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Schwarzwald

Baiersbronn in the Black Forest– Bareiss Style! Part two

Travel insurance is important for expensive trips!

It’s a good thing that I bought travel insurance for our trip. In the weeks leading up to it, we learned that our older dog, Arran, has lymphoma. We had another dog named Zane who also had lymphoma, and sadly he died just one week after he was diagnosed. In Zane’s case, the cancer appeared while we were vacationing in Scotland back in August 2019, and we had no idea that he was sick. A week after we got home, I felt swollen lymph nodes under his jaws and a week later, he was gone. So naturally, I was worried about how Arran would do while we were gone. We didn’t find out about his lymphoma until canceling would have required us to pay 80% of the cost of the reservation at the Bareiss. Then, we would have been fighting the insurance company. Nevertheless, the thought of canceling did occur to us.

We ultimately decided not to cancel, because Arran is overall healthier than Zane was when he got sick. We also took him to the vet last week and she said she thought he would be okay during our time away. We had a fine needle aspirate done to see what kind of lymphoma Arran has– it doesn’t appear to be as aggressive as Zane’s was. We also knew that since we’d just be in the Schwarzwald, it wouldn’t be a problem to come back and deal with Arran if the need arose. We didn’t get any calls from the Hundepension while we were gone, so we assume he did alright. He has an appointment to see the vet on Wednesday, at which point we’ll determine what can be done to make the rest of his time the most comfortable.

I’m bringing up travel insurance for another reason. A friend of mine from back home in Virginia was fretting the other day because she had booked a cruise, and the area from which the sailing was occurring was affected by Hurricane Ian. She did not buy travel insurance. Fortunately, it didn’t turn out to be necessary; the cruise was delayed, rather than canceled. But she was lamenting about not being “smart enough” to get insurance. I don’t always insure my trips, but I will for expensive hotels that I can’t cancel, and for things like cruises. This trip, being well into the four figures, was expensive for us. So I sprang for the insurance with “cancel for any reason” coverage, just for the peace of mind. I really recommend it, even though it adds an additional cost to the trip. We buy our insurance through USAA, but you can purchase it through many outlets. Be sure to read the reviews before taking the leap! Not all travel insurers are created equally. In fact, given how much service at USAA has been slipping lately, maybe it’s time I re-evaluated getting insured through them. 😉

Edited to add: I am pleased to report that Arran made it through his time at the Hundepension with no issues. He’s home, and delighted to be back with his favorite person, Bill!

Now… on to happier matters!

We decided to start our trip on Wednesday, because our dental visit was scheduled for Thursday afternoon. Downtown Stuttgart is about a 90 minute drive from Baiersbronn, and we didn’t want to be in a situation in which we were arriving late. In retrospect, it would have been okay to arrive on Thursday. I just thought it would be better to be checked in and settled before the dentist visit, especially since we had never been to the Bareiss before and didn’t know how things worked there. Besides, we love luxury hotels, so an extra night is never a hardship.

On the way to the Schwarzwald, we stopped at the Hundepension with Arran and Noyzi. Noyzi was absolutely delighted to be there. He loves the young lady who takes care of him– and young women in general. He also loves to play with other dogs. I expected Arran to be sulky, but he was actually pretty chill. Noyzi practically dragged me to the gate, while Arran moseyed along quietly, touching noses with a few dogs who greeted us on the way in. When we got to the gate, Noyzi literally pounded on it with his paw! He was so excited to see Natasha, the caretaker.

We explained about Arran to Natasha and I asked her to contact us if she had any problems with Arran, since we were only going to be a couple of hours away. Natasha didn’t contact us, so I’m guessing Arran was a slower, finickier version of himself. Bill will go get them in a little while.

