Day 4: An Adventure

Today was epic!

We started the day, as always, with a yummy hotel breakfast.

Then, we scurried over to the church for the worship service. Of course, it was in German but the minister, who must be aware of the likelihood of foreigners in the congregation, spoke particularly slowly and clearly.  We understood more than we expected and less than we liked. We were a little lost on the first hymn but could follow along with all the others and sort of sing. Trying to read the music and sing the words while also trying to remember how to pronounce the words is not very easy!

The service began with prayer and then a responsive reading. We could read that fine, of course, and understood the gist of it. The service also included reading of a passage of scripture by a layperson with a deep voice, unison praying of the Lord's Prayer (which we will learn in German), and recitation of the Apostles' Creed. At least Amelia thinks it was the creed, thanks to her years as a presbyterian she recognized it. We will also try to learn that in German. Such things are easy to find online with Google.

Today's service also included several christening/baby dedications. In fact, there were many young children in the congregation. Clearly children are welcome as many parishioners (who, no doubt, walked to church) had rolled their strollers and baby carriages right up the center aisle and parked them at the end of their pew.

During the last hymn we had an interesting experience. Amelia was sitting on the end and while we were standing to sing a small child climbed over and behind her, then behind Andy, then dropped down to stand between Andy and an older gentleman just beyond. She seemed quite happy there but clearly she'd escaped from her parents. After a little while she climbed back out and joined her parents a couple of rows behind us. It was pretty cute.

At the end of the service, the minister gave a benediction that sounded like the benediction our former (now retired) pastor in Fort Smith gave, Numbers 6:24-26.  Then the organist played one more piece and everyone (including the minister) sat silently until he finished.

Next, we wandered off to lunch. We decided to see what was open, which wasn't much. We ended up at a kebab house with only a few tables indoors and a few outdoors. We ate outdoors. Andy had Currywurst and Amelia had Bratwurst. Both were yummy. We have developed the habit of ordering different things and then sharing some. This restaurant was on a little corner of a pedestrian area. On the opposite corner was a similarly sized Asian restaurant (more or less Chinese) which was also open. So, this was a good spot for people watching and for spotting dogs. Dogs are very popular in Germany and we see them everywhere. In the city they are usually leashed, but out in the country on the bike paths they are rarely leashed but seem to be well behaved as none of them have chased us on our bicycles.

The next order of the day is predictable: a bike ride. Andy had read through the little bike route book for tourists and chosen a loop that started not too far from Schwäbisch Hall, so we headed in that direction after checking out a route to get us there using Google maps (which will show bike paths and such if you click the right places). We found a dedicated bike path we could reach that would then take us to the loop.

Unfortunately, this dedicated bike path involved crossing a busy road, then going up up up for ever. OK, it wasn't forever, but it did involve very steep paths with grade up to 18%. Even the Tour de France racers would be cranky at this. Amelia made it only part way up and then stopped when her heart rate reached Def Con 1 (i.e. 170). She walked and pushed her bike from there. Andy went to the top, then came down to the bottom and biked back up. Andy is not a normal human.  This was an inauspicious start to a longish (relative to others this week) bike ride. It so turned out that this ride had several much longer climbs, but at least they weren't quite so steep!

The path signage on the first half of the ride was very good so it was easy to figure out where to go and when to ride down a road or bike lane and which bike path to enter next. Around the half way point, near a lovely lake with lots of people enjoying the good weather, we stopped at a cafe for Cokes. We also refilled Amelia's water bottle since Andy forgot his and we were sharing. After our break, Andy's rear tire was flat so he made a quick tube change while Amelia helped a lady find the (very hard to find) restrooms with her bad German. She'd found them before as the only place to fill up the water bottle, of course.

We continued on, though lovely forests and up up up up more hills. In this part of the ride, the main long hill was a road, so cars were going by now and then. The road was not wide, perhaps just wide enough for two cars. Germans, as you might guess, drive very fast. They also, however, drive safety and politely. We never felt unsafe (unlike just about every minute on roads in Arkansas or Alabama) and we never heard a horn honk and no one yelled at us to get off the road (as back home...).

