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Last minute getaway to Ulm: Part two

We had intended to eat breakfast at the hotel.  It was included in the price of the room.  Unfortunately, luck was not on our side yesterday morning.  We all got in the elevator.  It stopped on the second floor, where we were confronted by the old guy who had checked us in.  He had a cart full of dirty dishes and seemed to need the elevator more than we did.  We got off the elevator and started down the stairs.  When we got to the lobby, standing by the elevator was a woman with a big boxer.  Zane got one look at the boxer and started barking.  Arran joined in with his own deafening howls.  Once again, I was dragged out of the lobby by my two crazy dogs.

I suggested to Bill that we go find a McDonald’s or something.  If worse came to worse, we could eat in the car.  Bill figured we’d stop at the one we passed on the autobahn, not realizing until it was too late that there was a McDonald’s in the next town.  We spotted its golden arches as we were getting on the autobahn.  Rather than turn around and go back to Mickey D’s, Bill headed for A8.  It turned out the McDonald’s we thought we were going to was located further away than we realized.  Spotting a Burger King, we pulled off at a truck stop, thinking we might score a Croissan’wich or something.

The boys enjoy a truck stop.  Lots to smell there.

The truck stop was located in Aichen and it was pretty disgusting.  The air smelled bad… kind of like a combination of garbage and sewage.  There was trash all over the place, especially near the picnic tables.  Nevertheless, Bill went in to find us some breakfast while I tended to Zane and Arran.  What we didn’t realize is that apparently some Burger Kings in Germany don’t offer breakfast.  The Burger King at the Aichen truck stop definitely didn’t.  So Bill ended up getting a true truck stop breakfast, which took some time.  I was standing out there with the dogs, wondering what was going on, not knowing that Bill was getting us a full on breakfast packed in styrofoam and accompanied by plastic utensils.

He got me fried eggs and bacon and himself scrambled eggs with potatoes.  The scrambled eggs were supposed to come with ham, but the guy didn’t have any on hand.

That’s a lotta eggs!  The orange juice was excellent, though.  It was fresh squeezed!

Bill’s deficient eggs.

We sat down at a picnic table and I remarked to Bill that there had been a steady stream of guys headed for the wooded area behind the truck stop.  Obviously, they didn’t want to pay 70 cents to use the toilet.  I couldn’t blame them for that, I guess.  However, there were a few fellows who didn’t want to take the time to walk to the woods.  I saw at least two of them take a whiz right in front of everyone.  It’s not uncommon to see people doing that at truck stops, though most people at least try to be a little private about it.

Germany sure is beautiful, isn’t it?

 

After we ate, I decided to use the restroom.  As I walked into the truck stop, I was confronted by a family of four with no sense of urgency as they headed down to the facilities.  They were blocking the pay station, fishing for change.  I reminded myself that we weren’t in a hurry because we had nothing planned.  I still wanted to do my business and get away from the nasty truck stop, though.

I suppose seeing this ad for desperate pregnant women was worth 70 cents.

 

Finally, we got back on the road and headed into Ulm.  Ulm is a very nice city.  I would definitely like to go back there sometime without the dogs.  It reminded me a lot of Munich in some ways.  In other ways, it reminded me of Tuebingen.

One of the first things we saw were signs for a wine fest…

It was to open at 11:00am!

A farmer’s market was also going on.  Unfortunately, Bill forgot to bring our shopping bags.  It’s a shame, too.  We even had our cooler that plugs into the car and makes a little fridge.

The produce looked beautiful!

We did not go inside the cathedral because we had the dogs.  Had we gone in there, I think we would have climbed up the steeple.

I had to pause at this corner where three skilled musicians were busking.  Fiddle, guitar, and upright bass conspired to touch my heart as we wandered around the market.  In fact, even though we were only there for a couple of minutes, their music actually brought tears to my eyes.  I am a terrific sap when it comes to music.  We ended up giving them some euros.

We finally made our way toward the river and wandered through a very charming part of old town Ulm.  As we crossed over one of many bridges, I saw something puzzling…

Someone apparently decided to take a seat.

But really, much of the area near the fish market is just lovely, with waterfalls and ducks…

The people here very kindly left a water bowl out for passing dogs.

We should have stayed in Ulm.

Some guy stopped Bill to ask him a question.  A lot of people do that.  It’s probably because he has a very kind face.  While he was struggling to speak German, I busied myself by taking this photo.  

Right about at this point, I decided I needed to make a pit stop.

 

We ended up at a Coffee Fellows.  I had hot chocolate that tasted more like hot chocolate milk.  Bill had a cafe Americano.  The boys got a rest.

