Tag Archives: Freudenstadt

Eastern Europe, Polska, Slovak Republic

Our Eastern European October… part eight

On October 7th, we awoke to another stunning sunrise. We were going to be moving on to Krakow, Poland, a city I was very curious about and really looked forward to visiting. For years, some of my well traveled friends told me about the beautiful architecture in Krakow.

I had originally thought that maybe we could use the city as a base for visiting Auschwitz, but I soon found out that was impossible. I guess I wasn’t that wedded to the idea of going there, because I didn’t plan ahead. Now that I’ve been to Krakow, I’m glad we didn’t try to go to Auschwitz on this trip. There’s so much to see in the city, and we didn’t really have enough time to do it justice. We’ll have to try to do Auschwitz on a later trip.

Because Krakow isn’t that far from Vyoske Tatry, we took our time packing. Our host at the panoraMic Mountain Residence was really cool about our checkout time. I’m not sure he gets a lot of business at this time of year, although once winter hits, his property will surely be in demand. It will be ski season. He came over to give us a bottle of Slovakian wine and say goodbye, and he brought along his gorgeous dog, a Black Russian Terrier.

I had never seen a Black Russian Terrier before. If I had seen her on her own, I would have assumed she was a large black poodle. Our host explained that Black Russian Terriers, otherwise known as Chornyi Terriers, are dogs that were bred in the Soviet Union during the 1940s and 50s. They are descended from about 17 different breeds of dogs brought from countries where the Soviets were active during World War II. They are not true terriers, but were bred to protect, guard, and serve as companions.

I wish I’d had a chance to take a picture of the host’s dog, who was very well trained and extremely sweet and friendly. She was clearly very bonded to her master, but was also quite happy to accept pets from me. It’s hard to imagine such a loving dog could come from a breed that was known to guard Russian prisons! Obviously, she was okay with cats, too, as the host had several roaming his property.

Bill told the host that our destination was Krakow, but we thought maybe we’d go by way of Zakopane, Poland, since Krakow wasn’t that far from Vyoske Tatry. We needed to take our time getting to our destination, because our lodging would not be ready until 3:00 PM. Vyoske Tatry is maybe a 2 or 3 hour drive from Krakow.

I had read Zakopane was charming, and I wanted to have a look at it. Maybe, if it was charming enough, we might stop there for lunch. The host gave us some suggestions, and said that before we left the area, we should venture down a country road and have a look at the stunning fall colors.

One last picture of our Slovakian lodging…
A pretty mountain flower growing in the parking lot…

We did as the host suggested, and it was a good idea, as I got some incredible pictures of fall foliage just before we left Slovakia. We drove back the same way we went to go to the Tree Walk, drove down the country road, and then got on our way to Poland. Below are a few shots before we got on the country road.

Just beyond Bachledka, we encountered the road, which the host had warned would be kind of primitive, but serviceable. I noticed there was a rickety looking arm barrier that was up. I guess when the weather gets bad and they have to close the road, the arm comes down. Or maybe it’s a relic from another era. Anyway, we started down the country road, I got lots of photos, some of which are pretty similar. I still find the colors stunning, and worth the trip! I think Slovakia might be my favorite of all our stops!

I don’t know these people, but I think I know how they were feeling! What a beautiful place!
Bill stopped here for a whiz.

I didn’t realize it when I was taking these photos, but we were extremely close to the Polish border. We came back down the country road and got back on our route… Very soon after, we encountered these signs, and everything changed.

Suddenly, the houses looked different. There were steep angled roofs, with wooden panels that looked like they were whittled from a tree. I wish I’d had a chance to take more and better pictures, because the change was very obvious in a short time. There were more billboards, more businesses, more construction areas, and and more traffic. It was obvious there was more money, too.

Just over the Polish border, toward Zakopane…
Carved houses!
I always see crosses in Poland. There are many Catholics there.

We stopped at a gas station to top off our tank and allow Bill the chance to pee. Bill was instantly delighted to see that in Poland, higher grade gas is available. It was not available in Czechia or Slovakia. I noticed the busier vibe and realized that as charming as the housing was, I was already missing Slovakia’s rugged charm, peace, and quiet.

We didn’t end up stopping in Zakopane. It just looked too touristy to me. At one point, I noticed several huge billboards set up, obviously meant to lure tourists. I wondered how it must feel to the locals who have to look at that shit. Still, it was interesting to see some of the more charming aspects of Poland, and realize how different it is from Czechia and Slovakia. Some things about it were genuinely great.

