We woke to steady rain on Saturday morning, which was a real pity. Friday night, when we were at the bar, fueled by fine food and cocktails, Bill and I gave some thought to paying a visit to the Allerheiligen Wasserfalls… yes, I know I misspelled it in German. In English, they are the All Saints Waterfalls. Bill and I discovered them in June 2018, when I read a blog by a Dutchman who had come to Germany to see waterfalls. We were enchanted by the falls, and I wanted to see them again, as the leaves are about to change, and the hotel is only a few miles away. But I didn’t want to see them in the rain.

We were also a bit in need of recovery after Friday night’s wild bar escapade. I think we’re getting to be too old to be carousing in the bar at all hours. Of course, children are allowed in the bar at Hotel Bareiss, which personally, I don’t necessarily agree with. I did see one cute little chap who appeared to be bonding with his dad, only to have his fun interrupted by a woman who showed up later. She went into the Smoker’s Lounge for a few minutes before coming back for a Whiskey Sour.

Because it was raining, I figured there would be a bunch of people at the pool, too. I wasn’t in the mood for that, so we decided to give housekeeping a chance to fix up the room while we checked out the library. When we got to the library, it was also full of people. So we went to the lobby, which was probably a better decision, as I got to ogle all of the dogs who were staying at Hotel Bareiss. There were some really sweet ones there, all of whom behaved impeccably. This hotel is the only one I know of that actually has a dog shower, where people can wash their pooches if they get dirty on a walk.

We also decided to have lunch at the Dorfstuben, which is a traditional restaurant in the hotel that serves hearty Swabian delights. They play accordion music while you sit in a quaint little stube with farmer painted furniture, enjoy local wines and beers, and eat food that will stick to your ribs. There was a lady in there– she appeared to be holding court– who seemed to know everyone! People were stopping at her table, hugging and kissing her. We later saw her in the bar, and she was getting the same familiar treatment there. I don’t know if she’s a member of the Bareiss family, or just someone who comes to the hotel a lot. Maybe she’s a local celebrity! She did seem like a very nice lady, though, and obviously has a lot of friends. Bill called her the “Grand Dame”.

Below are some photos from our delightful lunch at the Dorfstuben:

I know I have some Facebook friends who read these blog posts. I want to make mention of an incident that occurred the other day that really perturbed me. As you can see in the above gallery of photos, I had trout for lunch. It was fried, and served with tomatoes, lemon slices, and almonds, as well as oil. Fresh trout in the Schwarzwald is a real treat, if you like fish. Hotel Bareiss does it very well. They even have a restaurant that is dedicated to serving trout dishes. The restaurant, which is off site, is called the Forellenhof Buhlbach. We visited there last year, so we didn’t go this year.

I shared photos of this lunch with friends. A couple of people commented on the fact that the trout was served whole. I think Americans are grossed out by being served whole fish. I know it was hard for me to get used to when I lived in Armenia. I would buy whole fish from Lake Sevan, that might or might not be cleaned beforehand. I always cut off the head and tail before cooking it, because I don’t eat the head. Some people do eat it, though, and this is how the fish is served over here. Anyway, I got a couple of pretty rude comments about my lunch, which was absolutely delicious, by the way. A couple of people remarked that they don’t want to be “looked at” by what they’re eating. Understandable, although it might be even more jarring to realize that when you cut off the head, you’re decapitating the poor fish!

The worst comment, though, came from someone who said it looked like someone had vomited on the plate. Seriously? Even if that was true, it’s not an appropriate thing to say about someone’s lunch. Especially if they obviously enjoyed it, which I did, and you consider yourself a friend of theirs. That fish was cooked perfectly. When I reacted with an “angry” orange emoticon, and the comment, “That is not nice.” The person came back with an even worse comment.

So I felt compelled to post a request to everyone who was offended by the sight of a cooked, whole fish prepared „meunière“ style to either keep scrolling, or X out the photo without comment. It’s sad that I should have felt the need to do that, since one would hope that would be simple manners learned in childhood. I don’t have the best manners myself, but it’s a well known fact that it’s not nice to “yuck on other people’s yums.” Tastes differ, and we should respect that. I’m legitimately horrified when people post photos of mushrooms of any kind, but especially the ones that grow wild. I have an actual phobia of mushrooms. But instead of imposing my tastes on someone else’s social media posts, I simply hide the photo and move on.

In my friend’s defense, they did come back and apologize and delete the comment. I was so irritated, though, that I just deleted the photo. I had already seen the comment, so the damage was done. Yeah, I know I sound oversensitive, but that fish was brilliant. I feel like a true friend would be glad I enjoyed it, instead of leaving rude remarks about what they think it looks like or what they think are my poor choices in lunch dishes.

That lunch left us so full that we skipped dessert, though they did bring us cookies while Bill drank espresso and I had a beer. Afterwards, we went back to our room, where there was a mysterious vase of water waiting. We ignored it, and I laid on the bed and tried to read my latest book. Soon, I was fast asleep, enjoying a very nice nap, lulled by the sound of the rain.

Saturday night’s dinner was a “gala”. We soon found out the reasons for the vase on the coffee table. I was going to dress casually, but when we ventured down to the hotel foyer, I noticed that the Bareiss family was there handing out roses to the ladies, and chocolates to the men. Obviously, this was to be a formal dinner. We went back to the room, and I put on a dress and some jewelry. Then, we sat down at our table, where there was a vase waiting for the pretty pink and white rose and a lit candle. The buffet table was shut down for Saturday night, as we were going to be enjoying a beautiful dinner. Below are some photos:

By the time dinner was over, we were both pretty exhausted, so we went straight back to the room and promptly crashed. But not before I put my rose in the vase that was waiting for it. I brought the rose home, and it’s now on our table to enjoy until it needs to be composted.