Once the dogs were dropped off, we got on the road, stopping at a Rasthof for a bathroom break. Awhile later, we both needed another potty break. Unfortunately, at the second time we needed a break, there weren’t any full service facilities available. Bill decided to pull off at one of the “free” WCs on the side of the Autobahn. Those things are a mixed bag. Sometimes, they’re relatively clean and well maintained. Sometimes, they are something out of a horror show. The one we encountered on the way to Hotel Bareiss was closer to the horror show. The floors were a bit flooded, and there was toilet paper strewn everywhere. I have seen some truly gross facilities in my time, having lived for over two years in Armenia, where the public toilets were so nasty that one was happy to find a squat hole, rather than a commode. We should have moved on from that toilet, but I decided to hold my nose and go. It was not a good decision, as the gross water on the floor got on my pants.

Bill did come away from the experience with a funny story, though. A lot of the men were just going behind the facility and peeing in the woods. I should have done that myself, actually. But one elderly German man braved the toilet with Bill, and complained to him in German. He said something along the lines of, “So, this is Germany. We were in the Netherlands for four days last week. Everything there was right. Look at the state of things here in Germany. Shameful!”

I was pretty grossed out by that bathroom experience, and especially by the souvenir left on my pants. I actually considered changing pants before we got the hotel, I was so offended. But we pressed on, and arrived at the Hotel Bareiss in the early afternoon. We pulled up the grand structure with the electric gate, that didn’t open for us at first. But then we arrived at the front of the hotel, and a very kind and friendly man in a green blazer welcomed us. We walked into the lobby for the first time, noticing that the doors opened electronically just about everywhere on the grounds.

First impression!

A young man at reception eagerly welcomed us, easily finding our booking. He spoke English, but had some sort of severe speech impediment. I don’t know exactly what it was– maybe stuttering of some sort, or perhaps dysprosody? He was very professional, and I was amazed by his ability to explain things to us in English, in spite of his obvious problems speaking with fluency. We tried to put him at ease to make it easier for him to speak clearly. The only issue was that he had a trainee with him who appeared somewhat amused by his colleague’s difficulties speaking to us. I suppose that’s a human reaction, but it was kind of uncomfortable to witness.

You put your car keys in the “mailbox” so it’s easy to summon your vehicle.
Next to the door at the Landhaus.

The young man showed us the little “mailboxes” in the lobby, where we could store our car key fob for easy access when we wanted the car brought to us. Then he took us to our room. I booked the Double Room Rotunda Landhaus II. This room– LH 35– had a huge balcony with a nice view and was outfitted with quaint floral accents. There was a large heart on our door that read “Herzlich Willkommen!” I noticed the heart sign was on the doors of all newly arriving guests. The bathroom had a huge bathtub in it, that I never got around to trying. It had his and her sinks, a bidet, and lots of gold fixtures. There was lots of closet space and a minibar, as well as an adjustable bed, couch, and a flat screen television with German channels. Below are some photos of the room:

Seating in the room.
You could kill someone with that key ring!

Because it was still early in the day, and we hadn’t had lunch, we decided to see what we could find to eat. It was about 1:30pm, so they were serving lunch in the dining room where we had most of our meals. Lunch is not included in the price of the room, but breakfast and dinner are. That was different from the Hotel Engel Obertal. There, breakfast and lunch are included, but dinner isn’t.

Bareiss has several a la carte restaurants, including the Kaminstube, which we didn’t try, the Dorfstube, and the Forellenhof, which we tried last year. The hotel also has a Three Star Michelin Star restaurant called Restaurant Bareiss. Of course, to eat in the fanciest restaurant, one must reserve well in advance. Maybe we’ll try Restaurant Bareiss if we manage to stay at the hotel again. I would love to do that, since I was impressed by our a la carte lunches. The meals we got from the board option were all excellent, but I was very impressed by the a la carte dishes that we paid for separately. I definitely think there’s an even higher standard with those menus. Below are some photos from lunch, which we purposely kept small, because I knew dinner was liable to be a big production.

The “amuse” from the kitchen.
I started with scallops and pickled radishes with peas.
Bill’s pork bellies with miso “marshamallows” were so good!
We both ordered soup, but switched because the chicken soup had morels in them. I ended up with Bill’s creamy concoction garnished with a quail egg.
Dessert! Lemon vodka…
And a sinful chocolate and strawberry yogurt log. This was so good.
A view of the hotel.