As time went on, Bill urgently needed to pee again. He grew ever more desperate as we crept toward Krakow on a busy road with no rest areas. He finally got desperate and pulled off at an exit for a small town. At first, he felt like he’d made a big mistake, as the town was very crowded with cars and no parking spots. But then we ended up near a town square that instantly reminded me of Freudenstadt, a city we used to live near when we lived in Jettingen, Baden-Württemberg. It had a charming square, a fountain, and a town hall.

Bill saw an open spot, so he parked the car. As he was getting ready to buy a parking ticket, a lady who was backing out of her spot rolled down her window and said something to me in rapid fire Polish. She smiled and handed me her ticket, which still had about an hour’s worth of time on it. She was gone before I could thank her.

We ended up visiting a patisserie called MonoDe, which, thankfully, had a toilet Bill could use. Over delicious pastries and coffee, which served as lunch, we took care of the urgent business, and enjoyed a rare treat. Welcome to Poland! I still don’t know where it was that we stopped. I’ll have to do some sleuthing later. Edited to add: The town is called Myślenice! It is about 30 kilometers south of Krakow.

This patisserie was a Godsend!
And the pastries were delicious, too. I liked Bill’s even better than mine.
Looks like Freudenstadt!

We got back on the road to Krakow, and immediately hit more traffic. It turned out there was a McDonald’s very close to the exit where we’d gotten off, and that would have also solved Bill’s pressing problem. But I’m so glad we got off at this little suburban town, ate pastries, and saw a quaint Polish village square. We can go to McDonald’s pretty much anywhere. 😁

Traffic got heavier as we approached Krakow. Fortunately, we had already pre-booked and paid for a parking spot in a huge garage near our Krakow lodging, an apartment over a well-regarded restaurant. Nevertheless, I got pretty antsy as we inched toward the city…

The Poles like their KFC. I spotted one on either side of the highway!
Homely church

We were getting closer as we approached what appeared to be a carnival on the side of the road, along with some pretty ugly communist era architecture…

Yikes!

And then, before we knew it, we were there in the garage. I had rented what was called Kanonicza 22, basically the street address of the apartment I found. When I was looking for lodging in Krakow, I was having a hard time deciding where we should go. I was very attracted to Kanonicza 22, but was a bit hesitant, because of the parking situation. This place is on one of the oldest streets in Krakow, and it doesn’t have parking. However, it is very close to the parking garage.

Kanonicza 22 has three apartments available over a small restaurant called Pod Nosem. The restaurant staff run the apartments, which are really more like suites, since they don’t have any cooking facilities. We were in what is known as the Prince Suite, which is on the second floor. Fortunately, there is an elevator.

When we arrived at the Prince Suite, I was blown away how beautiful it was. This huge suite had a living room and a very comfortable bedroom, along with an enormous bathroom. The suite included a large bowl of fresh fruit, a bottle each of red and white wine, still and sparkling water, and a couple of soft drinks. Breakfast was included, and could either be enjoyed in the restaurant, or in the apartment. The only thing I didn’t like about this suite was the mirror by the toilet. Otherwise, it was absolutely gorgeous! I think, for three nights, I paid just under $1,000 for this… I’m so glad I booked it!

Yes, there is also a bidet, which might come in handy!

Since it was late afternoon when we arrived, Bill and I decided to have dinner at Pod Nosem. That, too, was a great experience, although there were a number of Americans there. One couple sat near us and I overheard the male half say that he’d dined there several years before and loved it. He wanted to eat there again on his last visit, but it was fully booked, so he made sure to reserve a spot for his most current trip.

Bill and I tried to keep a low profile, but our waitress soon asked where we were from. I noticed that in Krakow, people generally pegged us for Americans. Or, maybe they just defaulted to English, because if you don’t look like a local, they assume you can speak English…

Below are some photos from dinner… This was our only fine dining experience on the trip.

The amuse
Smoked trout with roe
Bill had a lovely salad
I had perch, because it didn’t have mushrooms…
Venison for Bill
This wine was suggested by the server. It was very good!
Cheesecake
A brownie with ice cream
And finally…
20 year old Nairi Armenian brandy… Ahhhhh
A treat to soften the blow of the check. It was pretty reasonable, for what we had.

