Tag Archives: Hesse

Hessen

Jettingen who? New discoveries in nature and more Breckenheimer rock n’ roll!

Last night turned out to be unexpectedly awesome.  After we came home from Idstein, we decided to hang out with the dogs for awhile.  Then, at about 6:00pm, the Breckenheimer Bikers were back to continue their fest.  I asked Bill if he wanted to go.  He said “sure”, so we walked to the area where they had set up their booths and tables.  The weather was better, so there were a lot more people.  It looked like they had different food, too.

Then Bill wanted to see if there was anything going on at the Dorfplatz, which is where they always have the wine stands every other Friday night.  Nothing was going on there, but we decided to keep walking.  I’m ashamed to say that in seven months of living in this town, I haven’t explored it much.  I don’t know why.  When I was younger, I’d always walk around my new neighborhoods to make new discoveries.  I usually have the dogs with me, though, and our new town doesn’t have very good sidewalks, since it’s very densely populated.  I guess I figured the area was too congested for them, making it hard to dodge cars.

We walked down Dorfgasse, which is the main drag, passed the antiques dealer, a Kurheil practitioner, a pension, a bakery, an architect, and a druggist with a gynecologist’s office attached to it.  Aside from the bakery and the druggist, I had no idea the other stuff was even there.  We also passed a bunch of guys sitting in their garage, drinking beer, and having a party.

Then we saw a country road on the edge of the neighborhood.  Yes… Breckenheim is on the edge of the country, and we discovered a large park where we can take walks with the dogs.  Perhaps my days of walking them in the poo and dildo infested fields near the Autobahn and the Rewe are over.  Here are some photos from our walk.

This looks familiar… our old town of Jettingen had a similar sign asking people to pick up their dogs’ crap.

Turns out there’s a pretty big walking area, complete with orchards.

There’s even a woods!

 

After a few minutes of walking, we came across a small paddock where a group of ponies were enjoying some hay.  I call them ponies, but they might have been miniature horses.  I mean, they’d be ponies because of their height alone, but they had the more delicate features of horses, with a lighter bone structure. I don’t have much experience with minis, although I have plenty of experience with ponies.  Whatever they officially were, I was delighted to see them!  I spent most of my childhood around horses and even used to have my own pony.  It’s been too many years since I last had a horse in my life.  They are wonderful company.  I even miss their wonderful aroma.

 

One of the mares had a colt by her side.  It looked like a couple of the others might also be expecting, although it’s a bit late in the year for that.  They might have just been fat.

They were very friendly, although I didn’t dare try to pet them.  I have a lot of experience with electric fences, too.  I’m glad we walked up this way, since my dogs go nuts when they see horses.  Now, if I try to walk them here, I’ll be forewarned.

The further we went down the road, the quieter and more bucolic the views were.  I was reminded of the more country areas where we’ve previously lived in Baden-Württemberg.  I’m really a country girl at heart, so finding out our new Hessian town has country scenes did my heart good.  The one thing I’ve been missing about Jettingen are the beautiful wooded areas where I could walk my dogs.  Now I’ve found Breckenheim’s version.

 

The church on the other side.  I think there’s a concert there today.  We might have to check it out.

 

On the way back to our neighborhood, we happened to pass by a tree as several birds of prey had engaged in what appeared to be a violent attack.  I grabbed my camera and tried to film them in action, but was just a little too late to capture the fight.  But then I saw something strange.  A bird was hanging upside down by one talon.  It hung there for an agonizing minute as we looked on, wondering if it was just stunned.  I filmed the bird and my German friend told me it was an Eichelhäher, otherwise known as an Eurasian Jay.  It bore a slight resemblance to our blue jays.  Just after I turned off the camera, the jay lost its desperate grip on the branch and dropped to the ground.  It was still alive when we left it, but I doubt for much longer.  I was a little sad about witnessing that scene, but unfortunately, it’s the way of nature.

