All Saints’ Day in Bad Wörishofen… (part three)

Friday morning was the first day of November. It was also All Saints’ Day, which is a religious holiday in parts of Germany. On this day, Christian Germans honor the lives of every saint. They also remember deceased friends and loved ones and visit their graves.

We were getting ready to go to breakfast on the morning of All Saints’ Day, when the door to our room suddenly opened. It was the housekeeper who, for some reason, didn’t knock before opening the door. It wasn’t a huge deal, since we were a minute away from leaving for breakfast, anyway. However, it did kind of reinforce the fact that the hotel may not be on par with what most people would consider “five star”. It has a lot of amenities, but some of the staff might need a refresher course on courtesy and delivering proper service. The housekeeper did apologize profusely. I’m just glad I was dressed!

Bavaria is a part of Germany where there are still many religious people, so many folks were definitely celebrating the holiday. I probably shouldn’t have been surprised, but I noticed as we were having breakfast that the hotel was playing several hymns over their sound system. I didn’t count how many hymns they chose, but it seemed like there were maybe four or five that played on a loop as we enjoyed breakfast. Hotel Fontenay has the usual buffet, and egg dishes are also available. If you want fresh juice, there’s an additional charge. The staff was so nervous about our lack of German fluency that they hunted down a room service menu for us that was in English. That was not necessary, as Bill and I can certainly speak restaurant English! But I give them an A for effort.

We both decided to have egg dishes on our first morning. I had “Spiegelei”– sunny side up eggs, with a side of ham. Bill had “Rührei”– scrambled eggs, with a side of bacon. I might have gone for the bacon, but I don’t like the way Germans usually cut it. It’s very thin and crisp. I like my bacon thicker and not crunchy. We also had fresh squeezed orange juice, which I could have sworn was priced at 3 euros in the menu. But the next day, we got a bill for 14 euros. The juice was 7 euros a glass! Oh well… at least it tasted good.

Breakfast:

After breakfast, we stepped outside to see what the weather was like. It was just slightly brisk and the sun was out, so I decided to ditch my cardigan. I didn’t even take my purse with me as we walked and talked, noticing all of the places offering Kneippen treatments and other spa services. Bad Wörishofen also has a salt grotto, where one can go and sit enjoy the health benefits of salt.

The Kneippen therapy is based on the benefits of exercise, good nutrition, and walking knee deep in cold water to stimulate the circulation. There are also baths meant for soaking one’s arms. Sebastian Kneipp’s philosophy was that good health requires us to create harmony between mind, body and soul. Bad Wörishofen has Kneippen stations all over the town which allow visitors to tread water and enjoy the health promoting benefits of the therapy. I did try soaking one of my arms at one of the public stations, but it was too chilly for me to consider walking in the pool!

Below are some photos from our first look at the town. As you can see, Kneipp is big business there:

As we rounded a block, I noticed the Sebastian Kneipp Museum. It was late morning as we passed it, but the museum didn’t open until 3:00. Maybe we should have tried to get back there to visit the museum. I do like to visit museums and learn about things about which I know nothing. But we ended up otherwise engaged.

Bad Wörishofen has a Kloster as well as a large Catholic cathedral in the middle of the town. Ordinarily, we might have ventured inside, but on Friday, there was a service going on. So Bill and I contented ourselves by taking some photos…

*Bill was fascinated by this sculpture, which shows Jesus giving a blessing sign.*

We decided to go back to the hotel to check out the spa. In retrospect, I kind of wish we’d gone to the public Therme, since it’s huge and has lots of wellness areas. But I’d also seen some photos of Hotel Fontenay’s spa, and I wanted to try it. So we went in to see the spa, so we’d know what to expect. I took a few photos. It probably would have been a good time to visit there, since there were only a couple of people using it at that time of the day. But we decided to go have lunch, instead.

The spa also has a steam room, various saunas that are not “textile free”, massage facilities, and other treatment rooms. There’s also a room where one can have tea and water. To be honest, the spa area could use a renovation, although I did enjoy the massage jets and rocks. We happened to visit later in the day and were joined by a family who brought their two very young children with them. While I remember what it was like to be a kid, I don’t think spas at expensive hotels are necessarily the best places for them to be. But that’s just me.

Anyway, I want to dish about our lunch… which was at a really nice restaurant by the train station. Originally, we thought we’d eat at a German restaurant that had opened its Biergarten, but the Biergarten was packed. So we kept walking until I spotted a place that had very good reviews on Google. It was also supposed to have a Biergarten, but it wasn’t open when we visited. It was called Unsere Liebhaberei (Our Hobby). We later ate at the German restaurant, and it was clear we made a better choice by walking further at lunchtime.

