Germany Day 7: Visiting Old Stomping Grounds

Thirty years ago, we worked in Böblingen, lived in Waldenbuch and took many trips to a nearby town called Tübingen, both by car and by bike. After a wonderful breakfast at Hotel Böhler, we spent the morning in a Laundromat in Böblingen since we only packed enough clothes for one week. Then we walked around Böblingen to find a place for lunch before driving over to wander around Waldenbuch. From Waldenbuch we drove to Tübingen where we had hotel reservations for the next two nights.

There was a woman at the laundromat who kept us entertained. She had some sort of mental health issues, so we were trying to discreetly observe her without making her feel uncomfortable. Whenever she needed to attend to her laundry, she was hyperactive, flailing about like she was hyper-sensitive about taking too much time accomplishing her task, like her life depended on it. When the task was complete, she frantically searched for her drink or snack which appeared to calm her down so that she could sit quietly and wait until she needed to attend to her laundry again. It is sometimes good to realize that some people struggle with everyday tasks, but have learned to cope with them in their own way.

We had a pleasant walk around Böblingen. It was a Saturday, so there was a large outdoor market overflowing Elbenplatz along the north-east shore of Unterer See. I remember the Saturday market being held in Marktplatz, aptly named, but Elbenplatz has more room and is closer to more parking. The old Marktplatz looked pretty much the same, surrounded by the city church (Stadtkirche Böblingen),the city administration building (Stadtverwaltung Böblingen) and the butcher history museum (Deutsches Fleischermuseum) with the fountain out front in the square. Some of the same restaurants were still there in Böblingen, the Schwanen, the Plattenbühl and the Bierbrunnen, although we're not sure they are still run by the same people or have the same cuisine. We used to regularly frequent a small fast food stand in Böblingen called Georg's Gyros. We've had many conversations with Georg and his wife. Sometimes Georg would bring out the ouzo and share a shot on the house. Georg's Gyros was no longer there, but we found a little family-run Kebap place to have lunch.

In Waldenbuch, we drove by the house we used to live in and parked near the grocery store we used to walk to. The grocery store looked bigger and the little bakery that we used to buy our bread from was gone. Waldenbuch is home to the Ritter Sport chocolate factory. The factory is on the other side of town from where we used to live. Although we have gone on the factory tour before and you can buy bags of broken chocolate there at a discounted price (at least you used to), we usually bought our fix of Rittersport Halbbitter (dark chocolate) at the grocery store. There are some stores in the States that sell Ritter Sport, but the Halbbitter is hard to find. So if you are ever wondering what you can give me as a gift, now you know!

We chose to just walk around the old town instead of visiting the factory. It is a steep walk down from where we were to the bottom of the small hill on which most of the old town was built. And, of course, we wandered up the steep, curvy streets of the old town to the top of the hill, so we got a good workout in for the day. At the top of the hill is the city church (Stadtkirche St. Veit) and the old castle (Schloss Waldenbuch). The castle is an old hunting lodge which now houses the Museum of Everyday Culture (Museum der Alltagskultur). There was a wedding in progress inside the church and it looked like another wedding party was waiting for their turn next. Outside of the church was a ladder fire truck along with quite a few firemen lining up outside the church doors with a long, yellow hose. Surely they are not going to turn a fire hose on the wedding couple as they exit the church! To satisfy our curiosity, we waited for the wedding couple to exit the church. The couple just walked through the large coils of hose which was set up like a garden arbor, no water involved. Then the couple was hoisted high in the air in the bucket on the end of the ladder of the fire truck for a toast. We're guessing that one or both people of the wedding couple are part of the Waldenbuch fire department. What a unique and special way to celebrate and honor them!

It was a bright, sunny day and we were hot and thirsty from all of our walking, so we descended back down the hill in search of coffee and kuchen. We found a little coffee shop that looked promising. However, they did not have any kuchen available that day because they were busy hosting a wedding party. We could sit outside, which is what we wanted anyway, and have ice cream. We both had Spaghettieis (spaghetti ice cream). Spaghettieis is a popular Germany novelty. It is vanilla ice cream pressed through a späztle press (similar to a potato ricer) to make it look like spaghetti noodles. A strawberry or red raspberry sauce is poured over top to look like marinara sauce and then shaved white chocolate tops it all off for the look of parmesan. It is quite tasty, as the sauce seeps down into the small spaces between the "noodles". We actually found a place in the States that served Spaghettieis, the Corner Shop Cafe in Trinidad, Colorado. They added their own twist to the recipe by adding brownie bits as meatballs. Unfortunately, I believe they are no longer in business.

From Waldenbuch, we drove towards Tübingen. As we approached Tübingen, we came across Bebenhausen, which brought back memories of visiting there in the past, so we spontaneously decided to stop and see what still looked familiar. We wandered around the monastery grounds before continuing on to Tübingen. At this point, I was driving and Left Buddy was navigating our way to our hotel. As we approached what appeared to be the street dead-ending into a set of pedestrian-only streets, Left Buddy instructs me to make a sharp left turn, up a steep, brick-paved path between two buildings which seemed barely far enough apart for our car to fit. "Are you sure?" I asked. "Yes, trust me, that's what Google Maps says." answered Left Buddy. "OK" I said, but I was still unsure at this point. So I turned up the street and slowly went up the hill. Sure enough, straight ahead was our hotel, Hotel Am Schloss. Left Buddy was right, again. Our room turned out to not be in the main building of the hotel, but across the narrow street. It was a very nice room on the top floor of an old building with lots of character and gorgeous views out our windows overlooking the old town.

We finished up the day by having dinner at an outside table near the Rathaus (city hall) and then strolling around the old town. There was a concert band playing in the square in front of the Rathaus which provided lovely entertainment while we dined on our traditional German dinner. I had fried Mahltaschen (a meat-filled ravioli) and egg, a Swabian specialty. Left Buddy had Rahmschnitzel (meat cutlets with mushroom cream sauce) and spätzle (small dumplings), another Swabian specialty. Our after dinner stroll took us through the old town and down to the park on an island in the Neckar river (Neckarinsel). What a pleasant and peaceful way to end our day.

(RB)