Our waitress was impressed that we ordered Armenian brandy. She said she’d been to Georgia, but could not go to Armenia, because she didn’t have a passport. That led to a discussion about our American status, and how expensive it is to have an American passport. She said she didn’t want to go to America. I can’t blame her for that!

After dinner, we went back to the apartment for a much needed rest. And that we got, because the bed in the Prince Suite was–hands down– the best of all of our stops on this trip. I would definitely book this property again, in spite of the parking pain!

In the next post, I’ll write about our first glimpse of Krakow.

Standard
dental, Schwarzwald

Seeing “stars” in Baiersbronn… Part two

Bill’s driving habits turn to shit…

Thursday morning we woke up early with big plans for the day. Because we had dental appointments in Stuttgart, Bill decided that we’d need to skip breakfast. He said our appointments were at ten o’clock and eleven o’clock, and as downtown Stuttgart is about 100 kilometers from Baiersbronn, it would take over an hour to get there. Plus, there’s Stuttgart’s famous traffic to consider, and scheduled road work that was going on. Well… as it turned out, we certainly could have eaten breakfast. But more on that in the ensuing paragraphs.

I took this photo during our visit in 2018. I took two more this year, but they didn’t turn out as well as this one did…

The sun was shining as we set off for our old stomping grounds. I busied myself by taking photos of the enchanting landscape as we passed through charming towns and past green fields full of sunflowers in bloom. Bill was trying very hard to make sure we got to the dentist on time. He decided to take a route that directed us through Horb, a town we only managed to visit once during our time in Jettingen, even though it’s a nice looking and easily accessible place from our old town. Going through Horb turned out to be a time consuming decision, since there was road construction going on. A detour sent us through more picturesque towns that delighted the senses. I took a few more photos as Bill continued to stress and stew over making our appointments.

Pictures along the way…

We stopped at a bakery for coffee, juice, and bread. I noticed what appeared to be a new chain of bakeries… or maybe it’s not a new chain, but I had never noticed them before our visit over the weekend. I counted at least four outlets of Ziegler’s Bakery on our drive. We stopped at one in Horb, then Bill got back on the road and immediately got blitzed by a speed camera! Then, about fifteen minutes later, as we entered the hamlet of Eutingen im Gäu, Bill got blitzed a second time! To put this in perspective, I think in seven years of living in Germany this time, Bill has gotten just one speeding ticket. That time, it was near our old town of Pfäffingen, where we lived from 2007-2009. I guess in a few months, he’ll get the tickets in the mail.

A quick shot of Horb from the bakery’s parking lot, moments before Bill got blitzed the first time. This is a really cute town that deserves more exploration.

Despite the detour and blitzing, Bill managed to get us to Dr. Blair’s office at 10:00am. The sunshine we enjoyed in the Black Forest had disappeared behind clouds. Rain was forthcoming.

Bill waits patiently in his high speed mask. I can’t stand the FFP2 masks, so I wear a disposable surgical mask. Using homemade cloth masks alone is no longer permitted in Germany.

There were several other people in the waiting room. I’m not sure what happened… Bill said he’d reconfirmed the dates and times, but it turned out we were early. It was after noon when I finally got in the chair. I had a clean checkup, but Bill has to return this Thursday for a repair. He told Dr. Blair about a trouble spot in his mouth. As Blair was poking around, the tooth, the filling fell out. Fortunately, Bill can easily take the ICE train from Frankfurt and get to Stuttgart much faster than he would if he drove. Blair’s office is even close enough to the main train station that Bill could easily walk to his next appointment from there, rather than taking the U-Bahn.

After our appointments, I had a date to drop off corks with a member of the Stuttgart military community. But Bill wanted to eat lunch first, so we stopped by Abacco’s Steakhouse, a chain restaurant that offers steaks served on hot stones. We had eaten there once before, back in 2016. As we entered the restaurant, our waiter checked our COVID-19 passes. Every restaurant we visited over the weekend checked our vaccination status.

Abacco’s Steakhouse offers soups, salads, and steaks. The steaks, which come from the U.S. or Argentina, come out lightly seared and very rare. The idea is to let them cook on the hot stones to your preferred level of doneness. I’m not all that excited about cooking my own steak in a restaurant, but I have to admit the 300 gram rib eye steak from Argentina was good after a lean morning no protein. It came with barbecue sauce, horseradish, and a chimchurri sauce, as well as steak fries.