A friendly young man invited us in and we took a seat at a table at the back of the restaurant. I was immediately impressed by the creative menu. The waiter apologized that he didn’t have a menu in English, but again, that’s not really a problem for us. We’re pretty good at restaurant German. We sat near a group of four older folks who appeared to be having a great time being with each other. They seemed to be well educated, as they dressed well and I heard them speak several languages. The waiter joined in, speaking flawless Italian. I felt kind of embarrassed by our typical American foreign language skills… When the waiter asked us what we were doing in Bad Wörishofen, we explained that we live in Wiesbaden and were looking for a short break in a nice town. And the waiter said, “Yeah, this is a town where older people come to rest.” No doubt!

Below are some photos:

*Bread with Schmaltz (bacon lard) and olive oil*.

After lunch, we walked around some more and found a whiskey shop. Unfortunately, it was closed, because of the holiday and someone being sick. The shop also had a bar that opened at 7:30 PM. We probably should have tried to visit after we had dinner at the German place.

The weather was so nice that we decided to stop for beer at a cafe. It was during the typical late afternoon German coffee and cake hour, so we were among a lot of people enjoying cake while we sipped Weizens. The wait staff was similarly scarce at the place where we stopped, so we just had one beer… It was also getting chilly.

I’ve already mentioned the spa, which is what we did after our beer break. The spa was okay, but again, it looked a bit old and in need of renovation. And we were joined by shrieking urchins… I’m kidding. I do like kids. I just don’t love it when they’re hogging the hot tub. 😉

By the time we were finished with the spa, it was time for dinner. We decided to venture out to a restaurant, stopping first at a Greek place that looked and smelled promising. They were full, so we headed to Gasthof Rößle, which was also busy, but had a table for us. This was a typical German Gasthof, which a huge menu full of southern German delicacies. I ended up choosing a special– Wels Filet– a type of mild white fish that is well known in Wels, Austria. I knew that because we visited Wels in 2021, and learned about the fish there. I didn’t get to taste it during that visit, though, since it was during the pandemic. Bill had beef rouladden… and we drank lots of Augustiner beer!

I was afraid the Wels filet would taste like catfish, since I remember that was what it was compared to when I read about it. But it was actually very mild and pleasant. It reminded me more of trout or maybe flounder. I would order it again.

The restaurant was winding down at about 9:30 PM or so. I got a kick out of some of the other patrons. There was a large family who came in with four older kids. They spoke accented English among each other, so I’m not sure where they were from. I noticed they had a rousing game of Uno going on, which is not something we’d often see in the United States. At one point, the oldest kid, who looked to be a young teenager, said in English “Did you know that cannibalism could solve overpopulation and world hunger at the same time?” I was astonished by that announcement. I had a good laugh!

After dinner, we went back to the hotel. It wasn’t long before we were asleep again on the hard mattress. I was glad I brought Advil PM, even if I didn’t bring my own pillow. We won’t make that mistake next week, when we head to Belgium!

Baden-Württemberg

From Wiesbaden to Horben: The first day’s discoveries…

Saturday morning, we woke up to a beautiful sunny day. The sky was perfectly clear and blue, and the temperature was warm. I thought it would be a good day to visit the nearby city of Freiburg. But first, we’d have our first breakfast at Luisenhöhe. After our first dinner, I knew breakfast would be an unusual experience.

A smiling waitress, who ended up taking care of us every morning of our visit, led us to a table on the other side of the dining room. We had a view of the surrounding hills and valleys. Bill looked at the waitress’s nametag and got the sense that maybe she hails from Ukraine. She spoke excellent English that was charmingly accented, and she seemed genuinely friendly and service oriented as she offered us coffee. As she poured it, and brought me cream (rather than the usual milk), I realized that the coffee at this hotel was some of the best I’ve ever had, anywhere.

Just as it is at dinner time, breakfast at Luisenhöhe consists of small plates of different things which are brought to you at your table. They offer cold cuts and cheese that you can help yourself to, as well as juices and water. During our visit, they also offered fresh fruits and vegetables and smoothies, with a different thing offered every day. For example, on the first morning, they had vegetables. On the second and third, they had the smoothies. On the last morning, it was fresh fruit. Then after we had our four small courses, we were offered a “sweet” selection. On the first morning, it was a waffle.

Another server brought a big basket of bread, and we chose the pieces we wanted, which ended up being one of each kind. Bill likes hearty full grain breads with nuts and raisins and such. Much to my shame, I like refined white breads. It was no problem. They had several different varieties, all of which were impeccably prepared and very fresh. We had a small “globe” of butter, and jams were available. Below are photos of the first breakfast.

