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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…
And a few machines for those who want to work out.
I saw this in the pavement… it was just one. I’m sure it has to do with the utilities.
You can get your CBD in Switzerland…
Seen in the Bederhof’s menu!
We enjoyed a couple of local brews…
Bill had the Robespierre with allumettes (shoestring potatoes)… This steak was very thin and served very rare. It cooked on the plate. There were two of them, delivered separately of each other.
I went with the Tuna Tataki, which was rare tuna coated in sesame seeds and served with cucumbers, zucchini, cherry tomatoes, and avocado creme.
I think this was when I noticed the sheep on the hill…
And I zoomed in for a better look.
For dessert, I had creme brulee…
Bill had the flourless lava cake with sour cream ice cream. This was good, but I can’t abide lava cakes! Everybody does them!

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!

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

First thing’s first. I have to write a disclaimer about the title of this series. I kind of made up the word scheißig– which kind of translates to “shitty”. I use the word “shitty” a lot in my daily language. Instead of looking up the actual German word for “shitty”, I decided to add “ig” to the German word for shit and hope it worked. My German friend tells me the German word for “shitty” is actually “beschissen”. However, apparently the word “scheißig” is used in slang situations, especially in Hesse. As luck would have it, I live in Hesse… and this slang bastardization of the word “shitty” works a lot better with “die Schweiz”.

With that explained, on with the tale of our trip. We planned to leave Wiesbaden on July 22nd. I had noticed our older dog, Arran, was having some dental issues. He yawned and I saw a black spot. His last dental cleaning was a year ago, but he’s getting to be an old codger. I asked Bill to take him to the vet to have him checked and schedule a dental cleaning. Bill took him in and got some antibiotics, which Arran will start tonight, and an appointment for this Thursday, the 29th, for a dental.

Then, on Thursday the 22nd, we packed everything up and headed south, stopping by the Birkenhof Tierpension on the way, to drop off Arran and Noyzi. All seemed fine as we handed them over. Noyzi and Arran were wagging their tails and very excited to go into their “hotel room”, then out to play. (I promise, this part of the story is relevant…)

We headed down A5, which is also the route we now take when we want to go to France. At lunchtime, we stopped in Baden-Baden for lunch. Regular readers might remember that Bill and I celebrated our 16th wedding anniversary in Baden-Baden back in 2018. We enjoyed a spectacular four nights in an upgraded junior suite at Brenner’s Park Hotel and experienced the famous nude Irish-Roman baths at Friedrichsbad. It was a little weird to be stopping there just for lunch on the way to Switzerland. Baden-Baden is a very beautiful town. I would have been happy to have just stayed there. But we were just there for a quick break. We found an excellent Asian restaurant called Vinami Asia Grill and Bar…

Bill is happy we aren’t at McDonald’s.
Nice view while we waited…
Bill had Pho, which he had mentioned wanting just days before we visited. It was just an off chance they had it. It was delicious!
I had sushi– fresh salmon with avocado and roe. It was very tasty and beautifully presented!
Horse and carriage going by… Very fitting for Baden-Baden. And no, as a horse person for many years, seeing this doesn’t upset me. These horses are well cared for.
This brave guy was doing a repair in the very busy street. Busses kept passing him. I was grateful his trousers fit properly so I didn’t get mooned.

Baden-Baden is such a lovely city. We probably should go back for a short break sometime soon. But, like Switzerland, it’s the kind of place where you need to bring lots of money! It’s not cheap!

I really just wanted to take a photo of the sign at the restaurant, but almost forgot.
If you have a heart attack, you’re in luck in Baden-Baden…
When we lived in Jettingen, the people who make these honey products came to sell their wares in nearby Nagold.
They have good products.

After lunch, we got back on the road, noticing that there were many “Staus” (traffic jams). Fortunately, they were on the northbound side of the road, so we weren’t troubled as we made our way south. Bill stopped near the border to pick up a 2021 Swiss vignette (toll sticker). I’ve explained this a number of times on this blog. To use Swiss Autobahns, you have to have a special sticker, which costs 40 Swiss Francs. The sticker is good until January 31, 2022. The Swiss issue new ones every year, and you can get them at ADAC stores (or online), at rest stops near the border, or at the border itself. Most other countries that use the vignette system offer them for shorter stints and cheaper prices. Not the Swiss, though… so it pays to make use of the sticker if you live close.

The rest of the drive was pretty uneventful. We arrived in Zürich just in time for traffic/rush hour. Unbeknownst to us, our hotel was also near what would become a construction zone over the weekend. On the way to the B2 Boutique Hotel, we were able to drive straight through, although that took some time, thanks to all the traffic. But by Friday, the area we had come through to reach the hotel was completely blocked off. This caused some stress for Bill, even with the GPS going. I’ve never been a fan of using GPS… the voice always interrupts conversations and music. But Bill likes to use it.

