Day trip to Stuppach, Creglingen, Wurzburg. 10/3/99

After breakfast at the hotel where they have delicious pretzels, we set out towards Wurzburg. The ride is through woods and rolling farmland. We stop in Stuppach to see the Stuppacher Madonna, a famous painting by Matthias Grünewald (1475-1528).  It is in a little chapel of its own set off to one side of the church. The Madonna is the central panel of an altarpiece. It is strangely luminescent and brightly painted. Angels are descending from heaven with a crown for the Virgin while God the father is cartoonishly outlined in a pink and yellow cloud.

Stuppach Madonna (Internet)

From Stuppach we travel on to Wurzburg to see the fabulous Residenz in Wurzburg.  The architect is Balthasar Neumann and it was built in the Baroque style for the Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg in the mid-18th century. The Residenz is reminiscent of Versailles and comes complete with its own chapel and gardens. We listen to an audio tour with much oohing  over the Tiepolo ceiling.

Residenz – garden facade
Mary in the garden of the Residenz
John in the courtyard of Residenz

Our last stop is in Creglingen to see the Tillman Riemenschneider altarpiece at the Herrottskirche. It is beautifully carved in wood and depicts the life and ascension of the Virgin Mary.

John near the entrance to Herrgottskirche in Creglingen
Altarpiece carved by T. Riemenschneider dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Herrgottskirche, Creglingen, Germany (internet)

This is our last night in Rothenburg and in wandering around we find the Zum Breiterle near one of the city gates and stop for dinner. There are dedicated tables to groups of men and the eye us suspiciously. We are served nonetheless. We have pork schnitzel. You rarely see pork cutlets made this way in the U.S. unless you go to a German restaurant.

Zum Breiterle guesthouse and restaurant near one of the city gates
Pork schnitzel (internet)

Rothenburg, October 2, 1999

We sleep reasonably well for having just arrived in Europe. We have breakfast at the hotel in their breakfast room where the use actual patterned china. They have the usual assortment of cold cuts and cheeses, eggs and rolls. Then we go out for a walk around the city.

We see a band and stop for a listen.

The band!
Mary watching the band

We go to mini-World, a train diorama, on our way to St. Jacobs church.

Mary on the way to St. Jacob’s Church. Portico for church in the background.

Inside St. Jacob’s Church is a beautiful altarpiece depicting the life of St. James. On the reverse of one of the panels is a 15th century depiction of Rothenburg looking much the way it does today (with the exception of tourists.)

Altarpiece in the church of St. James.

We have lunch at the Gesthaus Greifen restaurant on a nearby street.

Mary outside of Gesthaus Greifen

In the afternoon we have booked a walking tour. We find out that Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber means “place where they cut down the trees above the water.” We see the town hall with its “stein” clock, a town market, and the old tower with a sundial. It is an excellent tour.

Town hall with two figures with steins come out of the adjacent windows
Saturday is market day
Spiral tower with sundial

Later we take a ride around the area and end up in the little village of Detwang for dinner at the Gesthof Schwartze Lamm. I have bratwurst and John has venison. This place is much cheaper than eating in Rothenburg! Plus we almost witness a fight between the smoking and non-smoking dogs! Afterwards we go to their little church to hear an organ concert.

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, October 1, 1999

Both our flights go smoothly and we arrive in Frankfurt at 7:15 AM. We pick up our rental car and are on our way to Rothenburg by 9AM. We run into some. Very heavy traffic outside of Wurzburg and we opt to take a scenic alternate route and arrive in Rothenburg around noon.

Since Rothenburg is a medieval walled city we park outside the city in one of the many parking lots and walk into the city. Everything is very medieval and the whole town mostly survives on tourism. We find the Burg Hotel which is part of a cloister and uses the city wall as one of its outside walls. They have our room ready so we are check in. The room is very nice with a sitting room with ceramic stove. The bathroom has the typical European shower of no shower curtain but a useless pane of glass that only goes part way across.

View out of our hotel windows of Detwang

We go out in search of lunch down one of the main streets of the town. It is raining but still everything is so charming! We decide to try the Hotel Gotisches Haus which has a restaurant  at street level. I have wedding soup with tiny meatballs. John has soup and a salad. After lunch we return to the hotel and take a nap from 3PM until 6PM.

Hotel and restaurant Gotisches Haus, Rothenburg (internet photo)
Charming building with window boxes and John

Later we go out for dinner at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch. We share the dining room with a large Japanese group. I order sauerbraten and John tries their Wiener schnitzel. Vegetables do not seem to be a German thing. After dinner we walk the ramparts.

Dining room of the Goldener Hirsch (internet)
John on the ramparts

P.S. On the way to dinner we see a small parade with a valveless trumpet and drums. They march into a restaurant. We also see some really nice small Santas in a shop that look like they were made out of pressed metal and painted.

Stockholm. June 8, 1996

We get up on the late side after an on and off sleeping night. We eat breakfast at the hotel, the SAS Radisson Royal Viking.

Today we are sightseeing in the old town.