By the time we got back to our street, the fest had exploded.  Most of the tables were full of people drinking beer, Sekt, Aperol spritzes, and Jack Daniels.  There were several bands, all of which were quite good.  Our landlord and his wife were there, having a good time.  I like them both, although I haven’t really spent much time talking to them.  Our new landlady doesn’t speak much English, but she’s always very friendly and seems happy to see us.  The landlord seems to like Bill, and he speaks more English– likewise, Bill speaks more German than I do.  We said hello and watched a few acts.  The landlord said they usually do this fest every year, although some years they’ve skipped it.  I’m glad we were around for it this year.

The bikers put on a hell of a party!  I remember Jettingen had events too, but none like this.  A lot of the fests in Jettingen were religious or agricultural.

Cheers!

I got video of a couple of them, which maybe I’ll turn into something I can share here.  I did think to take a few pictures, especially of an enthusiastic gentleman who danced to several well covered classic rock songs.  The group before the rock band consisted of four very talented men singing a cappella in surprisingly good harmony.  I am myself a singer, so I know how hard to can be to stay on pitch when you sing unaccompanied.  They did a really good job of it.  I was especially impressed by their version of “The Bonnie Banks o’ Loch Lomond”.  For some reason, Germans seem to love Scotland, just like I do…  I got some raw video, which I might turn into something sharable at some point.

This guy was dancing his ass off.

This dude sounded like a mix of Bon Scott and Meatloaf.  He was singing songs by Foreigner, Billy Idol, and Bob Seger, among others.  His female partner covered a Bryan Adams song and Pink.  They were surprisingly good.

They brought up a young girl… a family member, perhaps, who joined them on the Bryan Adams number, “I Need Somebody.”

This guy was awesome.  He was inspiring people to cut loose.

We went back home and Bill cooked burgers on the new grill.  The party went on down the street.  At about 10:45pm, they set off some fireworks– maybe a minute or two’s worth.  At about 11, the party was over.  All in all, from Idstein to party time, our Saturday was amazing.  I’m not sure what we’re going to do today, but we sure did have a great day yesterday!

Fireworks!

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Hessen, Hofheim

Hungry? Bring your XXL appetite to the Waldgeist!

Some time ago, Bill was looking for local restaurant possibilities for us and he stumbled across Restaurant Waldgeist.  Located near a Sportsplatz in Hofheim, this restaurant boasts an impressive Biergarten, which wasn’t operating today due to the suddenly cool temperatures, and lots of indoor seating.  It’s also known for its huge portions.

I don’t love places that dish out huge portions because I can never finish and stuff has a tendency to go to waste.  Also, I end up eating more than I should or really need to eat.  However, I was curious about this restaurant due to its Biergarten and its “Hessisch” kitchen.  Here’s where you can get your green sauce, Handkäse, or Spundekäs.  They also have burgers, schnitzels, ribs, steaks, and sausages.

Big sign out front!

We didn’t make a reservation.  Apparently, it’s not a bad idea to call ahead on Saturdays, because when we showed up, we were relegated to “table 9”, that is, a side room where another couple was sitting with their two enormous and well behaved dogs.  We were given a two top table and I sat on a bench that was a little too high for it.  My legs dangled and I leaned forward to keep my back from getting too sore from the awkward position.  I didn’t have a chance to look in the other rooms.  It appeared to be kind of a sprawling place with lots of rooms.  The room we were in was clearly not the popular place to sit.


The menu… gets the job done, but is kind of annoying.

The waiter brought us laminated tri-fold menus, which kind of annoyed me, since I had to balance on the awkward bench as I opened the tri-fold menu that would not stay open on its own.  Nevertheless, I had already decided to order spare ribs, which I only do every once in awhile.  The smallest portion is 2 pieces, but you can order up to 4 pieces.  And you can also wash it down with a two liter Krug of beer if you want to.  For once, I exercised restraint and had a half liter of Hefeweizen.  Bill went with a Dunkelweizen and a “small” schnitzel.

Outdoor seating.  Looks really nice.  In warmer weather, I bet it gets packed.
Wait here, and they’ll show you to your table in “the blink of an eye.”

We waited for awhile.  At one point, a waiter tried to deliver the other couple’s schnitzels to us.  When they brought out our food, my exact words were “Damn, that’s big!”  The waiter laughed.