Bill is smiling, even though he has to go back to Stuttgart this week.
This was a good steak! I liked the sauces, too. I think the chimchurri was my favorite.
Abacco’s takes your health seriously. There was a plexiglass partition separating us from the next table.

With lunch done, we headed to Panzer Kaserne, where we dropped off our corks. The lady we were meeting is a longtime member of the Facebook food and wine group I run. It was nice to put a face to the name, especially since we’ve been conversing for several years! I always collect corks from the many bottles of wine we drink, since I’ve found that a lot of crafters want them for their projects. Every time I’ve asked if anyone wants them in my Facebook group, someone always does! I could just as easily dump them at the store, but I like to help out the crafters when I can, since I’m not particularly crafty myself. Besides, it’s a nice way to meet people.

I was pretty shocked to see how things have changed around Panzer in the time we’ve been here. When we lived in Stuttgart the first time, the bucolic road that links Vaihingen to Sindelfingern, Pascal Strasse (affectionately known as Frog Road by Americans, thanks to the ponds and many frogs on it) was completely sheltered in forest. I used to love driving on that road, since it was so pretty compared to the A 81 Autobahn that runs next to it. When we moved back to the Stuttgart military community in 2014, that road started to change. The end of it was diverted to a nearby state road and the traffic pattern was completely rerouted. Since we left in late 2018, the area has changed even more. It made me feel sad, since I always enjoyed driving on Frog Road. Looks like it’s being torn up now.

After we dropped our corks, we headed back to Baiersbronn. Bill opted to go back a different way, one that would take us through Herrenberg and past our old town of Jettingen and Nagold, where we spent many wonderful weekend days during our second stint of four years in the Stuttgart area. I must admit, as enjoyable as Wiesbaden is, I really miss living close to the Schwarzwald. It really is a beautiful area, even on the edge where we lived, and in spite of our troublesome exit from our previous house. ‘Nuff said about that… I want to keep this blog post positive!

Lovely Nagold. The sun came back out as we approached!
I miss these fields, where people are invited to pick flowers and pay on their honor.
I love this cool bridge, too. I photograph it every time we pass it.
Freudenstadt is a unique city with shopping and eating possibilities, as well as a couple of cool museums.
On the way back into Baiersbronn.

Our alternative route also took us past Freudenstadt, which is another great town where we spent a lot of time. Freudenstadt is very close to Baiersbronn, too, so anyone who is tempted to visit Baiersbronn after reading this area can easily do a trip to Freudenstadt shopping or eating or other activities.

On the way in to Baiersbronn, Bill’s driving was tested again. We rounded a curve, where we were suddenly confronted by some guy who’d apparently had a single car accident. His small car was pointed in the wrong direction in our lane, as if he’d slid into the wrong lane. Bill had to swerve to avoid hitting him, since he was sitting in the middle of the road, wearing his orange vest but having neglected to put out his warning triangle to alert other drivers. We narrowly missed having a collision ourselves, as other cars were coming in the other direction. That was a near miss!

When we got back to the hotel, we decided to try the pools. The Hotel Engel Obertal offers several pools and whirlpools, as well as saunas. It was a bit crowded when we got there. We had to check in, and thanks to COVID-19, there were limits on the number of people allowed in the pool at a time. The lap pool was pretty empty and quiet, so we basically hung out there. Lots of people with kids were in the big fancy saltwater pool that offers egress to the outside. We skipped the saltwater pool, because there were many kids in it and there weren’t supposed to be more than four people using it at a time. We also skipped the Naturalbadsee because it’s entirely outside and the weather was a bit too chilly for swimming outside. However, we did see some intrepid Germans using it, including one woman who went nude!

The hotel from the parking lot.
Bill takes a swim in the plainer pool.
A shot of the pool we used. There are two others.
A glimpse of the Naturalbadsee (natural bathing lake). I didn’t get closer because there were naked people there.
Beautiful area near the hotel.
Another shot of the lake from a distance.

We opted not to have dinner, since we had a big lunch and Bill had an online appointment with the Jungian therapist he’s been talking to for the past few months. While Bill did his hour with the shrink, I sat in the bar and listened to love songs from the 80s and 90s. Bill joined me later, and we enjoyed a few cocktails. Next post, I will write about our gourmet extravaganza! Stay tuned!