After lunch, we took our first walk through the “Waldpark”, which includes a short barefoot trail and a petting zoo. We met the hotel’s delightful goats and ponies, as well as some of the rabbits kept on site. Bareiss also has pet deer on the premises, but we never got around to visiting them. I was too enchanted by one special goat, who proved to be very friendly and willingly posed for several photos. I wanted to get a pet goat after meeting the ones at Hotel Bareiss!

Love this goat!
Pretty Arabian.
Aren’t they cute?
View of Baiersbronn.
I enjoyed the ponies, too.
For kids!

For dinner, the hotel management requests that guests dress in smart casual attire. I didn’t see this rule being enforced, much to the chagrin of one European TripAdvisor reviewer. I did bring a couple of dresses, which proved to be useful, especially on Saturday night. Most nights, I wore pants and a sweater, while Bill dressed like he was going to work. Some people wore jeans, though, and weren’t turned away at the door. The staff all wore traditional German attire. I was impressed by the beautiful dirndls and dresses the women wore. I don’t generally like uniforms, but I thought the ones at Bareiss were very nice looking.

As for dinner itself– it’s extensive. Each night, there’s a theme. Most meals begin with a trip to the humongous salad bar/buffet, where there are many different dishes available, according to the theme. The array of choices is incredible. I counted over 35 different cheeses offered. I don’t eat much cheese myself– at least not the fancy ones that Bill likes. I do enjoy watching him enjoy them, and he sure went to town.

Then, you choose courses from the menu– starters, soups, fish dishes and red meats, cheeses, and desserts. If nothing on the themed menu impresses, you can order steak, or other cold dishes that are always available. Beverages are not included in the price of dinner, but they are included at breakfast. Each night, we enjoyed a different bottle of locally produced German wine from the hotel’s vast cellar. And, in case anyone is wondering, yes, they have wines from other places, too.

Below are some photos from our first dinner, which had an Asian theme. I wasn’t very hungry, due to the lunch we enjoyed late in the afternoon, so I only had fish and dessert… and wine, of course. The family that owns the hotel gifted us with a complimentary glass of Sekt. Dinner is served from 6:30pm, and the staff requests that people come between 6:30 and 8:30pm, although it’s possible to come later– until 10:00pm. Our waitress the first two nights was the same lady who looked after us at lunch. She was very friendly and professional.

Bill had a bigger appetite and tried more than I did the first night.
Fish and risotto for me.
Bill loved the cheese.
The tall one is an Italian blue that Bill loved most of all.
My kind of cheese… cheesecake.
Handmade chocolates on the buffet.
We had many cocktails. Brandy Alexander…
Gin and basil smash…
Gin martini…
And a little pilsner.

I’d say our arrival was a success! Stay tuned for part three.

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Uncategorized

Burrata brings people together at Momo’s Osteria und Restaurant!

My neighbors have a sense of humor… I spotted this while walking Zane and Arran yesterday.

Because we’re going on vacation tomorrow, I told Bill I needed to stop by AAFES. I have a couple of dresses I plan to wear on our cruise that require pantyhose. I don’t often wear hose anymore, even on the rare occasions when I do dress up, but there will be a couple of “gala” nights during which Bill will be wearing his kilt. I don’t want him to upstage me too much.

So we went to the PX. I got a pair of tights and two pairs of hose in the largest size I could find… because if I have to wear hose, I don’t want to feel like I’m stuffed in sausage casing. Bill got some socks and I got more face cream to help stave off wrinkles for as long as possible. Once we were finished with our chore, Bill proposed having dinner downtown.

We rarely go out to eat during the week, so I decided I wanted to go somewhere we don’t usually go. I remembered a side street off of Wiesbaden’s big square that had a couple of restaurants we’d never tried. Although there was some building construction going on next to Momo’s Osteria und Restaurant, a barrier was put up and they were fully open for business and welcoming. We took a seat and quickly decided on what we were having.