This is the smallest order of ribs.  It’s a full rack.  I could have also had this with cole slaw and fries, for just a few euros more.  I figured I’d have my hands full.  I’d like to know who orders the four piece… Maybe a large group?
Bill’s “small” schnitzel served with gravy, bacon wrapped green beans, and potato croquettes.
Needless, to say, I made it through half of my ribs before I had to stop.  That was with help from Bill.  When we asked to take it home with us, the waiter brought out aluminum foil and left it up to me to wrap it.  I suspect we’ll be snacking on them later, as well as the rest of Bill’s lunch.  He finished more of his.
I liked the cool flower pot for the tree.

The ribs were very good, perfectly cooked and tender, with spicy sauce.  Actually, I was surprised by how spicy the sauce was.  I could see it encouraging beer drinking!  
I think we’d go back to Waldgeist, especially in nice weather.  The outdoor area is pleasant and they have convenient hours.  No pauses or “Ruhetags”, so it’s very convenient– except you have to pay in cash.  Prices are very reasonable, though.  I’m sure during the summer, you’d best not show up without a reserved table.  I’m glad to know where a good Biergarten is up here.  They don’t seem to be quite as prevalent in Hesse as they are down south.
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Rhein, Rheinland-Pfalz

A day in Bacharach…

After last week’s trip to Eppstein to see the castle, I thought maybe we might want to go to another castle this week.  But Bill had other plans.  Elton John is going to be playing a concert tonight in Wiesbaden and since we saw him in Stuttgart and have no desire to sit in Staus from Hell again, we decided to avoid the city.  Remembering a lovely day we spent in the Rhein-side hamlet of Bacharach, back in 2014, Bill decided we should visit there again.  I was game.  Bacharach has the distinction of being the very first German town I ever laid eyes on, back in 1997.  It’s an adorable place, even if there’s not a lot to it.

On the edge of town.

We didn’t really do a lot in Bacharach other than wander around, take pictures, eat lunch, and have beer at a Biergarten.  We were blessed with wonderful weather– much better than what we had when we visited in 2014.  I don’t have much to write… but I do have lots of pictures.  Feast your eyes on this cute little historic town, located about an hour away from Wiesbaden.  It’s nice to be so close!

If castles are your thing, you could do worse than visiting Bacharach or any of the other cute little towns near it, like St. Goar.  There are many castles around the area.  I caught these photos on the ways in and out of town.

Lots of pretty vineyards, too.  Bacharach’s Schloss is now a youth hostel that sits majestically on a hillside overlooking the town.

You can see the hostel in the background.  I stayed in a lot of hostels during my 1997 epic train trip through Europe, but I didn’t stay at Bacharach’s.  I think I was intimidated by the climb up the hill.  Bacharach’s hostel is in the historic Burg Stahleck Castle, which dates back to the 12th century.

When I stayed in Bacharach, I stayed at the Hans Dettmar B&B.  I was excited because the room came with a shower and a WC.  My standards have changed a lot since 1997, but so has my budget.

Our first order of business was to find something to eat.  Bacharach was busy with tourists today, most of whom were sitting outside.  We didn’t necessarily want to eat outside, although on a warmer day, it’s nice to be in the open air.  I have to balance wanting to be cool and wanting to stay out of the sun.  We ended up having lunch at a garlicky smelling place called Pizzeria Pippo (or Pippo Bistro, depending on what sign you’re reading).  Based on the decorations on the walls, I would guess it’s owned by Sicilians.
Cheers!
They had lasagne on the menu that looked tempting, but they weren’t offering it today.  I had spaghetti with “Lachs”– salmon and onions.  It was okay, though I have had better.
Bill went with the daily special, housemade tagliatelle with tomatoes, herbs, and cream sauce.  He seemed to enjoy his dish more than I liked mine.  