Standard
Uncategorized

Our Heidelberger Birthday Holiday! Part three

After our walk, I decided to take a cold shower. I noticed the generously sized tub had jacuzzi jets. Alas, the stopper didn’t work properly, so taking a bath was impossible. I know we should have called for maintenance, but I decided it was just as easy to take a shower. Afterwards, Bill took his turn washing off the sweat and dirt from our walk and we put on nice clothes. It was my first time in something other than shorts and a t-shirt or a nightgown in ages. I probably should have taken a selfie, since I even wore makeup and curled my hair… which is due for another homemade whacking.

While we were relaxing before dinner, Bill found these books in the desk. We had the New Testament in German and English, and The Teaching of Buddha!

When we got the dining room, we ran into the barman, a friendly young man we got to know better after dinner. We were told when we booked that the outside area was fully booked, so we were expecting to sit inside. After some confusion– they apparently couldn’t find our reservation– we took a seat in the dining room. The menu was pretty fancy. If I’m honest, it was probably a little too fancy for me, since I am kind of a picky eater about certain things. Like, for instance, I don’t like fungus– no mushrooms or truffles or morels for me. Unfortunately, nice restaurants often use fungus a lot. They also had lamb and veal, which I also don’t eat. Bill, on the other hand, loves both. They did have the ever popular asparagus with Hollandaise and optional add ons. I thought about ordering that, but realized that I don’t love asparagus as much as many Germans do. And I like green asparagus more than white… either way, it makes my pee stink!

Fortunately, I did manage to find a couple of delicious items as we enjoyed aperitifs– champagne for me and a Campari with soda for Bill. Service was impeccable. The staff was friendly and professional, rather than stuffy. And the highlight of the evening was the sommelier, who talked Bill into ordering the Rhein equivalent of a Grand Cru Riesling. Our waitress noticed we ordered the Rings Riesling and also commented that it was a favorite of hers, too.

  • I got a kick out of the video flame. It reminded me of the Natural Bridge Hotel in Virginia, which my uncle managed for many years. The flames there were always real, though.
  • A shot of the bar. It was very inviting for old codgers like us.
  • Bill chooses dinner…
  • Then tastes the 120 euro Riesling…
  • Good thing he liked it.
  • I have to admit, this was a very interesting wine. It started off flinty and mineral, then opened into something extraordinary…
  • Delicious bread, butter, and homemade cream cheese.
  • Bill had the Vichyssoise. It was presented elegantly, with the setup in the bowl and the cold, green soup poured over it.
  • I had cheese risotto with a king prawn, asparagus, romaine lettuce, and carrots. I really enjoyed this dish.
  • My main dish was the roasted cod, with gnocchi, and seasonal vegetables. Again, beautifully presented and prepared, and not too much.
  • Bill had veal two ways, with truffles, broccoli, and potatoes.
  • For dessert, I had creme brulee, which came with a side of chocolate ice cream with cherries and crumbles.
  • Bill had mascarpone cheese with raspberries and raspberry sorbet.
  • Another view of the bar area.
  • The piano… no doubt played when COVID-19 isn’t a thing.
  • After dinner libations. I had a strawberry mojito, made with Bacardi rum.
  • Bill enjoyed a Japanese whiskey. Looks like maybe the alcohol was catching up with me, judging by how blurry this is!

Total damage for dinner was about 312 euros, which is not the most we’ve ever paid for a meal, but comes pretty close. About a third of that was because of the Rings Riesling from the Pfalz. Naturally, you pay a premium for wine in a restaurant, and that bottle would not have been so expensive at the winery, even though it was a special, limited edition bottle. I was glad we ordered it, though. It was not the usual… I enjoyed how the flavor changed as the wine was exposed to oxygen and the ambient temperature. And it was a special occasion– our first gourmet meal in a sit down restaurant in many months. Boy, how we’ve missed dining out! I think we made the sommelier’s night, too. But as nice as Friday’s dinner was, Saturday’s was even better… and it cost significantly less.

After dinner, we stopped by the bar. It was empty, although the friendly young barman was there. He made me a strawberry mojito and poured a Japanese whiskey for Bill. We got to talking and found out that he was born in Germany, but spent the first thirteen years of his life in New Zealand. Then, he came back to Germany and hailed from– Freudenstadt! Bill and I lived near Freudenstadt when we lived in Jettingen, so we know that town pretty well! It was nice to talk to bartender again… yet another reason why we were so prepared to spend money. Anyway… there are pictures of Freudenstadt in this blog, because we visited there more than a few times when we lived near Stuttgart the second time (2014-2018). I liked going there, and just hanging out in the Black Forest in general. I miss it.