At this point in the ride, Amelia was pretty toasted, when the next long hill showed up, she had to walk the last part. This was also the point in the ride when the nice useful informative signage ceased to exist. Remember, we were riding on an official bike route that is included in a publication given to tourists. Apparently, the little villages on the southern part of the route didn't get the memo about signage. Fortunately, we knew enough to get suspicious when things seemed off, and stopped to turn on the iPhone and check with Googlemaps (so, yes, we, have used that horribly expensive international calling/data plan we ordered with AT&T, and thankfully).  We had to backtrack three times to get back to the planned route. Near the end, we ignored the route and followed the bike path we could see on Googlemaps that would take us straight back to our part of town.  We finished with at least 30 kilometers (18+ miles) but the actual riding time was 2 hours 40 minutes due to all the hills and Amelia being the world's slowest cyclist on hills.

It was all good but some lessons have been learned. For example, Andy NOW knows how to read the bike route book information that indicates whether a route is easy, medium, or difficult (this was a medium! Heaven only knows what a difficult route is like). Tomorrow, Amelia will choose the route (something flat along the river would be nice). German drivers are fast but courteous, even to cyclists.  Never trust the signage on the bike route to be complete.

We rushed through a shower so we could have upper before the hotel restaurant folks locked up for the night. We were the last customers but they were very nice and served us a magnificent four course meal (bread, then soup or salad, then main course, then desert). We ate every drop and bite. ALL THE CALORIES ARE BELONG TO US. After that ride they do, anyhow.

Then, we crashed in bed, Andy sleeping pretty well, and Amelia having her usual insomnia which is why this is being typed before the sun rises.

Day 3: An Unexpected Blessing

We had a lovely day, starting with a yummy breakfast at the hotel. It is included in the room and involves everything: eggs (scrambled or boiled) to sausage (Wurst), bacon, deli meats and cheeses, cereals, fruit juices, fruit, vegetables, and breads, with all the possible toppings you can imagine. We are both especially fond of Laugen bread, which is sort of like pretzel bread but in the form of a huge roll.

We had been awakened very early but the sounds of vendors setting up in the Marktplatz just outside our window for the Saturday market. The Marktplatz is analogous to a town square and in this place every Saturday is a fresh farmers' sort of market with veggies, fruits, butcher, fishmonger, flowers and plants, bakeries, and cheese sellers. It's rather grand and was so even on this rainy cold morning (mid 40s Fahrenheit this morning!).

First we took a leisurely walk around the church to find its hours and to read and admire the inscriptions and artwork on its exterior. Then, we walked all through the market. The array of goods was impressive. Most vendors had a variety of goods within a theme (vegetables? Fruit? Cheese?) but one vendor had only Spargel. Spargel is a sort of white asparagus very popular here.

After walking all over the market we both bought a piece of bread (a roll of some sort) for later. Note: If you see something that looks like a cinnamon roll, it probably isn't. It probably is a poppyseed roll.  It took us a while to figure it out as we did not know the German word for poppy and the vendor did not know the English word. Amelia settled on a Laugen croissant. Yummy!

Andy then negotiated for a 100 gram slice of cheese. He managed to get free tastes of two types, then chose one. We have no idea now what it was called but he liked it.

After the market, and pretty well soaked, we went to the room where Andy amused himself on the computer while Amelia took a short nap. Insomnia the night before had turned her into a zombie. When she's this tired, if she gets sleepy, it's best to let her sleep, so he did.

After that, we went to see the inside of the church which we knew would be open by then. It was astounding. Seriously awesome. The church is about 850 years old. It was, of course, originally a Catholic church, for about 350 years, and then became a Lutheran church during the Reformation period. It has all sorts of decorations, monuments, art work, and, of course, some graves which seem to be built into the walls (or perhaps those are just the monuments to the dearly departed?). It has a soaring ceiling and the style is mostly Gothic due to a rebuilding in between 1427 and 1526. 

We wandered around the church, reading inscriptions, and admiring artwork and carving and such, and then, the organist started rehearsing. Seriously, a visit to an old church doesn't get any better than this! It was such a blessing to listen to him playing that magnificent instrument.  We were moved. It was as if God said,"OK, I know you don't feel so great today, and the weather is crappy, but here, take a few minutes to feel the peace of this beautiful music in my beautiful house." Amelia posted some short videos of the organ music (well, the sound of it, anyhow) on her Facebook timeline. Maybe she can figure out a way to link to them here eventually.