While we were sitting there, an English speaking group of 7 showed up.  They were making special requests.  Kudos to the waitress for handling it so well.  I think if we go there again, I’ll try a pizza.  They have a stone oven and the sizes looked manageable.  As it was, I managed about half of my dish, while Bill finished his.  We spent 37 euros.
After lunch, we wandered around… toured a church, strolled by the river, and wished we had more time to take a cruise.  The breeze coming off of the Rhein was lovely.
Check out those pipes!
This is different.  I probably would have kept going to church if we’d had one of these where I used to attend.
Literature lovers will enjoy this…
Another shot of the hostel/castle.
Boat schedule.  We’ll have to make a point of coming up and spending more than a couple of hours.  
The town itself is super cute.  And if you want to buy some wine, you can easily accomplish that.
I would actually love to find a little vacation apartment and come up for a long weekend with the dogs.  Bacharach is not that far from Wiesbaden, but it feels like a world away…  this is the kind of place we love to visit on weekends.  The Black Forest area is chock full of them, but we’re still trying to make discoveries up here in Rheinland.
We stopped at a Biergarten– the Kleines Brauhaus at the Rhein Theater— where we had a memorable afternoon in 2014.  We happened to visit on German Father’s Day, and there were many fathers and sons at this Biergarten, getting loaded and singing songs…  It was such a special memory for us that we decided to go back.
They had a full house.  We had to wait for someone to vacate a table under the carousel canopy.  One young lady– looked about seventeen or so– was bravely handling all of the orders.  She was remarkably chilled out. 
I had a Bacchusweizen Krug.  When it arrived, the Germans at the next table looked at me with bemusement.  Maybe it’s not very ladylike to order a liter of beer.  Maybe it’s not smart, either, since it will get warm if you don’t drink it fast enough.  Believe me, I’m up to the task.  This beer was a little bitter.  I liked Bill’s 1489 Dunkelweizen better.
In the foyer of the theater.  I took this same photo in 2014, which you can see on the post I linked at the beginning of this post.  I see they’ve added a safety vest.  
Someone started up this calliope.  Pretty cool!
I do like the Rhein Terrasse.  We didn’t make any new friends here this time, like we did in 2014, but it was still a pleasant place to kill an hour or so, before we decided to go home and feed the dogs.

We’re supposed to have similarly beautiful weather tomorrow.  Maybe we’ll visit that castle I was thinking about.  Or maybe we’ll do something else entirely.  I’m just glad we aren’t sitting in traffic.
On the way out…
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Community bonding…

Our new town, Breckenheim, has a charming habit of having a wine stand every other week.  We missed the first one two weeks ago, but caught today’s, which started at 6:00pm.  For some reason, the weather is really chilly today… like, it’s colder than a witch’s tit.  I actually wore the new wool sweater I bought from Aran Sweater Market last month, when I was enduring a fit of loneliness and self-pity.  I thought I wouldn’t get a chance to wear it before the winter of 2019…  I was wrong.  It’s freakin’ cold outside tonight.  We only lasted for an hour and a half and had just two glasses of wine.

Here are some photos from our local gathering.  I get the sense that we’ll know more of these people by summer’s end.

Our local church.  Eventually, I will go inside and take photos like a tourist.  I love that it’s so charming.

 

I took this before we left.  I thought the sweater would be enough, but I had to wear my other wool cardigan because it was so cold.  It’s like one of God’s little jokes.  I need a little sunshine in my life.

We scored a table.  I noticed others coveting our table.  It took over an hour before anyone asked us if they could sit down.  Just before they asked, I told Bill that in BW, someone would have asked awhile ago.

Good turnout… and this was actually before the rush hit.

My husband… in another life, he was a Scottish (or Irish) fisherman.

A shot of our “village”.  It’s a culture shock, because our other German neighborhoods were more rural.  We live a block up from here.

A pano shot, for the extra curious.

Right when things got started.  Our tiny town square.

We never did find it, but I bet by September, we’ll know where to go.

Don’t you think it’s time he changed his profile pic?  I do.

The most elaborate Easter tree I’ve seen.

Bill’s reaction to my filthy sense of humor.  I think we were on our second glass of wine.

A map of our town.  We are not near Stuttgart anymore.

Crown him with many crowns.

I noticed a few people noticing us.  The guy selling wine was brave enough to ask Bill where we’re from.  He mentioned the other American who lives in Breckenheim, on the other side of the village.  I think there might be fewer Americans in this town than in Jettingen, where we lived most recently when we were near Stuttgart.  But this town also has an Air BnB that is apparently popular with Americans.  Both times, when we lived near Stuttgart, we were in somewhat rural areas.  Where we are now is probably somewhat rural for Wiesbaden, but not for Stuttgart.  I am from Virginia, and I often liken it as a move to Northern Virginia as opposed to a move to Richmond.

