocktails, we decided to enjoy some dry red Italian wine while we waited for our reservation.

A very nice gin and tonic.

Bill enjoys a rare cocktail.  He usually drives, so he doesn’t often get cocktails in bars.

Yes, we killed this bottle of wine.

At 7:30, we went to Finch and were seated in a beautiful window booth that offered a lot of privacy.  The booth was big enough to seat six people, so we had plenty of room.  Our server was very professional.  When Bill spoke German, she responded in German.  And then she graciously asked if we’d like menus in English.  We took her up on the offer.

Really nice booth at Finch.

And this gorgeous window in our booth… it was all ours.

The amuse.  I think this was chicken with basil pesto.  It was very good.  We also had very fresh bread with salted butter and harissa spread that was supposedly a little spicy… by German standards, anyway.

I ordered the shrimp tempura as a starter.  This was a delightful beginning to the meal.  The shrimp were lightly coated in crispy tempura batter, served with a tiny salad with berries, mangos, and a delicious dressing.  However, I was especially excited with the male waiter who brought my dish used an old fashioned atomizer to spray port on the shrimp.  He beamed at me when I blurted out, “Oh, I love that!”  This dish was pricy at 19,50, but it was still very good.  I actually liked it more than my main course.

Bill had the game consomme, which consisted of oxtail cannelloni and sherry.  I didn’t taste it, but Bill said he liked it.  At just 10.50, it wasn’t as costly as my starter.

I had the beef tenderloin as my main course.  It came with Savoyarde potatoes, green asparagus, and Madeira.  I think they also sneaked in some mushrooms.  Fortunately, the wine we had before dinner dulled my senses enough that I wasn’t totally creeped out.  Bill tasted what I thought were mushrooms and said they tasted like bok choy.  I’ll take his word for it.  The beef was extremely tender and the asparagus and potatoes were excellent.  I just wish that other ingredient had been mentioned.

Bill had butter glazed venison loin, which came with hazelnut spaetzle and braised chicory.  I don’t usually eat venison, but I tried Bill’s dish and I think I think I preferred it to mine.  If we had eaten at Finch a second time, I might have gone for the venison.  It was very good.

We usually order a bottle of wine to go with our fancier meals…  ah hell, who am I kidding?  We order it whether our meals are fancy or not.  This time, we decided to have wines by the glass.  I had a glass of locally produced sekt.  Then Bill and I both had malbec to go with our main courses.

As you can see, Bill *hated* the venison…. NOT!  I always enjoy seeing him eat game.  He’s got Arkansan roots and likes things like deer, rabbit, and the wild boar.  My choices are usually more pedestrian.

 

For dessert, I had the white chocolate and mascarpone cheesecake, which came with cherry Jello and a cherry sorbet.  I’m not really sure what the “juice” was next to the sorbet.  It was good.

Bill loved his dessert, the Wald Hotel Classic baked French brioche, which came with apple compote and vanilla sauce.

Finch offers a fairly good selection of choices on its menu.  If I had wanted to, I could have had fish or a German styled delicacy like schnitzel.  There were also options for vegans and vegetarians, although I did not see a children’s menu.  But, to be honest, I don’t really think the Wald Hotel is really that suitable for kids, anyway.  It’s a very elegant hotel that seems more geared to business people and those who like peace and quiet.

I did think the prices at Finch were somewhat high, but that could be because I’ve gotten used to eating out here in the hinterlands.  Also, though the prices were high, portions were generous.  My filet was especially big for what it was.

If we stay at the Wald Hotel again, we wouldn’t mind another dinner at Finch.  On the other hand, the hotel is close to a few other places I’m still dying to try.  So we’ll see…  For now, I’ll offer my recommendation of Finch, especially if you’re staying in the hotel.  It doesn’t disappoint.

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Staycation in Stuttgart #2…

Those who know me well, know that I am a music fanatic.  I like all kinds of music, but I don’t often attend concerts, mainly because I don’t like crowds or traffic jams.  I did make an exception for Sting, though.  In November of last year, when I was feeling especially blue and a bit weakened by depression, I decided to buy a couple of ticket’s to last night’s Sting concert which took place at the Porsche Arena in Stuttgart.

I paid a bundle for the tickets because I was a bit late to the game.  The only ones available were from “fan to fan” sales, which meant the price was a bit jacked up.  However, we did have great seats.  We were in row six, seats ten and eleven.  In fact, I was very surprised by how intimate the venue was.  I was expecting an enormous arena, but it wasn’t that big at all.  They didn’t even have those huge television monitors you often see at big name acts.  I will write more about last night’s excellent show in a later post.  It deserves its own commentary.  Suffice to say that Sting is still going strong at 65!  If I hadn’t been listening to him since the early 80s, I would think he was at least 20 years younger than he is.

Last summer, Bill and I saw Van Morrison play during the annual jazz open festival.  Because we live rather far from Stuttgart and traffic here is legendarily horrible, we decided to stay in a hotel downtown.  We had such a good experience at the Wald Hotel in Degerloch last July, we decided to stay there again for the Sting concert.  I booked us for two nights in a superior room.  Bill wanted to try the hotel’s restaurant, Finch, which we knew we wouldn’t have a chance to try on the night of the show.  Yes, it’s a hotel restaurant, but it has an interesting (and expensive) menu.  We made a 7:30 reservation for our first night at the hotel.

Our dogs, Zane and Arran, have spent two days hanging out with Max at Dog Holiday and will be coming home later today.  I’ve had the chance to earn my keep by doing some basic housekeeping.  Now I’m ready to write.

Stuttgart is not a bad city to visit… even if you’re kind of a local.

 

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