After the church visit, we had a short walk around town since the rain was finally beginning to end.  Nothing particularly attractive called us for lunch (most places are closed on Sunday here) so we walked back to the hotel for a late lunch. In fact, we were so late we had to order from the short menu rather than the full menu. Not that we care at all about that. All the food is fantastic in this hotel. We filled up and then decided it was time to brave the elements and ride the bikes.

Now, you have to picture this. It's been raining for almost 24 hours, and the temperature by mid afternoon had only managed to get to the upper 50s Fahrenheit, but we were determined. In this case, determination was rewarded. We biked off in the same direction as Friday (over the river and then roughly north on the bike paths), but this time we tried some side paths just to see where the went. The weather turned out rather nice, really! It was cool but not too cool when pedaling hard. And the sun came out some. 

We took one side path to a little town called Linderhof. 

Unfortunately, every path and road out of Linderhof was a step uphill. We tried one, and after pedaling in the lowest gear for ever, it had a curve and then more uphill, steeper, was revealed. So, we gave up (Amelia not being that strong of a climber) and biked back down and tried another route. This one also led to a big hill. So, we negotiated a plan. Andrew was to bike over the hill and return to the crossroads just outside Linderhof in half an hour or so. Amelia was to bike back to the crossroads, stopping to take photographs as much as she wants. 

The bonus of the crossroads is it has a nice bench if anyone has to sit and wait on anyone else. Plus, people watching. Yes, you can do some serious people watching on a German bike path. You can also do some serious bicycle watching as the types of bicycles range widely here.

So, Andy climbed the hill and then the hill beyond that, and Amelia photographed houses, and signs, and flowers, and such and took a leisurely ride back to the crossroads.

Then we biked farther north on the main more-or-less-beside-the-river path, and took a detour over the bridge and into Untermünkheim by road (not bike path). Our goal was to find the church attached to the tall clock tower we could see from the bike path. It is pointed and has shiny tiles unlike any others we have seen. We managed to find it and take a few photos, and have a short conversation in broken German with a woman out for a stroll with two small children in a stroller and a dog on a leash. One of the children was learning to blow bubbles, which was pretty amusing.

After than we biked back toward Schwäbisch Hall, but took at least one side road and climbed a hill. Even Amelia made it to the top of this one. It ended up in a little village with not much more than a few houses.

We biked back to the hotel, taking a slight short cut on a road (rather than a bike path) which seemed pretty safe on a Sunday evening since Germans are typically not out and about on Sunday very much and traffic was light. In Germany, most businesses are closed on Sunday with the exception of a few cafes and small restaurants specializing in convenience. Presumably, gas stations are also open and convenience stores, but we haven't been near either of those to know that for a fact.

After a shower and tidying up, we ate yet another spectacular meal in the hotel restaurant.

After supper we had a long chat with the hotel manager in Deutschglish. Her English isn't so good and our German isn't so good but we managed. She is the owner of the hotel guard dog, Ivan. She gave us some valuable information about places to bike to with museums and how to find the local swimming pool.

Day 2: Cycling + Eating = Perfect Day

Today was a perfect day. In fact, it was the sort of day we dreamed of having in Germany some day. Well, except for missing breakfast...

Our hotel is old, as we have mentioned before. This building was first built in 1315. Eight hundred years ago is a long time!  Of course, it's been added on to and altered over 800 years and hasn't been a hotel the entire time (but perhaps most?). So, here are some photos to show how funky the interior is. The rooms are very modern, of course, but the stairs and hallways are showing their age and design quite nicely.  Here we are looking down the stairs from our first floor hall way (one up from the ground floor).

My father would have wondered why the builders couldn't build things square!

This is the first landing down from our floor (I think we have four landings on this stair case). The ledge used as a book shelf really does lean as much as you see here.

Here you can look down the middle of the staircase. Lots of funny angles and slopes.

In the middle of the hotel is a courtyard which probably was created originally to provide light to the interior halls and rooms. This is the upper floor view.

Here, the year 1250 is mentioned as well as Kaiser Karl the fifth living here a bit in the sixteenth century.

More sloping landings... 

The hotel has lots of historical markers in out of the way places.

Having missed breakfast by sleeping too late, we decided to go for a stroll and see a bit of the city before finding a restaurant or cafe.  Who says glass houses are dangerous? This is the city library which is a funky glass house. Despite the age of many of the structures in Schwäbisch Hall (it was more or less left undamaged by the world wars) some buildings are über modern (we haven't managed to get to the famous museum yet, but we will!).