I enjoyed the first morning’s breakfast, although the French toast was made with Bergkäse (mountain cheese) that was too strong for me. It was too bad, too, because I really liked the idea of a savory French toast made with cheese. I’d like to try it at home, only I’d use a much milder type of cheese. It’s not even that the cheese they used was that strong. I just have very sensitive tastebuds when it comes to certain flavors. The musty, barnyard flavors in certain cheeses and other foods make me gag, and if I’m not careful, I will vomit. I guess it’s a good thing I didn’t become a chef! Anyway, I think we’ll try to find a recipe for savory French toast and use cheese that doesn’t make me puke.

After breakfast, I decided I needed to get some photos of the surrounding area. It was a good thing I did, since the skies weren’t nearly as clear the rest of our time there. Below are the pictures I took on the biking/hiking trail near the hotel.

We decided to try out the heated pool after our walk. I had a feeling it would be a good time to do that, since the weather was so nice. I figured people would be out and about. I was right about that, as we would find out after our swim. Below are a few photos from the spa area. We did not have any treatments or use the saunas, but if we go back, I’ll make a point of doing that. One thing I hope this hotel will eventually have is a hot tub or two… I’m sure it’s just a matter of time, especially at their current price point.

*This was a kind of rain shower, which took a moment or two to figure out.*

I have a feeling they use heavily vanilla scented products in the spa. I came to that conclusion on the first night at dinner, when a young woman sat near us and smelled really good… of vanilla. I thought maybe it was perfume, but then noticed she looked like maybe she’d been at the spa. When I later smelled someone else with that same scent, I realized that was a spa product. I loved the scent, although it did kind of obscure the smell of the food in the dining room. I’m not sure that was the proprietors’ aim.

After a swim, and trying out the massage functions in the pool, we got cleaned up and headed toward Freiburg. I took more photos on the drive there. I was excited to see the city… but alas, the parking garages were all FULL! And there were long lines of cars waiting to park in them. Bill made a couple of wrong turns and we soon found ourselves in “Walkplatzes”, where people were giving us dirty looks and making gestures at Bill. We didn’t know Freiburg was such a “green” city, so unfriendly to cars. The GPS sent us to the wrong part of the town, which was positively TEEMING with people who were walking and on bikes.

Here, I want to make a statement to anyone reading this, thinking it’s helpful to shoot dirty looks and make gestures at people who end up driving into the wrong place. We KNOW we’re in the wrong place, and we’re trying our best to rectify the matter. We don’t need you to add to the situation by wildly gesturing, giving us dirty looks, or shouting at us. It just makes you look like assholes. And before anyone points this out, we know that being in the wrong places makes us look like assholes. But, unlike you, we’re trying to fix the situation, rather than engaging in shaming and ridiculing people who simply made an honest mistake. What? You’ve never made a mistake? It must be nice to be so perfect. /sarcasm

Anyway, we did finally get out of that mess, although any relaxation gleaned from the pool was now totally gone. Bill was trying to figure out where we could go with the car. I looked around at what was admittedly a very cool looking city, and I realized that all of those people were a huge turn off to me. So I suggested that we go to France.

“But I forgot to bring my passport.” Bill fretted.

In almost ten years of living in Germany, no one has EVER asked for our passports at the French border. Of course, there is a first time for everything. But what was the worst that could happen? We get sent back to Germany?

We headed to the border, even though Bill didn’t have his passport. Before we knew it, we were driving over the Rhein… and I realized, we were passing Breisach again! As I was getting my bearings, Bill said “I really need to pee.”

I looked up and noticed a “welcome center”. Bill wondered if maybe there was a public restroom there. He pulled into the parking lot and found the place boarded up. Then he turned his head and saw a sign for a “Piscine.”

“Piscine!” he exclaimed. “Perfect!”

Naturally, I had a good laugh at the joke. Yes, we know that “piscine” is French for pool. But it does sound like one could “piss” there. One probably can, if one pays the entrance fee. I had noticed the pool from the German side of the river the day before. As we were trying to escape the parking lot, we were confronted by a bunch of confusing road signs advising us not to make a left turn. Left was where we needed to go to get out that area.

After a few minutes, we found ourselves being funneled into a parking lot where there were RVs, and then we saw a hotel… and they had the patio open for lunch! As it was almost 2:00 PM by then, I suggested we stop for lunch. Bill could use the potty while we were there.

The waitress asked us if it was okay if we had salads. Yes– it was fine. We were still kind of full from breakfast, anyway. We sat down at a table in France, at Hotel Le Caballin, with a view of Breisach, Germany. We had tarte flambées (Alsatian pizzas) with beer, as I marveled at how we ended up in Vogelgrun, France for lunch.

*I’d like to get a closer look at this building in Freiburg…*

I said to Bill, “I am fascinated by borders. It’s so cool to be sitting in France, listening to people speaking French, as I gaze at the German border town we visited yesterday…”

Bill said, “That’s true. Whenever you’re near a border, you gotta cross it!”

