I know I usually update this blog at least once a week. Before COVID hit, I would write even more regularly than that, because Bill and I were always going out to eat or traveling somewhere. The last two years have definitely been *different*. Even before we came back to Europe in 2014, we would go out to eat pretty often. Nowadays, it’s a very rare treat, just because going anywhere is a pain in the ass right now.
But that reality may be a memory soon, as COVID cases are finally declining again. The weather is warming up, and more people are getting vaccinated, getting sick and recovering, or dying. I noticed a recent headline indicating that Germany is on the brink of a recession, thanks to COVID. So, I would imagine that the restrictions will probably be loosened next month, because money is important. Ready or not, the world will probably have to open up soon. I am ready for it. But besides the need for business to resume, cases really are going down here. And the severity isn’t as bad as it has been. Or so the headlines say today.
At this writing, we’re still planning to visit Stuttgart to see the dentist next week, then head to France for the weekend. Maybe we’ll have a chance to visit Bitche, which is a militarily important town in France, and has the distinction of having had its Facebook page taken down without explanation. I have a feeling a bot decided Bitche was a bullying page. When I read about that happening, I wasn’t surprised. I was, however, disgusted by the ignorance. I really feel like Facebook needs human beings running it.
Europe is rife with places that have “profane” names. Or names that are profane in English. English is not the only language there is, though. Sadly, some European towns are changing their names thanks to obnoxious tourists. The Austrian town of Fucking, for instance, is now called Fugging, because people were fucking under the signs or stealing them. I’m glad we had a chance to visit before the name change happened on January 1, 2021.
Anyway, since I titled this post “President’s Day weekend, 2022”, I guess I should write about what we did this year. And the answer to that question is, not a whole hell of a lot. Bill ate stinky cheese from France. We drank wine and talked a lot. I did some writing, and Bill finally replaced the strings on his Telecaster. I started watching my Facts of Life DVDs, which gave me a temporary return to my 1980s era girlhood. Arran and Noyzi got some quality time with Bill, with lots of snuggles. I cleaned the inside of the glass on the oven door, which is a nasty job. Last week, Bill took some online courses at the Carl Jung Institute. Originally, he was going to go in person, and I would have joined him, but we decided not to go because of COVID rules.
I took this photo in February 2021, when Bill first got his guitar. He just now changed the strings. But he still loves that shirt, as you can see in the photos with Arran.
I truly hate not traveling on the long weekends. I have some hope that this will be the last time we will have to forgo our usual long weekends. There’s still so much we want to see in Europe. But we’ll see. COVID is always mutating, so this could be an issue for awhile yet. But at least I might finally get to get my Bitche on next week. I’ve been curious about that town for awhile. And Bill will enjoy the military aspect, since that’s his life. I hasten to add that we haven’t been staying home because we have to, due to the local rules. It’s more because the rules make traveling a pain in the butt, and not much fun. That will hopefully change very soon.
These photos sum up our holiday weekend. Not bad, I guess… there are worse ways to spend a weekend. But I hope we can do better next year. With any luck, the times soon may be a’changing. At least Bill managed to finish reading Maus.
Well, we finally did it. After a total of 7.5 years of living in Germany, Bill and I finally visited Strasbourg, France, for more than a couple of hours. And we finally went to the annual wine expo I’ve been hearing about for years, now. Although I run a local food and wine group on Facebook and I’ve never made a secret of my love for wine and beer, Bill and I have somehow always missed Strasbourg’s big wine convention, which takes place every February. This yearly event, which has been going on since 1994, brings together hundreds of vintners from all over France. And since we never know when our time in Europe might end, Bill and I decided this year we’d attend.
We weren’t sure we were going to make the expo until the last minute. Bill has to go away this week and will be leaving in a few hours, after he picks up Arran from the Birkenhof Tierpension, which has become our go-to dog hotel since we moved to Wiesbaden. Then I was concerned about where we were going to stay, since I wasn’t at all familiar with Strasbourg and I worried that hotels would be full. But it all came together nicely and I am happy to say we had a great weekend, complete with extraordinarily warm, sunny weather. I had originally given some thought to staying on a house boat in Strasbourg, but I figured the weather wouldn’t be good. As we were leaving this morning, I told Bill that we could have had a great time on the boat. We had sunny skies and balmy temperatures in the 60s! I didn’t even need to wear a sweater!
The first thing we did to prepare for our trip to Strasbourg was order a sticker for the car. France, like Germany, now requires stickers for cars traveling in certain cities. Strasbourg is one such city that requires the sticker. It costs 7 euros, and comes in the mail, but since our trip was coming up so soon, we had a printout of our proof of purchase on the dashboard of the car.