The library is on Neue Straße (New Street) which leads more or less from our hotel to the river. It is a pedestrian zone (mostly). I stopped at McPaper to buy some postcards and stamps. McPaper? Doesn't sound very German, does it? It made me giggle.  The store to the right is called Freitag (Friday) and we happened to take this photo on a Friday.

The next corner has an interesting chocolate shop (we haven't gone inside yet!).

Amelia tried to take a panorama of this corner, starring with the chocolate shop. She didn't quite make it to the fourth corner though. She is still learning how to do this panoramic thing with the iPhone. 

Between the chocolate store (far left) and the next corner (half timbered house) you can see a man in blue standing with his back to you. That's Andy. He's looking at a bronze tableau of the whole city. Sort of a three dimensional map. It was handy to help us get a good idea of the whole layout of the inner-city. Much better than a flat map!

We wandered the streets which are full of the sort of stores you expect in any city, but with a much higher concentration of cafes, bakeries, and restaurants. Here you see an Asian cafe next to a bakery.  The city has food from all over the world. Turkish and Italian are especially common.

We walked down to the river and onto one of the many covered wooden bridges, where we could look upriver at some lovely buildings. On the left is the edge of a tower you'll see more of below.

We decided to eat at this Italian restaurant, Como Prime was the name, perhaps?  Here is Amelia's view taken with the panoramic setting. The tower is directly behind Andy and you can see the dark point of the top of the wooden bridge peeking out from behind the right side of it.

Andy ordered a calzone, which was fantastic. Better than Mellow Mushroom! Everyone knows we LOVE Mellow Mushroom.  We had still Italian water (the best bottled water we've had so far - most restaurants do not serve tap water and prefer to serve mineral water (which we don't much like, generally) so it was very nice to get bottled water that wasn't mineral tasting or bubbly. Yea! We also both had small Cokes. For those who haven't travelled outside of the USA. Drinks do not come with refills here (and on most of the planet) so we tend to drink loads of water (like we do back home) and have a small Coke, mainly just in case we hate the taste of the (mineral) water.

Amelia had gnocchi with fresh mozzarella in a fresh tomato sauce. Yes, she ate a vegetarian dish. Don't faint.

We sat there having a late lunch in an almost empty outdoor cafe doing some interesting people (and dog) watching. Our favorites were these two little girls (the littler one is beyond the dad in the green shirt) who were cycling and wearing helmets that were dinosaurs and such. Very cute!  We see loads of people cycling here, of all ages, on all sorts of bicycles (although road bikes (Rennrad) are rarest, so far).

We wandered through some other streets going back to the hotel and saw this lovely vintage Soviet motorcycle and killer sidecar. We know it is Soviet because we looked at the serial plate! CCCP!

The roads are typically narrower than in the USA, and some are pedestrian only or pedestrian/bike only zones. Here we have a typical street, with a mix of typical architecture for this city, and a BMW to complete the German tableau!

Some streets are even more narrow. 

This one is beside (left) the Loewen Apoteke (Lion Pharmacy) and we want to explore this street later because it looks so interesting.

Here is one of the lions above the door. Our UAFS friends will like all the lions.

On the Markt Platz (analogous to a town square, sort of) are many interesting buildings (St. Michael's church, the city hall, etc.). There is a row of three very brightly colored buildings that appear to be city government offices. Two of them have very fancy entrances.

As we neared the hotel we noticed the third wedding we'd seen in 24 hours at the door of the city hall. These folks were tying huge cans to the back of the couple's getaway car. Which was a strange large truck thing (must post a photo from the side here).

Here is your required daily photo of St. Michael's church. Notice the blue sky! Perfect weather!

And, we are back to our hotel. Hotel Adler.

Where we are greeted by the hotel guard.

So we changed and got organized for our first serious bike ride. Andy had to work out some details for our Garmin GPSs and such.  The white bike is Amelia's and the black one is Andy's. Amelia's is a sort of women's mountain bike. Andy's is a sort of cross bike. Neither are what we expected to buy, but these were the best fit for each of us, given our preferences, our budget, and what was available.