And I said, “Especially if it’s the border of good taste…”

We headed back toward the hotel, thinking maybe we could take the Schauinsland Bahn… but there was no parking to be had. Not surprising, given how beautiful the weather was. So, we went back to the hotel and hung out on the patio before dinner. It was a perfect Saturday afternoon…

And then we had dinner, which was, once again, a stunning experience. My one complaint was that we ended up sitting at the big communal table, which meant climbing up on a stool. However, because people didn’t want to sit in the middle seat at the big table (just as they wouldn’t on an airplane), we ended up with a slightly more private dining experience on Saturday night. As you can see in the menu, they had mushrooms on the menu, and I can’t eat mushrooms. I substituted a delicious wild boar dish for an upcharge of 13 euros. It was worth the extra money.

Bill selected a Sylvaner wine to go with our dinner. The sommelier praised his choice. Bill told him that we’d visited Würzburg in February and visited a winery that specialized in them. Much to our surprise and delight, the guy said “Weingut Am Stein?”

Yes! That was where we stayed, and we had a wine tasting there. It turned out the sommelier knew all about it, and in fact, they had some wine from Weingut Am Stein on their wine list. That was a pretty cool moment.

Baden-Württemberg, Schwarzwald, short breaks, trip planning

Facebook introduces us to the wonders of Luisenhöhe…

We’re back home in Wiesbaden now, after our four night trip to the southern Black Forest (Schwarzwald) hamlet of Horben. Before a couple of weeks ago, I had never heard of Horben. Now, our visit there will live among many cherished memories I will forever have of our years in Germany.

I discovered Horben by way of Facebook. Last month, Bill was on a long TDY assignment in Bavaria, working very long days and nights. Meanwhile, I was sitting here alone, bored and a little depressed. When he got back from his temporary duty yonder, I asked Bill if he’d like to go away for a few days. He said he’d like to take a short trip. I went looking for the right place. I wanted something restful, but in a nice area. I wanted good food and a decent spa. Since it was going to be a short break, I didn’t want it to be too far away, although we did briefly consider flying somewhere.

Facebook kept sending me ads for a place called Luisenhöhe. I was definitely intrigued, because it looked like just the kind of place I enjoy the most. I noticed it was in a very scenic area and promised an excellent dining experience. Then I noticed it’s practically a brand new hotel, had only a few reviews, and it costs a lot of euros to stay there! Also, it’s in Germany, and I was kind of hoping to go somewhere else for a few days. I decided to keep looking. I thought maybe we’d finally visit Basel, Switzerland or maybe Bern. I even had a hotel in mind…

But the Facebook ads for Luisenhöhe were continuing to beckon, and I finally realized that Horben is very close to Freiburg, a city/area my German friend, Susanne, has been bugging me to visit for the ten years we’ve lived here. Susanne is from the Freiburg area, and she’s kept telling us how beautiful it is. I believed her, as we’d driven through Freiburg before on other trips. I’d even looked into staying there, but my plans were always overcome by events.

Finally, I decided to show Bill and get his reaction. He was as attracted to Luisenhöhe as I was. He also liked the other finalist, Les Trois Rois, in Basel, Switzerland. Finally, we decided to let fate settle things. We flipped a coin. Luisenhöhe won. I felt good about that outcome, especially when I realized that Horben is very close to France and Switzerland, and if we got too bored in that area of Germany, we could easily cross either border.

I immediately set about booking our stay in a 31 square meter “Wellbeing Room”, facing the garden. Since we booked within two weeks of our stay, we were committed to paying. So, I prayed everything would go according to plan, and we’d manage to finally visit the Freiburg area. Now that’s we’re home from our trip, I feel like it was meant to be that we would discover the Freiburg area and this amazing new hotel with food that blew our minds!

I’ll be writing in detail about our unique experience over the next few days. I will also be sharing photos of some of the most picturesque views I’ve seen in Germany. As we were saying goodbye to some of the very friendly staff members last night, we were warmly thanked for coming, and welcomed to come back soon. I honestly hope we can. As long as Bill works these crazy TDY assignments, I think it’s within the realm of the possible!

I hope you’ll follow along as I write my series. I’d really like to help this new hotel succeed! The food alone is something amazing to behold…

restaurant reviews, spas, Switzerland

Our time in Die Schweiz was definitely not Scheißig… part four

We got back to the B2 Boutique Hotel in the mid afternoon. It was just the right time to try out the Thermalbad! As I mentioned, the hotel is literally attached to the Thermalbad, although it’s run by a different company. Hotel guests get a small price break on the cost of admission– 30 Swiss Francs for 24 hour access. That means two days worth, since the spa closes at 10:00pm. We went to the front desk, where we picked up the familiar plastic bracelets offered at all of the spas we’ve been to yet, and a couple of towels.