I ended up being amused by this ad that was by the restrooms.  Look closely at the guy’s underwear.  You’d never see that in the States!  I also thought the music at this particular coffee shop was pretty bad.  They were playing songs where N bombs were repeatedly dropping.  

Once we were finished with our coffee break, we started thinking about what we wanted to do next.  My German friend Susanne had given me some tips on a local place where there were pretty trails and biergartens.  I figured that might be a good place for us to take the dogs… but then as we rounded the corner, we realized it was 11:00… The wine fest was then open!

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booze tourism

Beer and Fucking Tour… a visit to Fuckersberg… and peeing on a snake!

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early, ready to move on to our next location.  After breakfast, we loaded up the car and checked out of the hotel.  Our total bill for two nights, two beer spa packages (beer bath, partial massages, and four course beer menu), Friday night’s four course “menu” dinner, and several beers, came to about 480 euros.

I noticed that the proprietor meant to take the day off.  She had set a sheet of paper with hotel keys on it next to the names of people scheduled to check in.  I guess these folks would later show up, grab their keys, and deal with the check in process later.  Obviously, the lady in charge was going to rest and enjoy her Sunday.  As we were about to leave, she showed up in a beautiful dirndl, said goodbye, and wished us a pleasant trip.

I really enjoyed staying at the Moorhof, even though it’s a bit 80s and in a somewhat rural area.  Salzburg is close enough to visit for those who need to see a city, yet the hotel is in a very serene, beautiful area.  The food is good.  The prices are reasonable.  There’s plenty of free parking and there are many places to take walks.  And, if you want to, you can even rent an “old time” tractor and go for a ride.  Though I thought Franking was lovely, I really liked the friendly people.  I would go back there if I ever need a place to completely unplug.  Franking is very tranquil and serene.

After we settled up, I told Bill that I was dying to see a place called Fuckersberg.  I was alerted to the existence of this place in Austria by ListOfTheDay, a hilarious guy on Facebook who posts funny stuff.  He claims he lives in Fuckersberg.  He’s hysterical and now runs the Everything 70s group on Facebook.

Anyway, because we were in Austria, I had to see this mystical place called Fuckersberg, even though we had big trouble pulling it up on the GPS.  While plenty of people posted pictures of Fucking, no one had posted pictures of Fuckersberg.  Yet I knew from Google (and now having seen it) that it’s a real place.  So, even though it was Sunday and Fuckersberg is over an hour northeast from Franking and in the opposite direction of where we were going, I convinced Bill to take me there.  Since it wasn’t in the GPS, we picked a small town about three miles from Fuckersberg’s location per Google maps.

The drive to Fuckersberg was absolutely beautiful!  I was really enjoying the scenery.  Unfortunately, I eventually really had to pee.  Since it was Sunday, a lot of places were closed.  I determined that I needed to find a bush somewhere.  As a side note, since we moved back to Europe, I am finding that I have fewer and fewer inhibitions when it comes to public urination.

Bill found a spot on the side of the road near a wooded area.  I don’t think we were supposed to park there and given what happened, I kind of wish we hadn’t.  But my bladder was screaming and I spotted a place I could duck behind and relieve myself quickly…

I ducked behind here… it was a good hiding spot for a whiz…

I was pretty pleased with myself for finding this particular spot, even though there were briars and debris back there.  I had just dropped my pants and squatted down when I spotted a stick near my foot.  As the first drops of urine flowed to the ground, I saw the stick move and realized that I was actually peeing on a snake who had the misfortune of hiding back there while I took a much needed whiz.  I let out a small scream, finished up, and rushed out from behind the machinery.  Later, I looked up the snake…  It wasn’t very big, nor was it poisonous.  Still, it gave me the creeps.  In fairness, I guess I gave it the creeps, too.  ETA: My German friend Susanne thinks maybe it was a different kind of snake.  She’s probably right.  Anyway, it was sort of gray and brown and not very scary.  Just creepy.

Near Fuckersberg…

We finally got to a town called Zell an der Pram, which is near Fuckersberg.  Bill turned on roaming services on his phone and we used Google GPS to get to the exact place where Fuckersberg is.  Fuckersberg is in a very beautiful area, but I could tell the locals aren’t used to strange people cruising through there.  One lady gave us a bewildered look as we drove past.  She was saddling her horse for a morning ride.  We passed her again when we determined that Fuckersberg only has one sign.  It’s pretty small and you could very easily miss it.  But here it is in all its fabled glory…  Fuckersberg is apparently a big field.