Still… in some ways, I am liking Wiesbaden a lot.  In others, it’s a little hard to get used to.  One thing I can be grateful for, though, is that this area has some great veterinary talent.  Our former vets in Herrenberg alerted me to the fantastic Tierfklinik Hofheim, which is supposedly among the best in Germany.  We live only about twenty minutes from there now, which was not the case when the Herrenberg vet mentioned this facility to me.  And my German friend, Susanne, who lives near Stuttgart, alerted me to the fact that the vet we’re probably going to use permanently (and have already used once) does IVF for dogs.  He once even went to Dubai to inseminate a dog there with sperm from Australia.

It’s definitely a different world up here.  I look forward to getting to know it better.  Today, Frankfurt’s spring fair begins.  We’ll have to check it out and try some Frankfurt green sauce.

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Hessen

Our local haunt… the Alt Breckenheimer Stübchen

This place is within stumbling distance of our house.

 

SADLY, THIS ESTABLISHMENT HAS CLOSED. 

In both of our old stomping grounds near Stuttgart, we weren’t that close to places to eat.  In Unterjettingen, we had Tommi’s Bistro, which was a great steak place with limited hours, and Zum Schiff, which was a Swabian place, also with rather limited hours and menu choices.  In Pfäffingen, we had a really campy American place called Buffalo Bill’s that served scary versions of American food.  It closed sometime during our five year hiatus from Germany, and is now a casino.

One of the things I like about our new home is that it’s very close to a really cute German restaurant.  The Alt Breckenheimer Stübchen is not even a three minute walk from our house, and it’s super cute and charming.  Because we’d heard that it gets crowded on Friday nights, we made reservations at 7:00pm.  It’s a good thing we did, because they were busy last night and the restaurant is pretty small.  I loved the cozy bar area, though, and could see myself tipping a few beers there.  They also have an outdoor area that will be nice when the weather is better.

Last night’s specials presented on a chalk board.

We went with menu choices, which mostly consisted of German staples like schnitzels, steaks, and sausages.

The people sitting at the table next to ours seemed rather curious about us.  I caught the man staring a couple of times as Bill and I chose our schnitzels, both of which came with the salad pictured below.

We were seated in a sunken area with just a few tables.  I took the opportunity to get a shot of the bar, which looked really inviting.

Bill had a schnitzel with green peppercorn sauce.  It was pretty good.  I usually don’t get sauces on my schnitzels because I never finish them as it is, but I might make an exception for this one.  I also liked the “homefries” that came with his dish.

I went with a plain old Wiener Schnitzel, complete with crinkled fries.  It was good, although I have yet to run into a place with a bad schnitzel.  It seems to be the kind of thing that is hard to mess up… if you’re German, anyway.  I’ve never tried to make one myself.

 

I caught the couple sitting next to us staring again, so I smiled and said, “Hallo!”, which seemed to take them off guard.  Sometimes, I can be a little forward, especially when I’ve been drinking.

Service was very friendly and professional and the wait staff graciously boxed up our leftovers for us.  I don’t know how parking is for this particular restaurant, since we can easily walk to it.  There is street parking on our side of the street, but it’s usually fairly full.  On the other side of the block is the main drag through our little town.  I noticed a couple of parking spots on that side.  Free WiFi is offered to guests and Tuesday is their Ruhetag.  Otherwise, they’re open from 5:00pm until midnight every day.

And here’s a picture of the little church whose steeple so often shows up in pictures I take from one of our balconies.

I definitely see us becoming regulars at the Alt Breckenheimer Stübchen.  It seems to be a local gem.  I’m not sure what we’re doing today, although I’m sure it will involve spending money.

Maybe we’ll have pretty skies here, too.

The little restaurant near our house certainly does make us feel welcome!

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A late lunch at La Fonte in Breckenheim, Wiesbaden…

A little gift left by our new landlords… They gave us a gift bag with a huge Lindt Swiss chocolate bar with hazelnuts and a bottle of locally produced Sekt.  