We changed in our hotel room, although the spa has changing rooms. We didn’t discover the changing rooms at the spa until we were almost done! There’s also a small snack bar, although we didn’t notice the service to be particularly good at the one on the fourth floor. You can get a variety of snacks and a wide variety of beverages there, including beer, wine, and cocktails. That is, you can get them if you can find someone willing to wait on you. 😉

The spa offers massages that can be booked in advance. There’s an Irish-Roman bath, as well as a wonderful rooftop pool that offers views of Zürich while you enjoy bubbles and massaging jets. There’s also a Thermal Spa Waterworld, that we almost missed! In short, there’s plenty to occupy a couple of hours of your time, and you’ll feel relaxed afterwards.

I was not allowed to take any pictures, although the spa is not textile free. I did sneak a picture of the door, though, because I thought it was funny. I liked the “no sex” graphic! Below is a video that shows the facilities.

It’s even in English!

And a longer video with more views of the facility.

Bill and I have been to quite a few spas in Europe. This one was interesting. It reminded me a little bit of the Starkenberger beer pool we enjoyed in Tarrenz, Austria, back in 2015, except it wasn’t nearly as private and there weren’t any funny pictures on the walls of naked people. Also, there wasn’t any beer involved… it was mainly the spirit of the place that made me think of the awesome beer pools in Austria that were made from repurposed beer vats. I was also reminded of the Roman-Irish baths Friedrichsbad in Baden-Baden and Wiesbaden’s own Roman-Irish baths at the Kaiser-Friedrich Therme. The main difference, of course, is that there’s no nudity. I’m sure that’s a plus for a lot of people. I think my favorite part of the spa experience were the awesome pools on the first floor that offered massage bubbles. There was no one else in there when we were using them.

After we were finished at the spa, we went back to the room, got cleaned up, and went looking for dinner. Bill thought we could walk to the lake in about ten minutes. Unfortunately, he wasn’t entirely sure of where were going, so we ended up taking a short stroll in a residential area of town. We finally made our way back and stumbled across a neighborhood gem of a restaurant called Bederhof. This place is very close to the hotel and offers good food, kind service, and a view of sheep grazing on a hillside. I made one guy crack up because he was describing one dish in German and I stopped him cold when I heard the word “champignons”. Mushrooms are disgusting to me. Incidentally, my German is terrible, but I can sort of speak restaurant… I had some trouble in Brunnen, though, because the Swiss dialect was tricky for me. Also, they use different words for some things. Like, I noticed that the word on doors for “push” was stossen (bump), rather than drücken (press).

Below are some photos from our impromptu dinner at a local Swiss joint, along with a few pictures of B2 Boutique Hotel’s exercise room.

More brewery machinery in the exercise room…

Several different people took care of us, but one guy talked to us more than the others. There was a cute little boy there– maybe two or three years old– and the one guy who took care of us said that was his nephew, Jayden. I was surprised by the name Jayden. To me, that’s a very American name. I didn’t think our waiter was a native English speaker, although he spoke fairly competently, albeit with what sounded like a speech impediment of some kind. Jayden soon left with his mom, a beautiful young woman, who caught the plentiful public transport.

Eventually, he asked us where we’re from. We said we’re Americans living in Germany. It turned out the waiter was himself, half American, half German! He said he was born in Colorado, and his Air Force dad had worked as a contractor for DynCorp, which was a big contracting company back in the day. But clearly, our waiter, an American citizen, has spent most of his life in Germany– Kaiserslautern, to be exact. He joked that being half American, half German was having the “worst” heritage! But he was quite pleased to hear we weren’t Trump supporters, and he told us his sweetheart and the mother of his daughter is from Somalia. His daughter is Swiss, because she was born in Switzerland. Lucky her! The waiter also said he loves Switzerland. I can’t blame him for that.

After dinner, we headed back to the hotel, where we were warmly greeted by the same guy who had kind of ignored us the night before. We enjoyed more Swiss wine, then went to bed with big plans for Saturday. More on that in part five!

Uncategorized

Volvo, Mark Knopfler, and East German adventures… part three

Sunday morning, I woke up at about 3:00am. I couldn’t help but notice the sun was already rising. Sweden is a bit weird for the uninitiated, especially in the winter and summer, when days are either really short, or really long. A few hours later, we got up for real, enjoyed the awesome rainfall shower, got dressed, and headed to the 25th floor for breakfast. At Upper House, breakfast is always included in the rate. You get a very nice buffet, as well as “small plates”, which are prepared by the chef. Most people get two or three of the small plates, as well as whatever they want from the buffet. Below are a few photos of items we enjoyed over the course of our two night stay.

The menu.

Awesome scrambled eggs with chives and bacon.

Roast beef…

Chocolate filled cream puff.

Delicious strawberry crumble with cream. I think this one was my favorite.

A beautifully set table.

A view of the city.

On day two, Bill had the royal and the shakshuka, a dish of eggs poached in a sauce of tomatoes, peppers, and garlic.

