No Prague, but Lake Konstanz

Since our return last Sunday the weather has been somewhat inclement (hasn't stopped raining except for Wednesday afternoon which was lovely). Stephen is enjoying work immensely, feeling somewhat challenged in the process and is usually away by 7.30am each day and returns about 5.30pm each evening. He is being a good boy and keeping his promise to spend each evening with me. I am right into a Penny Vincenzi novel (a million pages in size 6 font) so that has managed to keep me busy for the week along with the daily happy hour in the bar. It's embarrassing when the staff know your room number and ask will it be a champagne cocktail or a gin and tonic! Thank goodness I am spending so much time in the gym burning off calories otherwise I would have to give up the grog and we couldn't have that!



The week got off to a bad start with the news that we were unable to get on a flight to Prague next weekend. So, we put plan B into action and decided that we will go to Lake Konstanz which is on the Swiss border and which we have heard very good reports about. Our Stuttgart friends who are living in Melbourne, Eric and Petra, have given us a list of places for weekends away and so far have not steered us in the wrong direction, and this is one of their suggestions. No pressure Eric and Petra, but it had better be good! Had a good conversation with Ails on Monday, it was great to hear her very croaky voice.


We have been to some interesting places to eat and Wednesday night was no exception. A fellow who works with Stephen has given him a list of good restaurants and bars and we are systematically working our way through them. This was an interesting little wine bar where you could actually purchase wine. It was run by 3 old dears who had the most shocking dress sense (the words frau or frump or frumpy frau come to mind). Our waitress was dressed in a floral - and I do mean floral - skirt. The skirt was just short enough to give us a fabulous view of her socks and sandals! Stephen was sure it was pensioner night as the place was full of old locals, obviously we fitted in without a problem! We had maultashen in broth for dinner. This is a local dish, a very large ravioli with minced pork and spinach in a beef broth. It was actually very yummy. We asked for a wine with balls and got the usual pinot (didn't quite use those words). The red wine is not what you would call very rich in colour or taste but we have had some very nice wines all the same. (Opera House in the gardens)

The bar was across town from where we are, so we decided it was a nice night for a walk home (17 degrees). The photos are of the gardens we walk through most days - the Schlossgarden. It was lovely walking across the gardens and pass our local gun shop, complete with grenades! (Bottom right in photo) Was thinking of taking a couple home for the grandchildren to play with. Wonder if I will have any trouble getting them through customs, what do you think Den??

Thursday was spent talking to loved ones at home - Pat, Cath, Mary, Brian, Justine, David and Carolyn. It is so nice to know they are all just a phone call away. Thursday night we chose from Alto's list once more and ventured once again across the gardens to Cafe Toscano. This was a tiny little bar in the backstreets, more residential, and hence the locals' local. We started with an antipasto platter and followed this with the only 2 dishes on the menu, pasta 1 and pasta 2. Stephen is still eating by the way. The waitress and the chef/cook were very impressed by the fact we had come from Australia and couldn't have made us feel more welcome.


Friday morning - Anzac Day - we were up early listening to the footy. Does everyone know that Collingwood thrashed, did I say thrashed, Essendon? Off to the market to buy some strawberries for dessert as we had dinner at Richard and Michelle's on Friday night. It was great to have a homecooked meal and spend time with little Sarah.

Saturday morning up early to collect our Prius - weird car doesn't make any noise - and off to Konstanz. Stephen has discovered that he is actually a racing car driver and he had to be told on a number of occasions to please keep below 170 kph or his wife would get out and catch the train home. Maybe it was his plan! The trip was much shorter than planned - hmmm - and we arrived in Konstanz around noon.

What a magnificent town! Eric and Petra you didn't let us down with this choice. It was a beautiful day (about 20 degrees) and we were happy to be in shorts and t-shirts again. We spent the day walking around the town and the lake taking in all the beautiful buildings and scenery. We spent the night at the Hotel Bayrischer Hof which was right opposite the Church of the Holy Trinity. Life is very interesting when what use to be a Jewish Synagogue is now a Catholic Church. There is a wonderful Gothic Cathedral, the Munster built originally in 600AD and extended over many ages. Houses we saw dated back to the middle ages and the frescos and stone work on the buildings was mind blowing. All this and the serenity of the lake.