 

The sun came out today and, unlike last week, this past week was rather quiet.  Although I probably would have been happy to hibernate, Bill decided we needed to go out and have lunch.  It was after 2 o’clock when he made this decision, so we were kind of limited in where we could go.  Fortunately, our new neighborhood has an Italian restaurant that doesn’t do pauses and has a Monday Ruhetag.  So once Bill managed to convince me to get dressed and prettified, we beagle proofed the house and drove the one kilometer to La Fonte, the local Sportsplatz’s restaurant.

I have mentioned before that a lot of German communities have sports clubs, and many of the sports clubs have restaurants.  In our old town, Jettingen, I remember two sports complexes, both of which had Greek restaurants next to their sports fields.  The neighboring town, Haslach, had a German restaurant.  Likewise, our new community of Breckenheim also has a Sportsplatz, which has an Italian eatery.  I noticed it got great ratings, so it was easy to convince Bill to visit.  It turned out to be a nice place to spend a couple of hours.

The first thing I noticed was the smell of horses.  There’s a barn nearby.  It seems to be my luck to live in places where there are horses… which only serves as a reminder that I need to buy a place with land so I can have horses in my life again.  I spent the 80s showing horses.

 

When we arrived at La Fonte, it was busy.  It looked like there were a couple of parties going on.  Nevertheless, we were welcome, and once they realized we were English speakers, the staff switched to excellent English.  We’re pretty good at speaking food, but I have to admit it’s nice to run into English speakers, even if it cuts down on my German practice.  I am somewhat consoled, though, because I heard some German youngsters leaving the restaurant and actually understood what was being said.  A young boy was eager to get outside and play, but his older brother admonished him to wear a jacket, even though the young boy said he didn’t need to bundle up.  It’s funny… suddenly understanding German is like suddenly tuning into a clear radio station.

Bill checks the menu.  We were seated “outside”, but it was warm enough.  They had a heater out there and the area was enclosed by glass and an awning.  I never would have known we were “outside”.  I’m sure in the warmer months, it’s nothing to open up that area.

 

We settled on salmon with shrimp sauce and noodles for me and veal with Gorgonzola sauce and noodles for Bill.  Both dishes came with generously sized salads and bread.  My dish had a slightly different dressing.  Bill’s was the usual yogurt dressing, while mine was more like a red wine vinaigrette.  

This little guy, name of Milo, is obviously the restaurant’s mascot.  He’s well known and loved.  I noticed the place had many apparent regulars and they were all greeting this adorable dog. 

 

He was so cute in his “I love New York” hoodie.  I might be persuaded to abandon my love of beagles for this little guy.  I was impressed by how well behaved he was, too.

 

Bill enjoys veal, noodles, and Gorgonzola sauce.  He managed to finish everything, even the salad.  I had to take half of my stuff home, even though I was hungry when I went in.  They were happy to pack up my leftovers.

 

Grilled salmon with shrimp sauce and noodles… it came with tiny shrimp and the sauce had a hint of nutmeg.  I really enjoyed it, but only managed half before I was full.  

 

This couple came in with a black version of Milo… and obviously, the owner knew Milo, and so did his cute little dog.  I noticed Milo and the other pooch played nicely in the dining room.  This is a very dog friendly place.  I saw at least two other dogs visiting during our two hour lunch.

We had another glass of Sangiovese for dessert, as well as espresso.  Note the generous pour!

We really enjoyed La Fonte.  I have a good feeling that we’ll be regulars.  The food was good; there was plenty of parking; it’s dog friendly; the wait staff were welcoming; and we can literally stumble to our new home from there.  We told the waiter that we were new in town and he gave us this…

Panettone— Italian cake/bread, just for Christmas…  I guess these folks are from northern Italy.  This was a nice hospitable touch.

And he warned us that if we want to have dinner on a weekend night, to call ahead.  I could easily tell La Fonte is a very popular local hangout.  It was nice to see.  Lots of people seemed to know and love the staff, which is always a good sign.  I am certain we’ll be back repeatedly.  It appears to be a very kid friendly place, too… the kind of place where friends and families gather.  I love those kinds of places.