A long haired, swarthy gentleman who appeared to be Italian, came over and asked, “Deutsch?”

“American.” I said kind of sheepishly. “But it’s okay, we can read the menu.” The specials were in German, but the actual menu had most everything translated anyway. An attractive blonde woman who spoke English came over and took our orders. She brought us warm bread, spicy olives, and olive tapenade to go with our primitivo and San Pellegrino.

Spicy olives! And salty olive tapenade…
I liked the bread. It was served warm, which is kind of a rarity over here.

I decided to have taglatelle with cubed salmon and a light tomato sauce. Bill had linguini with strips of beef, vegetables, chilis, and Parmesan cheese. The food was good– your basic Italian fare. I particularly liked the salmon, which was cooked perfectly and melted in my mouth. There’s a real trick to getting salmon to turn out moist rather than dry and tough.

I know… I always seem to go for pasta with salmon. I really like fish.
Bill enjoyed his dish, but I preferred mine. I think the fish is better than German beef.

About halfway through our dinner, another couple sat down next to us. I immediately noticed the man was wearing a metal bracelet, the same kind people wear to remember Vietnam veterans. They could have passed for German, but then I heard them speaking and they were Americans all the way. They were trying to figure out the menu and Bill overheard the lady talking about burrata, which I just had a few days ago at Little Italy. I don’t usually go for cold cheeses or raw tomatoes, but I must admit I have become a fan of burrata ever since we first tried it at Osteria da Gino’s in Nagold. Incidentally, we made new friends that night, too! Burrata brings people together!

The woman seemed confused about what burrata is, so Bill interjected into their private discussion. He explained burrata, but then I asked, “You did say burrata, right? Not dorade?”

The woman smiled and said, “Yes, burrata.”

“Because dorade is fish.” I clarified.

Next thing we knew, we were getting to know this couple, who had come to Wiesbaden to find their next home. She’s taking a job on Clay Kaserne and he’s probably going to telework… or, maybe he’ll do what I do. It sounded like he wanted to keep working… or maybe felt like he should keep working. But then he said he didn’t have to, especially since he’s retired from the military and presumably gets paid to get up in the morning. The couple has a young son who will be joining them when they make the move. Frankly, if I were him, I’d take the golden opportunity to bond with the boy and show him Europe. But then, I have never been known for my puritan style work ethic. I don’t believe life should be entirely about work.

We spent a good hour or so chatting with our new acquaintances, trading stories. It turns out we’ve been a lot of the places they’ve been, and in fact, we were even in some of the same places at the same time. They surprised me by knowing the town where I grew up, having visited the campground there. I went there myself as a youngster; my dad bought a VW pop top camper and we spent the night at that campground to try it out, even though we were locals.

Our new friends decided to go have gelato at Wiesbaden’s best ice cream joint, so Bill and I shared a Ramazotti on ice after we paid the check. “Once again,” I mused, “I had a feeling about a certain place. We go there to eat, and we’ve run into new people.”

I have a weird knack for either making new friends in restaurants or running into people whom I either used to know or who know someone I know. Once, when we were in San Antonio, I ran into a guy and his wife I had met in 1994, when we all worked at a summer camp in tiny Star Tannery, Virginia. We hadn’t seen each other in almost 20 years.

Another time, while waiting tables, I met a couple from Belfast who happened to be neighbors with a friend I met at the same summer camp. He’d come to Virginia to work, and left with an American girlfriend, who eventually married him. They now have six children and live in Belfast. What are the odds I would have met my Irish friend’s neighbors while waiting tables at one of Williamsburg, Virginia’s many restaurants? But this kind of thing happens to me all the time. It’s one of my many quirks.

A few years ago, in Herrenberg, Germany, Bill and I ran into our former neighbors from the first time we lived in Germany. They immediately recognized me, but it took me a minute to remember them. I never did know their names, although I used to talk to the English speaking daughter and son-in-law all the time. We bonded over our old beagle, Flea, who was in love with their little boy, Robin.

We made our way back to the car, passing a bizarre looking Gucci display in which one of the headless mannequins appeared to have forgotten something important…

No pants!