After our nightcap, we came back to our room to find the turn down fairy had visited and left us chocolates. That was a nice cap off to our first day outside of Hesse on a leisure trip since last summer. Onward to part four.

Standard
Sundays

You can be a big kid in Freudenstadt!

Some days, I really wish I had kids to entertain.  I am myself a bit a of a big kid, so having a kid to play with would give me a good excuse to visit kid friendly museums and attractions.  Bill and I didn’t actually plan to do anything kid friendly today.  We stumbled across our fun, just like we always do.  And now I’m going to pass along our good fortune to readers who have kids and enjoy science.

We had absolutely perfect weather today.  Bill wanted to know what we should do today.  We went looking for a fest.  I remembered that next weekend, Freudenstadt would be hosting a fish market.  Then I remembered that next weekend is the weekend before my birthday and we’ll probably be out of town.  I’ve always been intrigued by Freudenstadt.  It’s a decent sized city not too far from where I live, in Unterjettingen.  We always drive through it when we go to France.  One time, we stopped and had lunch at the Turmbrau.  I remembered that lunch with fondness, so we decided to visit there today and wander around…

It turns out Freudenstadt is undergoing a lot of major road work.

 

It’s a bit of a mess in some parts of the city.

I noticed the name of this store and it made me laugh.  “To Crazy”, huh?  I think they meant “Too Crazy.”  But that’s no worse than Der Wienerschnitzel in the United States, which is also incorrect.

There is an art fair and flea market going on today and tomorrow.

And someone was getting married.  I took this right after withdrawing money from an ATM.  While I was doing that, a couple was changing their baby next to the machine.  I guess the baby left a deposit.

We didn’t linger too long at the market.  We wanted food and beer.

Bill checks the menu.

We enjoyed housemade beers.  Bill had a Maibock and I had a Hefeweizen.

For lunch, I had Schweinshaxe, which I couldn’t finish.  It wasn’t as big as some I’ve had.  At the Turmbrau, this dish comes with sauerkraut.  I have to be careful with that or else it’ll be a very windy night at my house.  

Bill had roasted pork with fried potatoes.  This was served with a beer gravy that was very good.  The pork was also tender and flavorful.  I think I liked Bill’s dish better than mine.  My pork knuckle was a trifle overdone.

But it did come with beer bread.

Turmbrau has live entertainment, too.

 

And a really excellent looking Biergarten.  We probably should have sat out there, since I wore plenty of sunscreen.

Brewing!

 

This is a great place for lunch.  Both times we’ve been, it’s been busy.  Service is friendly and efficient and prices are fair.  We had a couple of weizens for dessert.  With the extra round of beer, the bill came to just under 35 euros.  We made the waitress smile when we topped it up to 40.  

Because Bill didn’t want to drive so soon after our second round, he wanted to walk around Freudenstadt.  I had a better idea.  On the way into town, I noticed a sign for a museum.  After looking up the word “Erlebnis”, I determined a visit to Experimenta might be a fun way to sober up… even if it was kind of a kid oriented place.  Like I said, despite last week’s fun, I really am a big kid.  Experimenta turned out to be a no frills kind of science museum, but it was surprisingly fun for us!  We did, however, get curious looks from other visitors.

Experimenta is open daily from 10-6.  Tickets cost 6 euros for adults and 5 euros for kids.  A young guy was manning the desk.  It looked like the building was once a music school.  

The first exhibit was about time zones.  I noticed the signage was all in German, but with a little effort, I could understand a lot of it.  A lot of the exhibits are very intuitive anyway.

Here’s an exhibit about size perception.

Bill has fun with balls.  That silver thing was blowing air

I never did figure this out… it involved a marble.  Edited to add, my German friend Susanne says there is a bigger Experimenta in Heilbronn and she shared a picture that shows how this activity works.  I want to also mention that a lot of the activities had step stools for little ones.  

Spyrograph.

This was the room I really got into.  Bill and I built a bridge.

And we learned how holes affect the speed of cylinders.

I brushed up on my terrible geometry skills.