Bill took Friday, Valentine’s Day, off from work, dropped off Arran at the Hunde Hotel, where he was left in capable hands and the promise of hanging out with a beagle girlfriend he’s had since we lost Zane. I was glad to hear she’d be staying at the pension, too, since they make good roommates. Then we loaded up the Volvo and got on our way. Strasbourg is only about 2.5 hours from Wiesbaden, which makes it a super easy place to get away to for a weekend break. We were actually closer to Strasbourg when we lived near Stuttgart, but always wound up being lured by Alsatian wine country. Now that I’ve spent a weekend in Strasbourg, I think it’ll be hard to choose between the two areas when we need to get out of Germany but don’t want to travel too far.
Our trip to France mostly took place in Germany. We made just one stop, at a truck stop that was a lot closer to France than we were expecting. In retrospect, we probably should have just continued to France and had ourselves some Alsatian goodies. But we did stop, and I took a few photos…
What culinary wonders await us here?
Thanks for the extra space… but no thanks for being out of service.
This was a typical rest stop…
Had all kinds of snacks, beverages, and the like…
But you can’t bring your own food and dine inside.
I had a “chicken schnitzel”. Bill had a turkey filet. It wasn’t bad. I’ve had better, though.
You have to pay to pee at most German rest stops. But when you pay 70 cents to pee (it used to be 50 cents), they give you a voucher for 50 cents back so you can buy coffee… which will also make you pee. And yes, I usually throw them away.
Swiss vignette has gone up a euro!
Just a few minutes later…
Our lodging…
I booked Hotel des XV for our three night stay, a four star establishment on the east side of town. I booked the hotel because it got really excellent reviews on Trip Advisor and Booking.com, but it also had more of what I was looking for than other places I researched. Since Bill and I not getting any younger, we like to stay in nice hotels with good service. We don’t mind paying a bit more for better quality.
Hotel des XV is located in a quiet residential area, very close to the Orangerie Park and several consulates. It’s not in the thick of town, and there aren’t any restaurants closeby, although there is at least one grocery store within reasonable walking distance and, in fact, it’s possible to walk into town in about 30 minutes or so. There’s also a bus stop right outside the hotel’s gate, although the bus stops running at 9:00pm.
Hotel des XV has just ten rooms. There’s a free parking lot next to the hotel, although I think it’s for the neighborhood, and not just for guests. I read that the hotel also offers a private garage where one can purchase the right to park, but we never needed to use it.
Breakfast costs 19 euros per adult and includes a buffet with the usual fruits, cereals, breads, cold cuts, and cheeses. They will also make bacon and eggs, if you like. Breakfast for children is 9,5 euros. It’s served in a lovely front room that also serves as a fully stocked bar, which also offers small plates and room service.
Two classes of rooms are available, superior and deluxe. I booked us a deluxe room, and we were in #3. It was not a big room, but it was nicely appointed with a king sized bed, desk, free WiFi, and a flat screen TV. The bathroom had a good sized glass enclosed shower with a wide head. We were very comfortable there for three nights.
From the moment of our arrival at about 3:00pm on Valentine’s Day until our departure at about 8:30am on President’s Day, we got mostly friendly, attentive service from the staff at Hotel des XV. I was even greeted in a welcome card, written in German. I guess they thought I was German because we booked from Germany. All of the staff members spoke excellent English, though, so kudos to them for that!
The only hiccup in service was when we came back late on Friday night and couldn’t get into the hotel. They had changed the code to the lock since we’d checked in that afternoon. Consequently, the door wouldn’t open and we had to call reception at about 10:30pm… it made a racket and took the guy several minutes to respond. Edited to add: I see now that they sent me an email about the new code, but it went to my spam folder.
I was already pissed because Bill made me walk back from town, so I was a bit irritated about having to wait outside for the door to be opened. More on that in a later post. For now, here are some pictures of the property!
How nice! A greeting in German!
Good bed with comfortable pillows and sheets.
Nice bathroom.
The shower was very good and didn’t spray water everywhere.
Small desk.
Parking lot. It’s kind of awkward, but serves its purpose. It’s free to park there.
Front of the hotel. It’s in a nice neighborhood.
Small plates— smoked salmon for me and cheese for Bill.
Fresh bread and a nice red…
I’d drink this one again!
An example of breakfast. I loved the brownies, which they didn’t have this morning. I also had eggs all three days, although this morning’s boiled egg was too underdone.
For three nights with breakfasts each morning and room service last night– a bottle of wine and two small plates– we paid about 630 euros. Not cheap, but it was cheaper than the houseboat would have been, and a very comfortable stay. I’d definitely book there again. This hotel, by the way, is also pet friendly, although pets don’t stay free of charge. Fair enough… and maybe someday Arran can come with us to Strasbourg, which is as dog friendly as the rest of France is.
