Reasonable Regulations

I had originally thought to visit Friedrichshafen with my daughter as part of our journey. My grandparents lived there for a great portion of their lives after the war was over. I was able to visit them on occasion while we were living in Aschaffenburg.

Something pretty to look at.

My Opa sent me home in a variety of ways as mom had 3 more needing care. Once, I was packed into the cab of an 18 wheeled truck with a trusted driver. Another time they put me on the train with a tag as to where to get off. I got scared and got off too soon but someone put me back on the train and I ended up where I belonged. Oma took me to market and taught me to read German when I could visit.

My mother’s parents

Fear of the weather quickly overtook nostalgia. They were expecting snow. The Bodensee area gets darn cold so I convinced my daughter not to risk the rental car. We opted instead for a city I’ve never visited. Stuttgart. It put us back on track to make it to Frankfurt in time for our flight home. I tend to worry more than I should.

am Bodensee with a small tour vessel

2006 trip to Friedrichshafen

The saying goes if you can’t say anything nice about something or someone, don’t say anything. I’ll just say the shopping center right down the street from our hotel in Stuttgart was a godsend. We got our walks in and found lunch and dinner. Since my daughter worked into the night hours to coincide with her office hours in the states, I usually started my day with lunch. She ate what they brought her for breakfast. I was being contrary (I can get that way) and refused their choices, happy after seeing it, to forgo that meal. Even with our vaccine certificate they were the only place that refuse us entrance to the breakfast room.

They use a lot of paper bowls for their take away salads

We couldn’t go into any stores because we didn’t have the QR code on our vaccine certificate from the states. Without it we couldn’t be seated for a meal or go inside a store. We could pick up take away food and walk around the three levels all day, fully masked. We didn’t dawdle. Each day, we walked down the hill after a sweet young woman personally took us to find the hidden entrance to the shopping center. We made the circle of all three floors, got our food and mineral water supply, then headed back to our room.

I wish I’d had cards with this on it for some people. FB photo

We did try to do laundry there but there was no parking available. I found a tiny fabric shop that was mostly for home decor but since we had paid for parking, I purchased a 50-cent pack of needles for embroidery.

I usually like to comment on how helpful the staff is at a hotel in helping us find our way around a new city. I won’t be doing that here. I found the whole city uninviting. We took no photographs and we were not allowed to ride public transit according to the hotel manager.

Have you ever visited a new place you never want to see again?

“One’s destination is never a place, but a new way of seeing things.” ~ Henry Miller

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

Real Old-World Charm

Aschaffenburg had us hoping for more real German delight. Right away I knew where we needed to go. My daughter found us a hotel right at the entrance to the fairy tale world of Rothenburg. It’s on the Romantic Highway. My sister and I visited here as well in 2006 during summer; falling in love with the town.  My daughter and I were able to park the rental car in a free lot and it never moved again till we left.

Entrance to the walled city

We were told after showing our vaccination documents and passports that we were getting an upgrade room. I wasn’t sure what that meant but our room was quite spacious and very old world looking. We had everything we needed there.

Huge room at the Hotel Rappen

2 closets and a sofa

Lovely bath great shower

Closets on each side of door

A desk for work hours

Breakfast was included and we were seated a safe distance apart from other diners. Disposable gloves were offered free to keep all utensils germ free and as long as you were near the food, masks remained on. Once you retrieved your food and sat to eat, masks could come off. Again, the hotel population was sparse. Was it covid or winter?

Lots of glitz in old hotel. No one else in there

Masks and gloves required.

After breakfast we walked into the old section of Rothenburg where the tourists are drawn in to shop. We did our fair share and of course had to check out all the bakeries along the streets. There were gift shops and luggage shops. My daughter bought another small suitcase to check since she had done a fair bit of shopping already in Köln so the suitcase was going to be necessary. Hard sided and bright so it would be easy to find in the crowd.

Stickers added in case we couldn’t see it.

There was a mini-Christmas market but all the shops welcomed you in, only if you had vaccination certificates. We found delicious pastries and then we located the Christmas shop.

Tiniest Christmas market

Old village in the window

Gift shop

Love embroidery

Little stand of goodies

We saved that for the next day as we knew the restaurant would stop serving at 2 pm and we would want linner. (That’s a late lunch, early dinner). The restaurant owned by the hotel was as old world as the town. The food there was indescribably delicious. I moaned as I failed to finish my first meal. Portions were substantial and perfectly cooked. The beer was perfect of course. The second day the  meal was equally as scrumptious and I refused to leave even a bite of it. We waddle out with grins that expressed extreme satisfaction in any language. Fortunately, language was no barrier here either.