 
 

Bill loved this activity…

Pictured above is a logic activity involving a man who has to move a goat, a wolf, and food across a river.  He only has room on the boat to move one at a time.  Bill really got into telling me how the man could move each.  I giggled at him because it was fun watching him turn into a little boy, much like the young kids who were enjoying the activities.

Next, we made a bridge out of magnets.  This was a very interesting exhibit because it forced us to learn the logistics of building a bridge and what you have to do to make it work.  I am still a confirmed former English major, though, and couldn’t explain this if my life depended on it.

Next, I saw how water can propel a boat…

I learned about human organs.

And bones.

And the tongue!  

 

I think my favorite room was the last one we entered.  On the main floor, there’s an exhibit about electricity…

I played with these for a long time…

And then I discovered the black light.  Sorry for the ugly photos but…

You can’t see it in this picture, but in person, it was really obvious which of my teeth is an implant.  Hard to believe I’ve had it for a year now!

I may never have teeth this white again.

 

I made a short video of our fun today…  It offers an example of what you can expect at Experimenta!

 

Like I said, I wish I’d managed to have kids.  We live in an area that’s really great for kid friendly activities.  If I had a kid, I’d make of a day out of Freudenstadt and its environs.  You can stop at the awesome Barefoot Park in Dornstetten, which is on the way.  After that, head to Freudenstadt and have a good lunch at one of the many restaurants in the town.  Then visit the science museum.  By the time you’re done, you’ve killed a few hours.  And… as you can see below, the countryside is BEAUTIFUL!  God bless Germany!

Look closely and you can see a glider…

Standard
Uncategorized

Back from Colmar… what a weird weekend! Part One…

So Bill and I just got back from Colmar, France.  This was our first trip since our return to Germany.  We had intended to visit Colmar last time we were here but never got around to it.  Since Bill only had two nights free and this would be our dogs’ first visit to the Hunde Hotel Haase, I kind of wanted to stay close.  I didn’t think our dog Arran would give them any problems and we haven’t gotten any indication that he did, but I wanted to be sure we were somewhat near in case there was a problem.

The day got off to a rough start.  First, the coffee grinder that we bought in August broke and was blowing smoke in the kitchen.  And then Arran left me a big “present” spread in the basement, complete with a puddle.  It took some doing to clean that up.

We started our trip to France at around noon on Saturday, the 11th.  Since check in at our hotel, Le Relais du Ried in Bischwihr, France, wasn’t until 4:00pm, we decided to take our time getting there.  We took the long way, on B28, which took us through a stunning part of the Black Forest.  We stopped for lunch at Turmbräu, a really nice brewery/biergarten in a nice looking town called Freudenstadt.  The place was pretty packed when we arrived, so Bill and I shared a double stool at the bar.

I noticed a lot of people were dressed in traditional garb… women in dirndls and men in lederhosen.  Two guys in leather pants were sitting at the bar, each with a mas krug of the Fall Fest beer.  They looked like they had been there awhile.  The two of them were talking about nonsense, constantly bantering and slurring their words.  Bill got a big kick out of them.  They’d say something about beer in Barcelona, then follow it up with “Ja, ja, ja…”  Then they’d talk about tuna salad and more “Ja, ja, ja.”  There were two ladies sitting next to them who seemed very entertained, both by the drunken Germans and us, the wayward Americans.  They ate lunch and had more beer, then one of the ladies said she had to use the bathroom.  Then, one of the men said he needed to go… “Ja, ja, ja.”

The food and beer was very good, though, and served to us by a hardworking Asian German guy in lederhosen with the name of the brewery stenciled across his butt…  Most of the wait staff were wearing similar garb.

Bill had lentils with spatzle, bacon, and wurst…
I had pork with potatoes, cooked in beer…

The beer was good, too!

 

We kept driving through some beautiful countryside.  I took pictures as the car moved.  Many of them turned out surprisingly decently.  And I also scored a free pit stop…

After drinking beer in Freudenstadt, I soon had to whiz…  This was a lifesaver.  It was clean and free, too!  I have a friend who is an artist and loves the graphics on this port a potty…

 

Interesting advertising for a Gasthaus…

Once we arrived in France, there were cornfields aplenty…

 

Some of the towns we passed through leaving Germany were obviously spa towns.  We must pay a visit sometime.  They were very pretty, though I did spot a few bored looking teens sitting in a couple of them when we were stopped at lights.  I guess even if you grow up in a beautiful place, you may not recognize the beauty if you see it every day.

Standard