We also ran into some wildlife… many geese and rabbits enjoying their evening meal, completely unbothered by people or predators. We used to see hares a lot in our last town, but here in Wiesbaden, it appears that rabbits are king.

There were dozens of geese last night!
“What’s up, Doc?”

Well, that about does it for today’s post. I may or may not do much writing while we’re away. Depends on my mood and whether or not I think it’s worth bothering. I will be writing about the cruise when we return, though, and I’m sure it will be epic.

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Germany, restaurant reviews

Dinner at the Hotel Hasen in Herrenberg…

Try saying that three times fast…  “Hotel Hasen in Herrenberg“.  Meh, it’s probably not that hard to do.  I like alliteration, though.

When Bill and I lived in Germany the first time, we settled in a town a bit south of the pleasant city of Herrenberg.  Consequently, we’d often drive down the main drag in Herrenberg and notice the large four star hotel on the hill.  I kept thinking I’d like to stop in for dinner sometime, but we never managed to do it during our first Germany tour together.

Fast forward five years after we PCS’d.  It was October 2014.  We had just visited Colmar, France, and had some time to kill before it was time to pick up our dogs from the dog pension.  We stopped at the Hotel Hasen for lunch.  I remember being impressed by the food and service.  We now live in a town a bit west of Herrenberg, probably about the same distance away as we did during out first tour.  We still spend a lot of time in Herrenberg.  Last night, I asked Bill if he’d like to go back to the restaurant at Hotel Hasen and have dinner.  He agreed.

The front of the hotel.  There is limited parking out front and more in the back.  There is also a city parking area next to the hotel’s parking.

 

During the warmer months, Hotel Hasen has a biergarten.  We decided to eat out there last night.  They were doing a brisk business, with most of the tables occupied and a few people enjoying drinks on the outdoor patio furniture near the inside bar.  An elegant older lady in plain clothes invited us to sit at a table near the wait station, where I could easily observe beer and wine being poured and dishes coming from the kitchen.  They were pumping them out at an impressive pace last night.

Bill checks out the menu.  His was in French.  Mine was in German.  Apparently, they also had English menus.

We settled on hefeweizens.

 

The food at the Hasen Hotel is very German and a bit heavy.  They have salads and vegetarian dishes,  but a lot of the food is big on meat, spaetzle, potatoes, and rice.  I happen to like that well enough, though I wasn’t wanting anything super filling last night, since it was a warm outside.  Many of the dishes on the menu are available in a smaller size and a slightly lower price.

I settled on zander filet, which was fried (but could have also been baked).  It came with a light white wine cream sauce and an interested vegetable garnish.  There was a thin slice of rutabaga topped with a layer of mashed potatoes, with cauliflower, broccoli, green beans, and carrots arranged somewhat artfully around the rutabaga and potatoes.  My dish also came with a large bowl of “dry rice”.  

Bill had deer goulash, which he pronounced very good.  It came with baked apples and spaetzle.  He couldn’t finish the whole thing.

Dry rice… yes, it was cooked, but there was nothing else to it.  

 

I had another beer after dinner and Bill had a double espresso.  There were some excellent looking desserts passing us that I probably would have enjoyed.  However, our waitress, though very professional, seemed a bit over it and I decided I didn’t need the calories.  The bill came to about 53 euros.

 

The word “Hasen” means rabbit in German.  The Hotel Hasen does indeed have a couple of rabbit ambassadors living on the grounds.  We ventured over to see them after we finished dinner.  They live in a little hutch next to what looks like a play area for little kids.  The play area appeared to need some cleaning up; the equipment looked like it was covered in dirt caused by rain.  It was otherwise in good repair.

Hotel Hasen’s bunnies!

Don’t feed the rabbits!

Overall, we enjoyed a pleasant evening at Hotel Hasen’s biergarten.  It was a nice night to go out to dinner.  I think we could go back when the weather is a little cooler.  On the other hand, there are other restaurants in Herrenberg I haven’t tried yet.  So who knows?

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