At 11:30am, we headed to the spa for our massages. One thing I want to mention about the spa in Sweden. It seems that when it comes to nudity, the Swedes are more like the Brits and us Americans. We were advised to come dressed in our bathing suits. Even in the locker room, there really weren’t any places to change in privacy. So, if you’re reading this in Germany and you want to visit the Upper House spa, be advised that it’s NOT textile free, even in the sauna. In fact, we even had our massages while wearing bathing suits, although they were rolled down. We were fully covered the whole time.

Our aromatherapy massages went on concurrently– Bill and I were in the same room with two female therapists. We spent 80 very peaceful minutes getting the knots knocked out of our tired muscles, although the bed at the Upper House was the very best of all four hotels we stayed in this week. Then, we checked out the amazing spa area with its views of Liseberg.

Heated lounges overlooking the amusement park.

The view.

Bill in his snazzy robe. I brought mine from home.

This pool is 18 floors up and has a glass bottom… Yes, it’s very secure, and yes, you can see to the street when the water isn’t bubbling.

A saltwater pool… It had jets.

A peek at the pool from the ground floor of the towers.

After a few pleasant hours in the spa, we were hungry. We got dressed and went looking for food. Unfortunately, just as it is in Germany, a lot of Swedish restaurants also take a “pause”. Consequently, we ended up at Ristoria, an Italian eatery in the towers. They had a Sunday brunch, which didn’t really please me much. The food wasn’t bad, but it looked like it had been sitting for awhile. Also, the chairs were uncomfortable. But it satisfied my hunger well enough…

From the buffet at Ristoria. It should be mentioned that cash isn’t accepted anywhere in the hotel or restaurants, so bring your credit cards.

Not too impressed.

One drawback to Gothia Towers’ location is that it’s not close to downtown, nor is it in a particularly walkable location. Moreover, while we were in the spa, I overhead a guy telling the staff that he was robbed. So after we finished lunch, we went back to the room. I proposed a visit to Liseberg to Bill, but he wasn’t interested. He doesn’t like rides, particularly ones that are extremely high or just plain extreme. I will admit, while I wouldn’t have hesitated to ride most of the rides at Liseberg when I was younger, they did seem a bit extreme, even to me. And I don’t like crowds or being part of a captive audience… so we decided to hang out and talk.

At about 5:00pm, we went to the Upper House’s bar and proceeded to spend the evening drinking… and talking to a British woman named Janet who lives in Doha, Qatar and works in the airline industry. Bill struck up a conversation with her when she said she wanted to sit out on the balcony. The wind up on the 25th floor was extreme, but Janet said she had been dealing with 50 degree weather for weeks and she wanted some fresh air. Dopey me… I thought she meant 50 degrees Fahrenheit. Nope… 50 degrees Celsius. That is some HOT weather! No thanks!

Janet was a total stranger prior to last Sunday, but she turned out to be a lot of fun to talk to. She also reminded me a lot of my sister, Becky. She said she was going to have to get up very early on Monday morning to fly to Stockholm for business purposes. Then, I guess, she was going back to Doha… We had a lot to talk about, though, since it turned out we liked the same kind of music and had lots of travel stories to share. We found ourselves talking about everything from 9/11, Princess Diana and where we were when she died (I was in a sleeper care with a Chinese family on a train from Vienna to Venice) to her trip to Vietnam and, of course, religion and politics. She even kissed us goodbye!

This was dinner… two small plates. Pork belly and some kind of sea scallop soup. I was partial to the pork, but that probably surprises no one.

The next morning was the day we picked up our new car. Things got off on the wrong foot, when the elevators wouldn’t work. We had to climb a tight spiral staircase to get to the restaurant. Then, while we were eating, our waiter came over and said Volvo had sent a taxi for us. Bill was upset, since he was told they wouldn’t come until after 9:00am. But he never got any confirmation one way or the other and, I guess, trusted that things would go according to plan. He was pretty upset that we weren’t ready for the taxi and they hadn’t told us it was coming.

After breakfast, we went to the reception and explained what was going on. A very beautiful blonde woman with delicate features and big blue eyes was running the desk. She offered to call Volvo for us and find out what to do. Meanwhile, we went back to our room to wait. While we were there, I noticed the below sign.

This is pretty awesome! If you smoke in your room, they’ll charge you a lot to clean it. Then, they’ll donate half of the fine to Sweden’s Heart and Lung Foundation. I love the sense of social responsibility the Swedes have.

One more view of the dining room. Next time, we’ll be sure to reserve a table for dinner. Upper House has a restaurant with a Michelin star.

Volvo agreed to send us another taxi at 10:40am, so we waited in our room, checked out, and hung out in the lobby to wait for yet another taxi driver driving a Volvo to take us to our new wheels. I prepaid for the room, so the only bill to be settled was for our dual massages and drinks in the bar. It was about $400.

