I was feeling kind of icky this morning, but when I noticed how nice the weather was today, managed to get motivated enough to get dressed and venture out.  It seemed like perfect Biergarten weather, so I told Bill I wanted to go to Tübingen.  I guess I was thinking we’d go sit by the Neckar River and sip suds like we usually do when we go to Tübingen.  But Tübingen was pretty crowded today, so I made the executive decision to look elsewhere for entertainment.

Last week, when we were in Ludwigsburg, I noticed an accordion player in the main square playing impressive classics.  He was doing a mean rendition of Vivaldi.  Today, I’m pretty sure we ran into the same guy playing his accordion in Tübingen.  I guess he gets around.  We also passed a group of Chinese people doing some kind of synchronized movements.  It’s a Chinese spiritual practice that combines meditation and moral philosophy with Qi Gong exercises.  Bill says they’re called Falun Gong.  They were handing out pamphlets.  Bill said the group is pretty heavily persecuted in China because it’s considered a cult there.  They were interesting to watch, if anything.  I still don’t know much about them, but they were out and and about today.

Lots of people in the big city today!

I had actually been thinking about a couple of pretty interesting restaurants for dinner.  One local Facebook friend recommended that we try Japengo, which looks like a really cool place.  There’s also a well-regarded African restaurant in Tübingen that I know intrigued Bill.  But then we rounded a corner near Vinum, our favorite booze store, and I smelled something delicious and familiar…

But first, I had to take a picture of this cool window with the wildflowers in the window box.

And a profane and bedazzled t-shirt on sale at a place called Hot Couture…

which curiously had a closed sign in English…

And fun graffiti.

We ended up having a delightfully tasty vegetarian Middle Eastern meal at Die Kicher Erbse, a tiny hole in the wall in the old town where you can pick up falafel, hummus, salad and börek.  I remembered eating at this little place the first time we lived in Germany.  In those days, we lived close to Tübingen and used to visit the city all the time and we stopped at Die Kicher Erbse at least once.

I was honestly drawn into the restaurant today by the aromas that came from it and, from what I could see sitting there while we ate, Die Kicher Erbse is a very popular place.  There’s nothing on the menu that costs more than 5,50 euros and getting food is quick and easy, though seating is in short supply.  We noticed a lot of fit people stopping in.  I also noticed that they sell some ingredients for certain Middle Eastern dishes.

The falafel and börek plate.  Börek is a pastry filled with spinach and mild cheese.  It was delicious!  I also loved the hummus and the minty yogurt dressing on the salad.  I couldn’t finish this plate, though.

Bill had a falafel plate with bread.  We drank sparkling water and I had orange nectar, though they also had housemade Ayran and other non-alcoholic beverages.

There was a line forming as we were leaving.  I think they close early.  Don’t go there looking for beer because they don’t sell alcohol.  However, if you want hot mint tea, that’s your place!

I tried to get another shot of the front door.  A few people were sitting outside, enjoying the light but filling food.  We really need to eat Middle Eastern more often.

 

On the way back to the car, we stopped by Die Kelter for a drink.  It was pretty nice there today, since the weather was perfect.  I had a good time watching the wait staff trying to arrange furniture outside for the evening bar crowd.  It took them several tries and several incarnations to get it right.

I had a raspberry mojito, which was much like a regular mojito, except with fresh raspberries.  Bill had a small Baisinger beer.  

Here’s an obligatory shot of Bill smiling after I cracked a filthy joke.  It might have had to do with the woman who very brazenly changed her baby in front of us.  I’ve kind of learned to look the other way when stuff like that happens.

This was not the final arrangement of the outdoor furniture.  They rearranged it at least one more time before we left.

But everyone was having a good time anyway.  We stopped after one drink and came home to our dogs, who were happy for a chance to stroll around the yard again.

 

All in all, we had a lovely afternoon in Tübingen.  We should go there more often.  It’s always a pleasure to visit.