I had to take this photo in a hurry because the horse lady looked perturbed with us…

Once we finished our business in Fuckersberg, we headed for Lermoos, which is in the Tyrol region and very close to Garmisch-Partenkirchen.  In fact, Bill and I passed through Lermoos several times last time we lived here because he had a bunch of conferences at the Edelweiss Lodge and I always tagged along when he went there.  I gotta say, I liked our traditional hotel in Lermoos a lot better than the Edelweiss Lodge.

Because we were so far east, we ended up going to Lermoos by way of Germany, which involved driving through Munich.  Bill was not a happy camper and neither was I.  In fact, I got pretty “hangry”.  More on that in the next post.

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Baden-Württemberg, Tübingen

A quick trip to Bad Urach to see the waterfall…

Since it’s Labor Day weekend and we didn’t make any travel plans, I really wanted to try to do something different today.  Sadly, after last night’s indulgent dinner and wine excursion, Bill and I got off to a slow start.  Finally, around noon, I got dressed and Bill asked me what I wanted to do.  I said I wanted to visit Bad Urach.

I actually wanted to see the town of Bad Urach and, perhaps, drop by their thermal baths.  But Bill determined that we needed to hike up the famous Bad Urach waterfall.  We set off from Unterjettingen at about 1:00 after I had a brief OCD moment worrying whether or not I had shut the door firmly.  Bill had thought to pack me a bag of peanuts in case I got hangry, but I had a better idea.  I said we should stop in Tübingen and have lunch.  Bill agreed, and we ended up having a really nice meal at Die Kelter, which is a very cool restaurant on the main drag coming away from our favorite parking garage near the university clinic.
We last dined at Die Kelter last time we lived in Germany, though we have since been in there for drinks.  Die Kelter has a very unique atmosphere and very good food.  In fact, today when we had lunch, I couldn’t get over how great the place smelled… kind of like fresh bread and Mom’s Sunday roast.  
Bill looking bored…  It’s time to order him some new clothes.
We  sat at one of the big tables on the main floor and a friendly waiter who spoke perfect English took care of us.  I had the New York pastrami on focaccia with a salad.  Bill had the pulled pork sandwich with cole slaw and fried potatoes.  He had mint iced tea and I had a beer.  But before lunch could begin, I had to hike to the ladies room.  And when I say hike, I mean hike.  You have to go up two or three flights of stairs (I lost count) to get to the toilet.
There are several of these signs to help you in case you lose your way…

Here’s a shot of the restaurant.  I took it on the way back down to our table.  Cool, huh?

Nice Baisinger beer.  Locally brewed and I think it’s Die Kelter’s brew of choice.  The bread was very fresh and yummy.

My delicious pastrami.  Seriously, this was very good, and at 13 euros, not too pricey.  The pastrami was cool to the touch, with a toasted focaccia bread bottom.  It was served with a nice mustard sauce on the bread.  The salad was delicious, especially because of the dressing.  I don’t usually eat a lot of salad, but I could eat this every day.  The dressing was like crack.  And the cherry tomatoes were sweet and almost like candy.

Curiously, Bill’s sandwich (which the waiter said was a good choice) was advertised on the “small hunger” part of the menu.  It was also very good.  I enjoyed helping Bill eat the potatoes.

Bill is waiting for the bill…

A couple more interior shots.

Well worth a visit!  We’ll be back again.  

With our hunger satiated, we went back to the car and watched as a nervous woman tried very hard to get out of her parking spot.  I guess she and her man were teaching a young guy with them how to drive.  We were stuck behind them for awhile and it was a bit hair raising.  But soon, we were out of the city and the countryside turned pretty.  I told Bill I wished we’d gotten an earlier start because I knew I’d want to see more than the falls…

First glimpse of the trail to the waterfalls.  There is a train station located very close for those who’d rather ride the train than drive.  Plenty of parking is available, too.  You have to pay to park, but the pass is good all day.  There is no charge to see the waterfall.

By the time we parked and Bill got his parkschein, I really had to pee.  Sadly, there were no public toilets to be found.  There was a restaurant nearby, but I figured there would be something near the falls.  I was mistaken.  

Though I badly needed to find a toilet, I tried to focus on the natural beauty of the Bad Urach area.  Clouds were rolling in and it made for some very dramatic photography.

But then we came upon a swiftly rushing brook… just what my aching bladder needed!  

Castle ruins in the distance.  We weren’t up to hiking there today.  Perhaps another time.