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Things aren’t bad in Baden-Baden… Part four

On Saturday, we decided to find a cheaper place to eat breakfast in Baden-Baden. This was not a problem, since the town is loaded with cute little cafes that serve breakfast. We opted to eat a Cafe Koenig, which looked like a very quaint little cafe, but is actually part of a chain. Bill says they have a location in Tokyo, although I never would have guessed it by its very cute decor.

Signage…

Bill decides on how he likes his eggs.

He settled on scrambled.

I had fried… Both eggs came with ham and bread. We had cups of coffee, but I decided I needed hot chocolate, too…

And I’m happy to report that they do it right at Cafe Koenig, which is more than I can say for a certain five star hotel in Switzerland… This was also about half what we spent at the hotel.

As we were enjoying breakfast, we talked about what we wanted to do. Both Bill and I wanted to try the spa at Brenners Park, although we neglected to pre-book services before our arrival. In retrospect, that was a bad idea. It turns out the although the hotel was underfull, the spa was going great guns. We also wanted to visit the two mineral baths. Then, it occurred to me that we forgot to bring our spa towels, which we would definitely need at Caracalla. So, after breakfast, we went searching for towels, since we didn’t want to pay 21 euros each to rent one at the spa (6 euros rent and fifteen euros deposit).

We tried the Wagener store with no luck.

There was a little mall at the end of this drag and didn’t find anything there, either.

But then we found a store that was selling “beachwear”, and they did have towels. Ironically, we spent more buying towels there than we would have if we’d rented them. But at least they’re our towels. In fact, they are “sauna towels” and are extra long.

Bill did manage to get us spa appointments, however he was not able to get us booked at the same time. He had his deep tissue massage at 11:30am and I had my “massage menu” at 3:15pm. Those appointments pretty much ate up the day, since by the time Bill was finished with his appointment, it was only about a couple of hours or so before it was time for mine. We both had the same massage therapist. I wasn’t in attendance for Bill’s appointment, so I’ll just write about mine.

When I arrived at the spa at about 3:00pm, I checked in and a lady with heavily accented English showed me to the sauna room, where a very friendly male receptionist invited me to change into my robe. I had brought my own with me, since I know it fits. The robes at Brenners appeared to be pretty generous, but I have gone to places with robes that are too small and that was a problem I didn’t want to have.

After I changed into my robe, I was shown into a reception area and invited to have tea. Everyone else in the reception area was fully clothed, which made me feel a little awkward. Little did I know that any shred of modesty I had on Saturday would completely be stripped of me on Sunday. More on that in the next post.

I had just taken a few sips of my “detox” tea when the massage therapist invited me into her parlor. She was very young, quite giggly, and friendly. I wasn’t surprised when she had me answer a questionnaire and handed me a pair of “spa panties”. Bill told me he’d worn a pair and they hadn’t really covered anything. I tried to put them on and did manage to get them to my hips, but found them to be very uncomfortable and basically useless. When the therapist came back into the room, I told her they didn’t fit and just wore my regular underwear.

To be honest, I don’t know why they don’t have patrons do that as a matter of course, since my underwear were pretty much pulled halfway down my ass the whole time, anyway. I guess the spa panties are used so you don’t get massage oil on your unmentionables, but my unmentionables get exposed to all kinds of stuff anyway. What’s the difference between oil and all the other stuff?

I forgot to take the spa panties out of the pocket of my robe and they got washed. I’m surprised they survived the wash. They were made of cotton, though, which is a step above the paper ones I wore in Budapest.

The therapist, whose name was Angela, was very strong and professional, although since I’d asked for a “massage menu” and that was supposed to entail several techniques based on my specific problems, I expected her to ask me where she should focus her efforts. She didn’t do that, although Bill said she zeroed in on some stiff areas on his shoulders. I will admit that when Angela was finished with me, I felt pretty damned great. I need to invest in more massages.

I got a choice of orange, lavender, or vanilla oils. I went with lavender, while Bill chose orange. When we were finished with our hourlong session, I tipped Angela 20 euros in cash. Bill did the same after his session. That’s one thing I did notice about Brenners. Tips are definitely warmly appreciated with no awkwardness whatsoever. On the other hand, I never got the impression that they were expected, either, which is also very nice.

Since I didn’t manage to finish my tea, Angela offered to make me more. But I decided I wanted to get back to Bill. I got confused and went the wrong way, ending up at the spa again. Fortunately, the kind staff was able to point me in the right direction to get back to the room. Bill and I had decided to have dinner at a steak joint called Porter House Grill.

We were in the mood for meat.

Obligatory shot of Bill.

Bill had an Argentinian entrecote with steakhouse fries. They also had USDA beef that was priced at a premium. I almost ordered that, but decided I’d rather have ribs and roasted potatoes.