Sunday we attended mass at St Stephen's Church - someone was having a moment of self importance (see photo) - where we listened to the German version of Sunday mass. We were able to join in as we actually knew the responses even if they were in English. Best sermon we had ever heard! We left Konstanz and drove to Insel Mainau via Loretoworld - yes Kate Russell there is such a place complete with nuns with walking sticks - where we lined up with thousands of others to get a ticket onto the island. This island is designed as a garden exhibition and is particularly beautiful in spring. The photos at the end of this blog are of Konstanz (complete with snow covered Swiss alps in the background) and of the island. The lake was bustling with yachts and seacraft of all sorts for the whole weekend. Certainly a wonderful weekend, although we were feeling a little tired by the end.

Back onto the race track and home far too quickly! This week we celebrate an anniversary (our darling Pete's), several birthdays (Stephen, Mick and Fiona) and we are off to see our friend Luc on Thursday in Belgium for the 4 day break. Love to all. Oh, by the way, did I mention that Collingwood thrashed Essendon!

Stuttgart, Heidelberg and the Black Forest (cake!)

It has been a busy week. Sunday we went to the Mercedes-Benz museum. We had to catch a bus out to the museum as the train was not running due to the discovery of an unexploded WW2 bomb in parkland that the train runs through. It is an 8 floor building and you start your tour on the top floor and walk down through the exhibition. The early history of the company was particularly fascinating and the old cars beautifully restored. The period of the company during and after the war was of particular interest. Stuttgart was all but levelled because the car plant was manufacturing arms during the war. Anne found her new dream car - of course it is red.

From there we went to the TV tower which is somewhat of a feature in the area. The view from the observation platform was spectacular. It was also damn cold. We tended to look at the view from one side, the side where we were sheltered from the wind!

Anne spent Monday at the zoo. The zoo is particularly interesting because it is situated in the botanical gardens. As it is the beginning of spring the flowers were magnificent, tulips, daffodils, pansies and lots more. There was a green house full of orchids, azaleas and camellias of all shapes and sizes.

By the way, the animals weren’t that bad either, although lots of small enclosures not like the Melbourne zoo where the animals seem to have lots of room to roam around. Of course there was a kangaroo, emu and crocodile. The croc enclosure had an array of printed newspaper articles telling the stories of crocs dragging people in far north Queensland to their death! We have since discovered that these Aussie animals are being bred for their meat when we ventured for dinner to the Australian Bar and checked out the menu which had mostly these meats and, of course, the obligatory barramundi. God only knows where that came from!

Anne has also visited the Gallery of Modern Art, which was full of unrecognizable pictures, the Landesmuseum and the Kunstmuseum so is feeling very cultured. On Friday I went to Ludwigsburg, a beautiful old town about 20 minutes by train from Stuttgart. The palace is massive and the grounds are the size of the botanical gardens in Melbourne. The flowers were magnificent.

Friday night we were too tired to do anything so after having dinner at our favourite Italian restaurant, Vapianos - see Stephen doing what he does best!!, we had an early night in preparation for the big weekend ahead.

Saturday morning we walked across to the station and picked up our hire car - Rhona you will like this, a Mercedes A120 equipped with a GPS (English). This was the most vital piece of equipment that we needed for a trouble free weekend. We carefully listened to that voice, which would by the end of the weekend be driving us crazy, and headed for Heidelberg. I should add at this point that it was pelting down and we were wondering why on earth we were doing this excursion. By the time we reached Heidelberg the rain had stopped and we started to explore this very beautiful city. The very first place we saw was of course Woolies. We roamed down the pedestrian walk, to the accompanyment of the Hari Krishnas, to the castle where we took a guided tour. Stephen of course was still eating, this time a bratwurst. The rain then decided to come down again and we ended up driving home in the same weather conditions as we had started out.

Slept soundly then up bright and early to Skype Frankie for her first birthday party and to sing happy birthday along with all the other guests. We were sad we weren't there to share the day with everyone but were happy to see all the smiling faces and the birthday cake and most of all our beautiful grandaughter on her first birthday.