A couple of weeks ago, probably between Bill’s two most recent TDY trips, I asked him if he’d like to take a trip over the long President’s Day weekend. He said sure. Off I went to Booking.com, my trusty source for pet friendly accommodations. Next weekend, we have plans to visit a new Hunde pension, so maybe we can take a few more petless trips. But, for now, Zane and Arran have to come with us when we leave town, so pet friendly digs are important.
I had originally wanted to go to the Czech Republic, like we did last year. I found a really nice looking and pet friendly apartment near Chodova Plana, which is where Chodovar Brewery and Beer Spa is. But the apartment I wanted to book was not available for President’s Day weekend. It’s a shame, too, because we went to Chodovar for President’s Day weekend in 2009– ten years ago– and it would have been fun to go back this year. They have done a lot of renovating since 2009, but it’s still cheap. When we went in 2009, we stayed in the hotel at the brewery, but though the hotel is pet friendly, Zane and Arran are not hotel friendly.
Since the apartment near Chodovar wasn’t available, I went back to my list of saved properties. When we were still living near Stuttgart, I saved a bunch of pet friendly accommodations that ticked all or most of the boxes of what I look for when I look for pet friendly places.
Luckily, we’ve found plenty of places where our dogs are welcome. Our visit to rural Robert-Espagne, France was very pet friendly, as we booked the weekend at the charming, historic Maison Qui s’y frotte s’y pique, a house that was built in 1920. The owners, Alexandre and Stephanie, bought the house about a year ago and renovated it with a new kitchen, bathroom, and electric shutters. It now boasts mixture of old world charm and modern convenience.
I was a little hesitant to book at first. For one thing, the rates for this house are dirt cheap. Sometimes, when you get dirt cheap rentals, you get everything you paid for and less. For another thing, I wasn’t sure what there was to do in the area. I think I found it when I was looking for rentals near the Champagne region, but Robert-Espagne isn’t super close to Champagne, nor is it that close to Lorraine. It really is in “the real France“… as in, it’s not really a tourist friendly area. However, if your goal is to experience France, away from your American countrymen, it’s not a bad place to be. And if you want to walk your dog out in nature, go kayaking, or visit historic sites from World War I, it’s also a good bet.
We planned to do none of those things… I just wanted a change of scenery and maybe the chance to pick up some champagne. I had read there was a small vintner near Robert-Espagne that offered tastings and tours. I also looked forward to good food and people watching. We did manage to have a couple of meals and we have six new bottles of champagne. I got some pictures, too, although our plans to do a lot were a bit thwarted because we were distracted by an issue that came up just after our arrival at our rental house.
Speaking of the house, here are a few photos…
The outside of the house. “Qui s’y frotte s’y pique” is a saying that translates to “If you go looking for trouble, you’ll find it.” Come to think of it, that sounds like the story of my life.
On our way to the this house, I got a message from Alexandre, the owner, who asked in French that we call his parents when we were two hours out from our arrival. Neither Bill nor I ever studied French, but it wasn’t too hard to figure out his request. His parents live two doors down from the rental home, and they are super nice people. However, they really speak very little to no English. It wasn’t a big problem. We basically understood what they said. Alexandre’s mom speaks a little English and Alexandre, who is a captain in the French Army, speaks a tiny bit more. He visited yesterday, since he is based near Strasbourg. He and Bill bonded over being soldiers. Alexandre has been to both Iraq and Afghanistan and he said he was very impressed by the dining facilities on the American bases.
The stairs were very old fashioned and creaky! The floors are wood or tile.
One of the bedrooms. We didn’t use this one and kept the door shut after I shooed Zane off the bed. Incidentally, the owners prefer that animals stay on the first floor.
The other bedroom. Both rooms have flat screen TVs and schranks.
Upstairs bathroom. It has a generous sized tub and a shower, and everything is brand new.
The downstairs toilet. It doesn’t have a sink…
But it does have a rainfall shower. We didn’t use it because it wasn’t convenient.
The living/dining room. It has a table for six, a couch, television, and two chairs. We put our own towels on the furniture, since Zane and Arran are couch potatoes.
We got a kick out of the owners 45s. He had a bunch of 80s era pop music, some of which was from the US and some from France. I was impressed to see that he had a turntable equipped with a CD player. It looked like it would also accommodate an MP3 player, although I just used my laptop. WiFi is free.
Very nice kitchen with a striking tile floor. It has an induction stove top, a huge fridge, dishwasher, and most everything else you’d need.
Smoking is not allowed in the house, but you are allowed to smoke on the porch. We don’t smoke, so this wasn’t a concern for us.
You can also play foozeball…
Grill out… or play darts. The dartboard is on the wall next to the grill.
For three nights, I paid 180 euros (175.50 for the house and 4.50 in taxes)… I think it’s a steal. If this looks good to you, you can find this property listed here on Booking.com. Or, you can just search for Robert-Espagne. I think it’s the only property available in that area.
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