These ribs arrived “unsauced”. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t satisfy my craving for southern style ribs. This isn’t a dish I have very often, though, so I was determined to enjoy it. You can see the small ramekin of sauce on the left. It wasn’t bad barbecue sauce, but it didn’t taste quite like what we have in the United States.

We had a lovely Spanish rioja. Our first choice, an Argentinian Malbec, was not available. The waitress said they’d been waiting for weeks for the order to come in.

The inside of the restaurant was very nice. I loved the ceiling.

For dessert, I had cheesecake creme brulee with berries and chili chocolate ice cream. The ice cream was, indeed, “hot”. Bill loved it.

I liked his chocolate cake with Bailey’s Irish cream sauce.

On the way back to the hotel, we stopped to watch some ice skating. It wasn’t very cold outside, but lots of people were enjoying the ice. I would have liked to have tried it myself, although it’s been about 39 years since I was last on ice skates! I took lessons as a child, but that was many years ago.

We spent some time in the lounge, listened to music, and watched a French couple skip out on their check. Bill said he saw them last night, though, so I guess they did end up paying. I’m glad to hear that, since I used to wait tables and know the pain of people walking out on their checks. I think it was just an oversight, although the waiter seemed a little stressed.

Another day done!

cruises, Italy, SeaDream

Day 3 on SeaDream… Amalfi!

We woke up Monday morning with a lovely view of Amalfi, another coastal Italian town. I remember watching an episode of Passport to Europe with Samantha Brown when she visited Amalfi and talked about the beauty of doing nothing…

First view of Amalfi…

Nothing was pretty much what I felt like doing, thanks to my cold. Nevertheless, we did venture ashore and were rewarded with yet another stroll in a very cute and tourist friendly Italian town. We ate breakfast in the dining salon that morning. I had oatmeal and asked for a “wee dram” of scotch. I noticed a couple of passengers watching curiously as Olivier brought me a shot of scotch to pour into my oatmeal. I really only needed a few drops. I learned during our Scottish Isles cruise on Hebridean Princess that a little scotch can be heavenly in oatmeal. Besides, Bill enjoyed drinking what I didn’t use.

After breakfast, my Nikon was suitably charged, so I was able to take it with me into Amalfi, which also has steep pathways but none I felt like I had to climb to get somewhere cool. In fact, compared to Capri, Amalfi seemed very laid-back.

The center of town…

The sun kept coming in and going out that day and it was still a bit too chilly to think about swimming, even though the water was so blue and inviting. Somehow, we ended up in a pedestrian tunnel which spit us out on the other side of the town, where I was able to get a few nice shots of the coast. Unfortunately, I was still really fatigued from the cold and craving a massage from one of the tiny Thai ladies in the SeaDream spa.

Mmm… fresh fish!

Bill poses after asking about batteries for my camera. I think we gave up on that after Amalfi.

We ran into this cool little display in Amalfi. I was gratified to see an Italian school girl taking a photo as well…

BIG lemons! Almost as big as my melons!

Beautiful shoreline…

After a couple of hours walking around, we boarded the somewhat treacherous tender and headed back to the yacht, where I made a beeline to the fourth deck. I made a spa appointment for an Asian Fusion treatment for 2:00 that afternoon. Then, I slipped into my bathing suit and sat in the hot tub for awhile, while Job the waiter kept me supplied with plastic flutes full of prosecco. I couldn’t help but notice a much larger Silversea cruise ship was also in port. I had seen two of them when we were in Venice, and I’m pretty sure this one was not one of the two we’d seen previously. If I’m right, that means at least three Silversea ships were in Italy. I think there was also a Le Ponant ship in port, too. Bill and I couldn’t help but notice how much it was listing. I was definitely glad I wasn’t onboard that rocking vessel, even though I’m kind of curious about Le Ponant.

Excuse the yucky bathing suit shot, but this is how I enjoyed Amalfi…

After lunch, I went to the spa and sat in the sauna and steam room, which helped soothe me somewhat. Then, a very tiny and cute massage therapist worked some of the knots out of my body. After an hour on the massage table, I was feeling very relaxed and needed another nap.

I noticed during lunch that SeaDream had changed out their china. Instead of the blue and white plates with little anchors on them, they had black and white plates that looked very modern. I kind of missed the old plates. It seems silly to notice it, but I did.

I made it to the piano bar on Monday night, but was a bit hoarse and couldn’t sing worth a damn. I left early and hit the sack. Our stewardess, Antonette, left us breath mints. No, it wasn’t a hint. SeaDream usually leaves little gifts at night and breath mints are what they give on the third night, I think.

Beautiful scenery…

I could get used to Amalfi…

The Traveling Overeducated Housewife

…the wanderings and ramblings of a boring housewife…

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