Anyway, we drove up a hillside to get to the B2 Boutique Hotel. As usual, what I had pictured in my head was not what the reality was. Not that I was disappointed at all, mind you… It’s a beautiful hotel, and they’ve done a great job of turning what was a brewery into a nice place to stay– especially if you’re into spas, as I am. A year ago, Switzerland was very laid back about COVID-19 rules. I noticed that no one wore masks indoors in 2020. This year, there were signs everywhere demanding mask use.

I don’t like the masks, but I always cooperate… and yes, I have been vaccinated. Count me among those, however, who hope the mask mandates go away at some point. I really do hate the fucking things. In any case, everyone wore them at the hotel, and most everywhere else we went that was indoors. They had lots of hand sanitizer, too.

I booked us in a junior suite. I usually use travel sites like Expedia or Booking when I make reservations. This time, I booked directly with the hotel, because for some reason, the travel sites wouldn’t let me reserve for two people. They would only let me reserve for one. But, I did get a reward for booking directly… they gave us a free drink. Below are some photos of our room, which was rather unusual but comfortable. For about 500 francs a night, it should have been!

Just over the border!
Passing a Schloss!
Our first view of the famous “wine library” at the B2 Boutique Hotel.
Sitting area of the room. The minibar is complimentary.
TV in the sitting room.
Seating.
A little “kitchen” area, which consists of a mini fridge stocked with water, beer, orange juice, Coca-Cola and Coke Zero. There’s also a small bottle of red wine. It’s included in the price.
The balcony– which doesn’t offer much of a view, but does offer a place to smoke.
Beer motif everywhere.
The bathroom. It had a really nice rainfall shower.
Steps to the “loft”, where the bed is.
Note the huge bathtub in the room. It was awesome! I used it twice, which was a treat!
We also had a skylight, which we had to keep open at night. The room was air conditioned, but it was still pretty stuffy.
Sink on the counter and another TV.
Thoughtful gifts for the desk.
They used old brewery equipment for practical purposes.
Our first view of the whole “wine library” in the lobby area. This is where the restaurant is. I don’t know where they got all those books, but they were pretty nice.

After we settled our bags and got cleaned up, we headed down to the wine library for food and beverages. We decided to try the locally produced Hürlimann lagers, as the hotel was once the Hürlimann brewery. The guy who waited on us for our first two nights was friendly enough, but not the most attentive. Still, the food was pretty good, and although our round of “free drinks” were puny, they were still free. And there was Swiss wine and lots of ethereal jazzy music, mostly performed by people like Diana Krall and Karen Souza… The wine list at this hotel features mostly wines made in Switzerland. We had the chance to try several of them during our stay.

Tiny beers! They were like juice glasses.
The first of many Swiss wines we drank…
The wine list features almost entirely Swiss wines. The lone exception was an Italian red.
I had a Caesar salad with chicken.
Bill had vegetarian ravioli. Both were fine, though not too exciting…
But the wine library got more interesting as the sun went down.

Bill tells me dinner is ready, so I’ll continue with part three tomorrow!

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short breaks

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

A couple of weeks ago, Bill tried to get us dentist appointments in Stuttgart. Why Stuttgart, and not Wiesbaden? Because we both love our Stuttgart dentist’s work and, even after almost three years in Wiesbaden, we haven’t found a new dentist yet. Although Stuttgart is a couple of hours away by train, when we moved here at the end of 2018, we had visions of coming back down there at regular intervals. And then COVID-19 struck. We haven’t seen Dr. Blair since May 2019, and we won’t see him until the end of August, because he’s booked for the rest of this month and, like so many locals, is taking vacation through most of August.

But Bill still had the days off, so he asked me to plan a short trip. I queried my Facebook friends for ideas. My caveats were that the suggested places had to be somewhat nearby, because I don’t want to fly anywhere unless I absolutely must. I also didn’t want to go anywhere where COVID-19 was on the rise. I’m stressed out enough as it is, even though I’m fully vaccinated with the Moderna shots as of last month.

Bill has been seeing an online Jungian therapist for the past few months. He’s doing so because I’ve been telling him for years that therapy is a great thing, but also because he is fascinated by Carl G. Jung. Bill’s therapist is American and based in Berlin. The guy has a background in art therapy, which also really interests Bill and fits right in with Jung, since Jung was an artist, as well as a great thinker and psychologist. Our friend Meg, who made it possible for us to adopt our Kosovar rescue dog, Noyzi, also has an interest in Jung and has been studying him. It was she who suggested that we visit Küsnacht, which is where Carl Jung’s house and museum is located.

It occurred to me that Bill and I had never actually visited Zürich before this past weekend. We’d only been to its, admittedly superb, airport. When we lived near Stuttgart, we lived pretty close to the city and could have gone there with ease. For that reason, it always lost out to other, more “exciting” cities. Also, I’d heard that Zürich wasn’t that interesting compared to some other places we’ve been. Of course, now that we’re living in Wiesbaden, Zürich is a little more exotic. I decided to see what kind of hotels were available in Zürich and found one that is in a building that used to be a brewery. When I read that it was also connected to a Thermalbad, I was sold! I booked four nights at the B2 Boutique Hotel, located in the Enge area of the city.

An artsy photo of Lake Zürich. I took this with my digital camera, rather than my usual iPhone or iPad.