We biked off through the town down Neue Straße to the river and found a bike path (we'd scoped it out via Google maps but are trying not to use Google maps all the time on the phone lest we go broke with the data charges!).  We biked through some convoluted paths on either side of the river, crossing the river several times, most on wooden covered bridges. At one point we came to a spot where the path was just gone, as in blocked by a large construction project, but we found our way around it.

Once back over the river a third time, we found road that led to the countryside bike path. We rode about 6.33 miles out, passing through meadows, fields, farms, small towns, etc. and going back and forth over the river at intervals.  These bike paths are incredible. It is obvious how Germany earns its rank as one of the top ten countries for cycling.

We stopped at this ruin, which was just in the middle of fields and forests (must read the plaque!) and took a selfie using our hand free remote and propping the phone against a spare tire tube we were carrying.

Later we came to another covered bridge which we did not cross but stopped to enjoy the view.

This is a panorama of about half of the view (so not 360 degrees, but probably more than 180). Note the handsome man standing by the bridge and the cool white bike.

Every time we came to a crossroads, we had to decide which way to go. We tried to keep going north-ish and to follow the river when possible. Here we had the choice of turning left and going straight and kept going straight. A cute little town was on the hill if we had chosen to go left. We might check that town out another time.

In the end we biked to Enslingen. This is just outside the town, in a area of fields, pastures, meadows,  woods, and at the lower point the brighter green grass are soccer fields, some of which were in use by some teams of children and their coaches.

You can see the same building in this panoramic photo of the path leading to Enslingen. Notice the happy cows to Andy's right.

In Enslingen we decided to turn around and head back. It had lots of typical architecture for the region but it was getting very cloudy so we thought we would save looking around for another time.

This nice house with flowers everywhere, was our turnaround point.

We returned just over six mile back to the hotel. This portion of the ride has no photos because the rain did start, mostly lightly, though, until we got back to the city area and got drenched on the last mile. The phone was safely ensconced in a ziplock bag, of course.  We were met by the deep thinking hotel guard dog.

After storing the bikes (the hotel is nice enough to let us put them in a back room on the ground floor just beyond the front desk) we showered and did a bit of sink laundry and headed downstairs to dinner. Andy ordered the Swabian soured beef with bread dumplings.  It was served in a delicious sauce that might have been port wine or some sort of red wine sauce. Mmmm...  Amelia had the roast pork in a dark beer sauce with Swabian noodles (Spätzle). Yes, we know you are ALL dying to live vicariously through our meal reports...

For desert, Andy had the chocolate soufflé with an orange something center. Amelia had vanilla ice cream, chocolate sauce, and some sort of wafer. Both were garnished with a fruit we did not recognize (little round orange thing with tan leaves or husk) and we had to ask the waiter about it. He had to write down the word (which is not German) and said it grows in Brazil, perhaps. It is called physalis. It is a relative of the tomato, we think.

After dinner we took a short stroll. This famous fountain is two doors down from the hotel. We have no idea what its historical significance is, but we shall inquire. The orangish building to the right is the tourist information bureau. The building in the center is a cafe. To the right you can just glimpse our hotel.

Here is your required night view of St. Michael's where one of the acting troupes was just finishing a rehearsal. This group is performing a play called The Daughter of the Salt Boiler (which can't quite be the correct translation...!) at the end of June.  The other group we've watched rehearsing is performing Don Juan in mid June. The plays take place entirely on the giant steps of the church. Chairs will  be placed in the open area at the bottom for the audience. It's a shame we won't be in this hotel room at that time because our windows provide a perfect view.

We were headed to this little narrow street beside the Loewen Apoteke as previously planned. However, it started raining again, so we turned back.

The Apoteke is on the southeast corner of the Markt square.  The colorful city government buildings and the city hall dominate the west side of the square. Our hotel and another hotel, a cafe, and the tourist information center are the north side of the square. St. Michael's Church is the west side of the square.

I am fascinated by the colorful buildings.

Two of them have fancy entrances.

The signs indicate these are part of the city finance department's office, perhaps.

And, we hurried back to the hotel to avoid being drenched again.  The red and white chains are put out to keep folks away from the front of the church and steps while a rehearsal is going on. When they finish, they immediately remove the chains and poles so people can have access to the front of the landmark church.

Our hotel, like many others places, serves Haller Löwenbrau, which comes from a local private brewery. Perhaps we will try some eventually. When in Rome...

Here are some night views from our room.