We were then off to the Black Forest for the day (20 degrees and sunny). Our first stop Baden-Baden. This is a very hip place to be, casinos, fabulous shops (top end of Collins Street) and fantastic cafes full of - you guessed it - black forest cake!! We chowed down as you can see - I (A) was not the only one eating by the way - someone else had his fair share. The town of Baden-Baden is a mixture of old and new with a very big spa area. We were surprised by the number of people flocking to the spas, which are huge complexes with massage facilities and big indoor and outdoor spas the size of swimming pools. By the way, the water was really hot!

We then drove through the region stopping to take photos of many 'willages along the vay' - can you see how my German is improving - as it was a beautiful day there were hundreds of bikers of the road, one in particular had one hell of a bike as you can see. We got home very tired but delighted by our travels. We are off to Prague next weekend so will post another report then.

Saturday in Downtown Stuttgart

What a lazy day it is. Slept in 'til 7:10am. Spent an hour in the gym, ate a hearty breakfast then walked for 5 hours. Boy, do we need a drink!!!!!!!!!!!!

Weather has improved: but only when we're indoors. It is just like Melbourne weather was in the past - sun, rain, sun, rain etc. At least it's not windy. The first photo is the "Schlossplatz", one of the most famous squares in Germany and is noted for its grandeur ans spaciousness.

Stephen was in 7th heaven as we discovered the equivalent of the Vic market in the middle of the town (see photos).


The presentation of the goods is quite spectacular, lots of colour and everything perfectly ordered (you need to realise that Stuttgart is an engineers town: Porsche, Mercedes, Bosch etc. are based here).


They constantly spray the fruit and veg with water to keep it fresh.









German bread is to die for. Cop the size of the loaf, it's bigger than Anne.






We then ventured to the Kunstgebaude (Arts building) in the Palace gardens (that's the Palace in the photo). There were two exhibitions: NOH Suntag (a Korean Photographer) had an exhibition of his work.

The second exhibition was a background piece on the making of the film Troy. A large amount of the film was shot in Mexico and it seems that the Mexicans were too expensive to use as extras so the makers flew 300 Bulgarians to play take the roles of the foot soldiers: the exhibition was their story.









Wandering the backstreets we came across the Australian Bar / Restaurant. Who'd have thought!!!!








On the way back to the hotel we rode the lift to the top of the railway tower for a good overview of the town. Stuttgart itself is situated on the bottom of a valley and is surrounded by hills on two sides. The 'burbs are beyond the hills.

Germany - In preparation for Trekking around Oz

We have arrived in Stuttgart. The trip was uneventful which is very good. We both managed to get quite a bit of sleep on the way over (I slept for 6 hours straight). Have not flown Qantas before but they were very good, friendly and quite chatty (Brian the hostie!). Watched 27 dresses and atonement. Atonement was very good. We arrived in Stuttgart around 10am, had a shower which was quite necessary, and went to check out the surrounds. The city centre is very nice with lots of shops to explore and beautiful gardens with the daffodils out and the flowers looking great. Had the best baked ham and crusty roll for lunch yesterday complete with crackling, yummo. Came back to the hotel, we have been upgraded to a suite complete with its own gym, and slept from 3.30 to 7.30pm. I had to wake Stephen so that we could go for dinner. The hotel has a restaurant with 1 michelin star so seeing how it was our first night, and we're not paying, we decided to shout ourselves a good meal. It was very nice and the staff very attentive although the waiter didn't know the difference between pear and rhubarb. Not speaking German has so far proved no problem, most people speak English. Stephen has commenced work today, poor sod. I have been for a run in the park this morning for about 40 minutes so hopefully last night's dinner has now disappeared. Will get onto the exercise bike this afternoon to make sure. I am currently on the net trying to find an apartment as the hotel is very nice (we are sleeping under the 5 stars) but one needs a kettle to make a cup of tea and an iron to iron one's clothes occasionally. One would have thought a kitchenette instead of a home gym would have been more practical. I have been very good and not once mentioned the war, although I have bought some fabulous boots to goose step in!