Mary sightseeing by the harbor in Stockholm
John beneath the Swedish flag

It is very crowded. I buy a magnet, a Tshirt for Jon, a book for Sarah, and a Viking for the windowsill.

A crowded, narrow lane in Gamla Stan (old town)

We head over to the Royal Palace and see the changing of the guard. It is all very stately until the military band breaks into “When the Saints Go Marching In.” Kind of weird. We look in some glass shops but don’t find anything we want. We head back to the hotel around 3 PM. Nap time!

Mary waiting for the changing of the guard
John by a statue in the palace grounds
Changing of the guard in Stockholm (Stock photo)

Later we eat dinner in a restaurant in the cellar of the town hall called Stadshuskällaren. It is where they hold the Nobel ceremonies. I order a salmon roulade as a starter and follow that with veal. At last there are some vegetables!  John has veal pate and a entree of monkfish.

Interior of the Stadshuskällaren,

It is all good. We walk back to the hotel in the dimming light around 11 PM.

HP conference Sweden, Finland. June 6-13, 1996

June 6-7, 1996

The flight seemed very long on AA via Chicago. We do not sleep much. We arrive in Stockholm on Friday, June 7, 1996 at 9 AM. The airport seems to be out in a forest somewhere. We take a hotel shuttle downtown to Stockholm. It is very pastoral on the way in.

John finds that he has a meeting and must leave for it by 10:45 after we have only just checked in at 10AM. He takes a shower and is on his way. I, on the other hand, sleep off and on until he gets back around 3PM. Then we both nap until 6PM, shower, and walk to the old city.

Stockholm is a beautiful, clean city with shops, restaurants, and waterways. There are old buildings with picturesque tops. We walk around the old city and decide to have dinner at the restaurant, Stortorgskallaren. It is in an old wine cellar and is a very intimate setting with European (glacial) service. We have wine and kind of a carpaccio of reindeer with mousse, lettuce and lingonberries. The deer is a little gamey but good. The next course is salmon with horseradish butter and we finish up with brandy. It is all good.

Inside Restaurant Stortorgskallaren

We walk around for a while after dinner and then back to the hotel. Even at 11PM it is still light out.

Reims, France and Brussels, Belgium. 4/11/96

We decide not to eat at the Metz Mercure and leave to go To Reims. We stop at a roadside place and have croissants and a hot drink. It is pretty good for highway food.The countryside is rolling and treeless. I imagine it was once forested but all has been sacrificed for agriculture.

We arrive at Reims and visit the cathedral. There are beautiful windows but the cathedral is wider and less soaring than the one in Metz. There are beautiful rose windows—2 on the front facade. The outside stonework is eaten away by acid rain. It is amazing how much devastation has been wreaked. There are 3 Chagall windows behind the altar and other modern ones mixed with the older ones.

Sarah inside a cathedral (not sure which one)

We have lunch at McDonald’s. It is very crowded with people and dogs, too. Then we are off to Brussels. I, of course, miss the turn we want and we take the highway the whole way. It is probably for the best as it is now raining off and on.

We have a hard time finding the Hotel Metropole. It is a grand old hostel in a Times Square-like location. Anita’s choice is not too bad although far from John’s work. The room is very large. We eat at a nearby Pizza Hut. John seems a little better but now is coughing. He keeps saying he is fine.

Hotel Metropole (while looking for a picture I discovered that the hotel has recently closed and will probably not reopen 5/22/20)

Touring Stuttgart with Sarah. 4/9/96

I sleep pretty well but Sarah is still having trouble. John leaves for HP around 7:45 AM. Sarah and I get up around 9 AM. We go to the airport (Flughafen) and get information to get to Stuttgart. Information man says his English is not good but it is way better than our non-existent German. There is no place we want to stop for breakfast so we take the train to Hauptbahnhof, the main station in Stuttgart.

Our first stop is at the information place and want to buy a map. I buy a tour book by mistake for 7.50 DM. At least it is a nice book. We find a McDonald’s. We order chicken McNuggets (Mad cow disease) and I try to order by number in German. The say, oh, you want chicken McNuggets but seem pleased that I tried. Sarah hears Americans talking. This perks her up. We are happy to eat something familiar.

Next we walk to the Staatsgalerie. We are charged 5 DM each even though we think it says it is free. We are not sure about this. Sarah and I have a great time looking at pictures and trying to figure out what they are called. Many Picasso pieces but also Monet, Gauguin, Rembrandt and a lot of modern stuff.

Next we take the train to Ludwigsburg. Then we have to take a bus to the palace there. We ask for information and buy two cokes at the Burger King. We get on the correct bus (yay!) but the question is where do we get off. When you are on a bus you are supposed to recognize where you are going to. Plus there are so many people on the bus that it is hard to see out the windows and of course it is impossible to ask anyone. Sarah says that she sees a bunch of pennants so we take a chance and get off. It is the correct stop!

The gardens here are beautiful although it is still pretty early in the Spring. There are crocus, primula, hyacinth, pansies, and daffodils. Also beautiful birds. We walk and walk. We are too tired to do the additional palace tour. We decide to save it for another time.