There were many people at the waterfalls today.  With no bathroom in sight, I was hoping to be able to pull off the trail and find a bush.  Unfortunately, the opportunity didn’t present itself and even if there had been a good bush to duck behind, the throngs of people made it difficult to do so discreetly. Just as I was about to lose hope, I spotted what looked like a deep dry creek bed with lots of tree cover and a convenient overhang.  I sneaked down into the creek bed, found a private spot, and took a glorious whiz away from the glare of onlookers.  It’s a good thing I did, too…  It would not have been fun to hike up the falls needing to whiz.

We reached the base of the falls, where a sign warned us against drinking the water.  It looked cool, clear, and clean, but apparently it’s been known to cause waterborne illnesses.  I’ve had giardia before.  Don’t need a repeat experience.

We started the walk up the falls, which mostly consisted of taking some steps up the side.  I’m pretty slow going up these things since I’m not very thin or fit, but there were many fearless kids running down as if the steps were nothing.  There are no handrails.  I did my best mountain goat impression as I made up way up.  I was sad to see that some people had thoughtlessly left trash in the area.
The roots on this tree reminded me of a horde of fighting monkeys.

About halfway up.


At the top…  I am told that there’s usually more water, but we didn’t have much rain over the summer.

The view off the top of the falls.

People making their way up.

I managed to annoy several people behind Bill and me because I took my time going down.  Like I said, I’m not as fit as I’d like to be and the last thing I want to do is break my ass coming down those hard steps.  They finally made a move to pass just as I was putting out my hand for balance.  One of them said, “Hallo.”  I stepped aside, let them pass, and asked Bill if there was anybody else.  He said no, then got in front of me and let me steady myself by putting my hand on his shoulder as we descended.  Oh, how I miss the days when I was a kid and hadn’t yet fallen on my face in public.

Dramatic shots of the castle ruins.

On the way back to the car, Bill decided to pull off at the same place I did and relieve himself.  Of course, when he did that, he attracted the curiosity of a couple who were wondering what they were missing.  I wanted to say that all they were missing was my husband taking a whiz.  You can see that on the side of the autobahn anytime.  The same couple was ahead of us and I had a good laugh when someone walking the other way inexplicably said “Hallo!” in a cheery tone of voice.  She laughed as she passed and the male half of the couple turned and stared at her with a confused expression on his face.  I guess random people don’t go around saying “Hello!” so enthusiastically in these parts.

While Bill peed, I distracted myself by taking a photo of this tree.

An adorable and friendly golden retriever took an extended dip in the creek.  Bill almost got a shower when the dog came up and shook off the excess water in front of him.

Another shot of the dog playing fetch in the water.

We left Bad Urach after our short visit, vowing to come back and see more sometime soon.  On the way back to Unterjettingen, we decided to see the Mad Scientist at Agais in Entringen.  We didn’t really need to eat, but we knew he needed the business and it’s always fun to see him.  So we dropped in at just before 5:30 and had a nice Greek meal.

Beer instead of wine…

A small salad…

I had grilled turkey.  Bill had souvlaki, which I didn’t photograph because he’s had it before.  I have had the turkey before, but not since we moved back to Germany.  It was a nice change of pace.
When we got home, Zane and Arran went absolutely nuts.  They showered me with beagle kisses after they ate their dinner and had a potty break.  They had a brief play session.  Now, I suspect they’re asleep.
We had a really good day, despite starting off with a hangover.  Next weekend will be even better because we’ll be in Austria while everyone else is back at work!
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anecdotes

18 months for pissing on The Alamo!

Don’t mess with Texas!

A man who peed on The Alamo got sentenced to 18 months in prison.  Back in April 2012, 23 year old Daniel Athens of El  Paso, Texas took a whiz on the landmark and just got slapped with the time and a $4000 fine.

I have to wonder if Athens was drunk when he made this faux pas.  He was spotted by a ranger who happened to see him in an area that was not intended for the general public.  He probably would have been better off jumping into the San Antonio River from the Riverwalk and relieving himself there.

Best find a restroom before you hit the Alamo…

 

While I know it’s not good to deface national monuments, I think this punishment is a bit extreme and not all that beneficial to society.  I think it would have made more sense to fine the guy and make him clean up the area around The Alamo in 100 degree heat.  Now he’s going to go to prison and the prisoners are going to ask him what he’s in for…  “Pissing on the Alamo” probably won’t get him much street cred.  In all seriousness, this could damage this guy’s future.  Yes, it was a dumb mistake, but I think in the grand scheme of things, he could have done much worse.

But then, I’m from Virginia and Virginia is for lovers…  😉

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