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Last minute getaway to Ulm: Part three

As most regular readers know, I am a sucker when it comes to beer and wine.  I enjoy a good fest.  It was just turning 11:00am as we were deciding what we wanted to do next.  As we were at the right place at the right time, I told Bill we needed to stop and have some wine.  Fortunately, Bill loves wine as much as I do.

This is pretty cool, isn’t it?  I saw a couple of these at the small wine fest near the cathedral.

Look at all those empty tables!  It looked like several restaurants/wineries were catering this event.  There were several different areas and the menus were different.  I saw Spanish tapas, pizzas, bruschettas, and flammkuchen being offered.

Bill takes a look at one of the menus and all of the available wines.

We finally sat down at a place that had Spanish and Italian wines and foods.

We were among their first customers of the day.  Bill ordered us two different whites.  The one I had was called Larrua.  

 

The pretty waitress who looked after us was utterly charmed by Zane and Arran.  She came over and loved all over them.  They ate up the attention and only indulged in a couple of outbursts during our time at the fest.  I told Bill that even though we weren’t really hungry after our lumberjack truck stop breakfast, it might be a good time to eat.  The fest was not very busy while we were there, so I figured we’d have an easier time eating then.

At one point, Zane jumped up on the bench with me.  Poor guy never learned his manners!

Bill and I split this Hawaiian pizza.  It was pretty good and the ham was useful for bribing the dogs.

The wine made our dogs’ occasional barking sessions more tolerable.  At one point, some folks were laughing at us!  It was pretty funny.

 

In all, Bill and I shared five glasses of wine.  I had a Riesling and a Montepulciano and Bill enjoyed a Temperanillo from a cask with the pizza.  When we settled up with the waitress, Bill apologized for the dogs’ occasional outbursts.  She laughed and asked us in German what kinds of dogs they are.  We explained that they are hunting dogs who chase small game.  I tried to say “squirrel” in German, but failed.  I have heard it said that Germans have a hard time saying squirrel.  The waitress figured out what I meant when I mimicked one.  We left the fest feeling decidedly mellow.

Funny video about Germans and the word “squirrel”…  Frankly, I think Americans would have a much harder time with EICHHÖRNCHEN…

Russian Orthodox church near the cathedral…

Handy facilities after time spent at a wine fest.

This fountain in front of the church was also useful for watering the dogs.

I sent Bill into the Ochsen Shop for some beer.  I thought he’d get some of the other gourmet goodies in there, but he disappointed me.  Maybe next time, I’ll do the shopping.

Ah… Vom Fass!  Another cool German chain for all those who love their spirits.  Bill went in there and got a bottle of Bordeaux and some rum from Belize.

 

The weather started to turn right around the time Bill was coming out of the Ochsen shop.  We thought about hitting the trails with the dogs, but decided we’d rather not get caught in the rain.  So we headed back to the garage where our car was parked.

As we passed this bakery, I had to get a couple of photos of wedding cakes.

We got back to the hotel at about 2:30 or 3:00 after stopping at Kaufland for some snacks and wine.  I think we only meant to stop at the hotel for a brief time, but I suddenly felt really tired.  I didn’t sleep well at all the first night.  I laid down on the bed.  The dogs jumped up and joined me.  Then, I fell fast asleep for the next three hours… awakened again only by the damn church bells going off at 6:00!

We decided to stay in and watch TV.  Recognize this man on the TV?  It’s Bob Ross, the PBS painting guy.  He’s been dead since 1995, but they still show his painting series.  This was in English and kind of fun to watch.

 

We spent last night drinking wine, eating snacks, and eventually watching Al Pacino and Chris O’Donnell in the 1992 film Scent of a Woman dubbed in German.  Watching that movie, which was released when I was in college, made me feel all kinds of ancient.  Still, it was kind of nice to watch TV for a change.  I found that I understood a lot of the movie.  I had seen it before, but it had been years.

I slept somewhat better this morning, but it still wasn’t the greatest sleep I’ve ever had.  Bill and I decided to skip the hotel breakfast and head home, where we knew we had great coffee waiting for us.  The bonus to getting on the road at about 7:00am was that the autobahn was fairly empty and we had a stress free drive.  Bill cooked breakfast and we enjoyed some delicious, fresh Kenyan coffee.

If we do ever go back to the Ulm area, I will choose a different hotel, although the Lobinger Weisses Ross was a pretty good value.  We spent 232 euros.  Thirty-two euros went for the bottle of wine Bill bought.  The rest was for the room and the very reasonable pet fee.  I think if it had just been Bill and me, we would have liked the hotel fine.  With our dogs, it just wasn’t all that suitable.  The room and the bed were just a little too small.  Also, the WiFi situation was a bummer.  On the other hand, I would recommend that hotel for people who have young kids or folks on a budget.

I do hope we can go back to Ulm and the surrounding area for another look.  There’s a lot there we didn’t get to see and Ulm alone is a very charming city.  It’s definitely a good bet for those who are looking for great shopping and restaurants.

Hopefully our next short break will be in France, now that Bill has his passport.  It figures that they had it ready on Friday and we could have gone to France after all.  Oh well!

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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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Last minute getaway to Ulm: Part one

A few days ago, I was feeling really stir crazy in our little village.  I really wanted a change of scenery.  Bill is going on a business trip next weekend, so I knew that if I wanted to go somewhere, we probably needed to do it this weekend.  Bill was game when I mentioned the idea of taking another quick trip with our dogs, Zane and Arran.