Then it turned out that Bill had actually only wanted me to book three nights. We were starting our trip on Thursday, because he’d been trying to get dental appointments for us. When he failed to get them for the time he’d arranged to be off work, he decided to just take Thursday and Friday off instead of his usual Friday and Monday. I misunderstood him, though, and booked four nights instead of three. Bill was a little pissy about it at first, but then I reminded him of all the things we could see and the fact that we haven’t traveled in so long because of COVID-19. He relented, and got today off from work. That turned out to be a good decision, which I’m sure will become clear as I write about this trip.

In the end, I wasn’t surprised that I chose Switzerland for this trip. I’ve had Switzerland on the brain for some time now. For years, I’ve felt kind of “meh” about the beautiful neutral country, mainly because it’s so expensive and always seemed a bit sterile to me. But last year, we took our vacation to Austria, Italy, and Switzerland. We had a great time in Austria, and a decent time in Italy (marred by too many rambunctious kids at our hotel), but Switzerland turned out to be a healing balm to us after four hectic nights at the nice, but noisy and busy Italian property. I was able to rest in Switzerland… enjoy peace and quiet and good food, as well as an excellent spa at the Oberwaid in St. Gallen. I have noticed that Switzerland does spa retreats well.

I was definitely eager to go back to Switzerland, even if it meant we’d be spending more money than usual for our long weekend break. What the hell, anyway? Prior to this past weekend, we hadn’t done any decent traveling in a long time. We might as well spend some money and have some laughs and big fun. As it turned out, we even spent less than I feared we would.

So I’m going to write up my usual blow by blow account of our trip to Die Schweiz, as the Germans like to call it. I expect this series will run at least six or seven parts, depending on how I split up the story. We had a really nice time, and got some much needed rest and relaxation. Now it’s time to get back to work… and reality. Luckily for me, part of my “life’s work” is writing this blog. 😉

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Back to Little Italy for a Sunday lunch…

Before COVID times, Bill and I loved to visit Little Italy in Wiesbaden. It was one of the first restaurants we discovered when we moved to Wiesabaden in 2018. We love going there on Sundays and having long, elegant lunches. The pandemic put our habit to an end. I think the last time we managed to visit was in summer 2020. Today, Bill asked if I wanted to go out to lunch, and I was happy to agree. And when we parked in Wiesbaden, we found our way to Little Italy, where we were quickly welcomed and seated indoors. We mentioned our vaccinations, but the waiter didn’t seem to care. He simply pointed out the Luca app for contract tracing purposes.

Today’s lunch was as wonderful as always, coupled with fine service and good wine. Below are some photos.

  • Bill is back to perusing menus.
  • Bill had slice rinderfilet (steak) with mashed potatoes with black olives, vegetables, and parmesan cheese.
  • I had shrimp with lime risotto. Both his dish and mine were garnished with sweet potato chips.
  • As you can see, Bill HATED his lunch. 😉
  • I hated mine, too… 😉
  • For dessert, Bill had tiramisu.
  • I had an ice cream tartufo (truffle) garnished with whipped cream and fruit.
  • While I had a second glass of Montpulciano, Bill had an espresso.

I really enjoyed my risotto, which was perfect and full of shrimp– four grilled on top, and several mixed in the creamy, lime scented risotto. It was pure comfort food. For once, it wasn’t topped with a bread stick. Bill loved his sliced filet, which was cooked to medium rare perfection. I was surprised to see black olives mixed with the potatoes, but Bill said it was really excellent. And, of course, we paired everything with sparkling water and a glass of Primitivo for him and Montepulciano for me.

While we were dining, I got a private message from a Peace Corps friend of mine. He was was a Volunteer in Russia in the early 1990s, then came to Armenia to work. I met him when he was working for the United Methodist Committee on Relief. I was teaching business English there. I had lost touch with him about a year ago, so I was glad to get his message, especially since just last night, we had a memorial for an Armenia Volunteer who suddenly died a couple of months ago. My old friend is the same age as the guy we memorialized last night.

Other than that, it was another wonderful lunch at a neighborhood favorite. We spent about 89 euros before the tip, and it was money well spent. I doubt we’ll need much of a dinner… but I’ll probably indulge in some wine… to process last night a bit. On the way out of Wiesabaden, I got a few photos…

  • This stone in the sword is right next to a rabbit warren. I saw one of the bunnies when I approached.
  • A shot of Wiesbaden’s distinctive steepled skyline.
  • An Italian gelato truck! First time I’ve seen one.

It’s so nice to see things a bit more normal… I don’t know how long it will last, but we’re going to enjoy it.

In other travel news, I have finally booked us a trip to Zurich. Yes, this will be our first visit there, even though we’ve lived pretty close for years. When we were in Stuttgart, we could have been there in about two hours. I got us four nights, starting July 22. I think we’ll do some specialized touring, to include visits to Carl Jung’s museum, which I know will fascinate Bill. Maybe a stop at the Lindt Chocolate Factory for me… I can’t wait. We’re ready for a change of scenery.

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