Ludwigsburg Palace

We catch the bus and trains back to the Flughafen and arrive about 5:30 PM. We both take a small nap after having chips and soda that we buy at a gas station across the street. Later Sarah and I have dinner at the hotel. We order fettuccine and salmon again. It is safe.  John returns from his long work day at 10:45 PM.

A day of errors. 4/8/1996

I sleep well but Sarah only sleeps a little. We have a plan to do a driving and stopping tour. We stop at a roadside resthof for breakfast. We each have 2 pieces of baguette and a breakfast drink. Ordering food is stressful. But we do have fun trying to figure out what the food is.

Our first stop is at Kirchheim to see the half-timbered town hall. We think we see it but are not sure maybe it is some other half-timbered building. Our second stop is the Hauff Museum for dinosaurs- although we see a sign for it,  we miss it completely. Third stop is the Reussenstein Castle. We see the ruins from the road but when we stop and park we proceed to walk one half mile in the wrong direction. We return to the car and leave. We are batting .000 at this point.

Here are the sightseeing spots we missed (from the internet)

Kirchheim city hall
Hauff Museum

And here is a picture that I took of Reussenstein Castle. It is a long way away.

Reussenstein Castle, Neidlingham, Germany

John is annoyed with my navigating skills but the maps are very hard to follow. (Before GPS) We try a fourth stop, the Uracher Vasserfall. We actually see this in a 3 mile hike. It is a high waterfall. Many Germans are there as it is a holiday here, Easter Monday.

Mary and Sarah stop for a breather on the way to Uracher Wasserfall

We give up on the rest of the drive due to rain and our inability to find the sights we are looking for. We head back to the hotel and take a nap.

Dinner tonight is at Waldemar and Maryam Hartmann’s. We see the children and the Hartmann’s friends, Elvira and Alois. We sit down around 8:30 PM and stay there until we say we have to leave some time after midnight. What about retiring to comfy chairs?!!! We have watercress soup, smoked trout, lasagna with turkey or ham with spinach, ice cream with hot berries, and monks head cheese served with this neat circular cutter from Switzerland that shaves the cheese off in flowerets.  It is a good time although Sarah is somewhat bored. We get back to the hotel around 1 AM, stiff and exhausted.

Oracle trip Stuttgart to Amsterdam. April, 1996

Another reconstruction from notes and pictures. Sarah, who has just turned 16, accompanies us on this trip.

April 6 and 7, 1996
We leave for the airport very early, 5 AM! John’s dad is with us. At least we know that he has a place to wait until his plane leaves around noon. Our first flight is from SFO to JFK.  It is uneventful although John is angry about being seated on the bulkhead. Luckily Sarah has a new seat much closer to us. (This is in the days before she traveled business class with us. We stowed her away in coach.) After the layover at JFK we are delayed on the ground due to someone checking baggage but not on the plane. The flight is long but smooth. There is a good crab cake dinner. I watch the movie, American President, which is not bad.

April 7, 1996

We arrive in Frankfurt around 9 AM. We get the rental car which John upgrades because Anita has gotten the wrong car. (This is one of many booking problems by Anita) The upgraded car is a BMW500 series. John has visions of driving very fast. He does at least 150km on the Autobahn. We arrive in Stuttgart and are very tired. It is Easter Sunday and families are arriving at the Hotel Movenpick for a fancy dinner. We are crashed in the lobby looking worse for the wear while we try to straighten out the booking problem at the hotel.

Anita has booked us 2 rooms in error. (This in the days when we were trying to save money by all staying in the same room.) We get that straightened out. We are happy with the room. We take a long nap and then have dinner in the hotel. Sarah and I order fettuccini with salmon. John has sauteed sole with French fries. The meal is fine. We are avoiding eating beef due to mad cow disease.

Stuttgart, Germany. 10/25/94

John has another day of work here in Stuttgart and I need to find something to do. I decide to go to the Wilhelmina Zoo on the eastern outskirts of Stuttgart. I carefully prepare a card in German asking for a day pass for the U-bahn/S-bahn, a tageskarte. I need to cover both lines in case I get messed up transferring. I hand my German printed request to the ticket seller and he says, “Oh, I see you want a day pass” in English. I nod. There is nothing else I can say other than hello, goodbye, please, and thank you.

I make it to the zoo which looks kind of old-fashioned from the entry. I am afraid it will be animals cooped up in small cages.

Entrance to Wilhelmina Zoo still looks the same(from internet)

But it turns out to be modern. I see some very active outdoor penguins, an insectarium with an interesting ant farm, and excellent aquarium with outstanding coral, active tigers, great elephants in different stages of eating trees, and sea lions who are playing king of the hill.

Penguin swimming
Seals playing king of the hill

I spend several hours at the zoo. I buy a shot glass. I take the train back to the Flughafen stop and treat myself to a late lunch in the hotel restaurant. I have spring rolls, a salad, and a glass of Chardonnay.

Later John and I go out to dinner at Wolfie’s in Sindelfingen. I order the best “pig” I have had so far. It is grilled with mushrooms and cranberries in a brown sauce. It comes with spaetzle. (This is before I started taking pictures of everything I eat) We have a very nice time.