Originally, I was planning a weekend in Strasbourg, France.  Bill and I have been there before, but it was several years ago and only for a quick walk around the downtown and lunch.  Now that we live so close to Strasbourg again, I thought it was time we went and spent a night or two.  But then Bill told me that he didn’t have his passport because he was getting a visa for his trip next week.  So I turned my attention to Germany and started looking for places we could visit that wouldn’t require a lot of time on the road.  I finally settled on Ulm.

A friend of mine who just left Stuttgart was in Ulm a few weeks ago.  She posted some photos on Facebook that made it look like a beautiful place.  Ulm is also not very far from Stuttgart, yet it offers a different vibe.  It’s one of those cities Bill and I have passed many times but never managed to stop in for a visit.

I wanted to find us a hotel that was pet friendly and offered parking.  It didn’t have to be free parking;  I just wanted a place where we would be close to our lodging.  I booked us at the Lobinger Weisses Ross, a hotel in a suburb of Ulm called Langenau.  It offered free parking, free breakfast, free Internet, and was very pet friendly.  It got good reviews on Trip Advisor, too.  Friday evening, after Bill got home from work, we set off for Langenau and our getaway near Ulm.

Traffic on A8 headed toward Ulm was light.  Headed toward Stuttgart, things were a lot busier!

 

We got to Langenau at about 7:30pm.  Parked in front of the hotel was a large tourbus.  I also saw many SUVs.  This Weisses Ross hotel is popular because it’s not far from Legoland.  Indeed, there were a lot of people booked at the hotel and many folks had their kids.  I happened to catch a glimpse of the playroom the hotel has for little ones.  It was very impressive.

Bill checked us in to the hotel and we headed up to our room, 350.  The hotel is pretty huge and initially, I went the wrong way.  The guy who checked us in had to redirect us.  He did not speak English, but it was no big deal since Bill can speak some German.

We got to our room, which was right next to the elevator.  It was tiny with a bed that I think was probably just a full.  I eyed it warily, knowing that it was going to be a tight squeeze.  The bathroom, by comparison, was kind of big.  It had a small shower that got good water pressure.  We had a rather unimpressive view of the church next door and the rooftops of adjoining buildings.  There was a small refrigerator that was so well hidden that I would have missed it if Bill hadn’t pointed it out.  There was also a pretty good flatscreen TV.

Little bed.

Little shower, but it got good pressure.

 

Our view.

 

Bill and I were hungry, so we decided to search for some dinner.  On the way out of the hotel, the dogs caught sight of a huge Irish Wolfhound who was parked under a table in the hotel’s restaurant.  They both went nuts.  I endured the shame of their superloud barking as they pulled me out of the lobby to the outside.  We walked the dogs around town to give them a chance to burn off a little steam and calm down enough so we could have some dinner.

Finally, we sat down at the Italia Restaurant, which was located right next to the hotel.  At first, things were okay.  The dogs sat down and relaxed.  We ordered some wine and water.  I decided on grilled salmon and potatoes for dinner, while Bill ordered a veal dish.

High hopes for a peaceful dinner!

The dogs tried to relax…

I think the tables and chairs were in what serves as the restaurant’s parking lot during the colder months.

Bill tries the house red, while I enjoy a white…

 

For some reason, service was pretty slow at the restaurant.  It took a very long time for us to get our food.  Although we tried to relax and enjoy the pleasant summer evening, we were constantly on edge, worried about Zane and Arran making a scene.  They were doing pretty well until a scraggly looking stranger with extreme body odor and lots of Jack Wolfskin camping gear sat down at a table next to us.

My dog, Zane, is everybody’s friend and paid the hairy man no mind.  Arran, on the other hand, took an immediate disliking to the stranger and started barking furiously at the guy.  I have to admit, I kind of couldn’t blame Arran.  The guy seemed kind of shifty.  He spoke Italian to the wait staff, although he appeared to be German.  He kept trying to pet Zane and was making faces at the kids sitting behind Bill.

My grilled salmon was pretty good, even though it took awhile to get to me.

Bill was a lot less satisfied with his veal, which he said was full of gristle.  Veal is one of those foods I don’t eat, so I didn’t try it myself.

 

Once we were finished with dinner, we had to wait a long time for the check.  I was getting agitated because of our aromatic neighbor, who kept trying to disturb the dogs rather than just petting them once and leaving them alone.  He was giving both Bill and me the creeps; he seemed like the kind of guy who might be up to no good.  The wicker chairs had also left painful imprints on the backs of my thighs.  I should have worn pants!

Although we’d had a fairly short and uneventful drive to Langenau, I really just wanted to pay the bill, take a shower, and go to sleep.  Finally, once we were presented with the check, Bill paid and we walked back to the hotel.  Things were still in full swing there, with lots of people eating dinner outside.  In fact, the hotel was pretty packed with what looked like a fairly geriatric crowd.  Maybe we should have tried to eat dinner at the hotel, although the dogs might have made things interesting.  We did manage to get them back to the room without them making a huge ruckus.

Bill picked up a nice Spanish red at the hotel.  Priced at 32 euros, this was probably not a bargain.  However, Bill did say that the hotel had a pretty good wine list.

 

The room was a little stuffy, so Bill used the small fan that was in the schrank.  Had it been hot outside, we could have rented a portable air conditioner from the hotel.  I thought that was pretty novel.  I’ve never seen a hotel that rented air conditioners.

Sadly, I never did get the WiFi to work.  I ended up having to use my cell phone the whole time we were in Langenau.  Bill said the WiFi did come on sporadically.  They gave us a code to use, but it turned out it wasn’t required for getting the signal unrestricted.  Bill managed to use it in the wee hours of the morning, but I had no luck at all.

We all finally crowded into the full sized bed.  I slept fairly poorly because I had to contort my body around Zane and Arran.  Then, bright and early at 6:00am, the church bells started ringing and sent a surge of adrenaline through my body.

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