A moonrise…

 

So we no longer have the enchanting view from our house, but we can still see one not far from where we live.  And the bonus is, I can smell horses from here.  I trust none of them are on La Fonte’s menu.  I’m kidding, of course.  I feel better now, though… even if I didn’t really feel like going out.  It’s time to get back to normal and start having some fun again.  Of course, we did come home to a big mess caused by Arran, the troublemaker.  He got into the trash.  I guess our new system needs refining.

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Whirlwind trip to Wiesbaden– our quest to find new dog friendly digs… Part one

Because Bill and I have to move to Wiesbaden in a few weeks, we thought it would be a good idea to get oriented to the area.  Before Saturday, the 13th of October, neither of us had ever been to the actual city of Wiesbaden.  Bill had been to the post once– he and a colleague went to Clay Kaserne for an overnight meeting last year.  But neither of us had ever been in the city of Wiesbaden proper, nor had we ever seen nearby Mainz, although I was once in the train station back in 1997.

Our plans to visit our soon to be new home were formulated with a week’s notice, when we contacted a potential landlord about seeing his beautiful free standing house.  When the guy said we could visit, I started looking for dog friendly places to stay.  The landlord specified that he’s open to allowing dogs, but only if they’re “friendly”, which Zane and Arran definitely are.  I figured our usual Stuttgart area pet sitter would be booked anyway, so we decided to bring the dogs with us.  That way, the landlord could meet them and determine if they’re suitable.

I tried to book a supposedly pet accessible apartment in Mainz, but when the landlady found out we have beagles, she claimed her apartment was “too small” to accommodate two medium sized dogs.  This was despite comments on Booking.com by travelers who raved about about how spacious her apartment is.  Due to the supposed “size issue”, she asked me to cancel the reservation.  I was happy to do that, and I’m also happy to supply a link to her property so other would be travelers with dogs won’t waste their time trying to book there.

For some reason, pet friendly apartment rentals in Mainz and Wiesbaden are in notably short supply, so I was forced to book a hotel room, which I found via BringFido.com.  We stayed in the heart of Wiesbaden at Town Hotel in a “standard” room, which is just 18 square meters.  I would be very surprised if our hotel room was larger than the supposedly pet friendly apartment in Mainz I tried to book.  While the landlady is within her rights to discriminate, I would respect her more if she wasn’t utterly full of shit.  If she’d rather not rent to people with pets, she should simply make that her policy or state in her ad that she discriminates based on size, quantity, and/or breed.  I had to prepay for the apartment booking, so it was an inconvenience that she asked me to cancel.

Fortunately, Town Hotel Wiesbaden turned out to be a great choice, despite how small the room was. I had asked to upgrade to a superior room before we arrived, but I guess they didn’t pay attention to the request and we got a standard room.  It didn’t matter, though.  The room was very small; but for two nights, it suited our needs fine.  And Zane and Arran were surprisingly well-behaved, too.

What we discovered on our trip to Hesse is that while it might be only about 100 miles from the Stuttgart area, the vibe is different there.  We definitely felt like we were in a different, more international part of Germany.  We noticed there were a lot of people from other countries living there and they brought their food with them.  I saw so many different kinds of restaurants and international cuisines being offered.  Every meal we had on our short trip was excellent.

Wiesbaden is a very beautiful city, too.  It kind of makes Stuttgart look hideous by comparison.  Both Mainz and Wiesbaden have a lot of beautiful architecture that wow the senses.  I’m also looking forward to trying lots of new wines.  A friend who has lived in Wiesbaden and Stuttgart alerted me to a special thing they do up there… the Federweisser, which is basically new wine one can pick up at a stand.  We saw quite a few of them yesterday as we were driving around the area, trying to find towns where we might want to live.

This was a whirlwind trip, so we only managed to see two houses.  One was a definite “no” and the other is a “maybe”.  We’ll probably have to go back up there again before we make our permanent move, not that I’d mind it.  Wiesbaden is truly gorgeous, and has a very different kind of spirit than Stuttgart does.  I’ll miss this area a lot, but I think there’s a lot to love about Wiesbaden.  I came home with some pictures and new stories, which I’ll share in the posts that follow this one.

A lovely tree in fall colors… This was at a park in downtown Wiesbaden.

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