Extra good beer

Handmade Spaetzle like none I’ve ever tasted.

Perfect Knodle with surprise

One of many inside empty restaurant

Our hotel itself had such modern upgrades as motion sensor lighting everywhere and the room key tucked in its inside slot allowed the room lights to go on until we turned them off. On leaving the room and taking the ‘plastic card key’ all lights in the room turned off. Since we planned several days visit, we ask that our room not be serviced until we left, saving water and wear. We spent only three days and wished we had stayed longer. If I only had one place to visit in Germany, it would be here.

Put in your key card for lights. Take card, lights out

We were directed to a good-sized grocery store in walking distance for a few things like mineral water and found a very handy gas station for later. Then we walked the whole walled city and shopped at the Kathy Wolfart Christmas store. This was an expensive trip. My daughter had gifts shipped from there.

I wanted this guy to come home with me.

I don’t think this car ever moved.

The contrast in old and new was very apparent in this little town. I struggle with seeing the old disappear and the new swallow it all up. We need the modern but also the reminders of what was and the beauty of the old architecture. More on that later, I think.

I’m not sure what this is

Walled city

Lots of shopping

Fountain detail

Full fountain

Cars in front of old homes

I can’t pull off the statue look.

Gorgeous doors

Going to church

I felt small here

How do you feel about the destruction of the old to be replaced by the new?

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself

 

A Little Twist

I’m going to the end of my trip, then later when I get more brain power, I’ll get back to the trip in all it’s glory.  I like to be efficient and answer the questions just once.

Too much luggage Then we added one more piece.

We made it back to the States. It was a bit nerve raking as in the last weeks of our trip, the U.S. government decided that anyone coming back into the country had to have a covid test the day before their flight. Then we had to wait until midnight of that day to get the results. The rapid results tests were not cheap and they came to our cell phones by email. It took until 2:00 a.m. to get ours, then my daughter had to go onto our flight carrier’s site to post the results. Hence, no sleep for either of us.

After our test at 8:00 a.m., which was done next door to the hotel by the train station, we collected our luggage and taxied to an airport hotel with shuttle service. We had a lovely breakfast on flight morning in the best hotel so far. The Steigenberger turned out to be where many of the pilots and crew stayed. That’s a good recommendation to me.

This gnome seemed to like the airline staff

There was an unexpected mix up about who we were flying with so there was a lot of shuffling around and long shuttles in the airport itself before settling in to a tightly packed 10 hour flight. No sleep to be had there either.

We changed planes in Denver where we had to retrieve our own bags and recheck them on the next flight, go through security again and customs. We only had 1½ hour between flights. Denver is a HUGE airport and again I was grateful for the wheelchair assistance. A tiny person pushed me all over that airport as my daughter and another young woman who had to go retrieve her knee scooter for an injured foot followed us through the maze. I did leave that sweet, helpful person a healthy tip as we made our connection, where on our own, we would not.

Borrowed from my favorite, Mary Engelbreit says it all.

That’s where our new acquaintance parted ways. We were headed for Phoenix, bleary eyed and past tired.

The twist here is that while I was visiting with my son prior to our trip, we took the time to check out a few independent living options close to him. I was not seriously impressed with them but then reality set in. There was nothing “available” in my area of Oregon. The cost would have been unsettling. The cost of one by my son was well below anything else. It was ground floor with a door opening to the courtyard as well as an inside hallway; available immediately. My gut said grab it so my son wrote the check I left behind, just in case. I am now ensconced in my own small, two-bedroom apartment. I have an old sofa bed for the moment that has been passed around the family for too many years but it’s a start. There are no fancy amenities but I’m 3 blocks from my son with everything I need close by. I’ll be in the Arizona mountains instead of Oregon. A move I never expected but now that it’s done, feels like the right choice.

I’m hooked on these words

Next comes the retrieval of my personal things from Oregon storage. My daughter is once again, getting to pursue her own trajectory in life with the same mixed emotions I’ve had. I’m the fourth senior my son and his wife have to look after. They have my apologies. This could get interesting once jet lag and altitude adjustments are made.

Happy New Year one and all. It’s going to be a doozy.

Have you ever made a decision that twisted your life around?

From my heart to yours,

Marlene Herself