PatBee and Bud

Ferienwohnung im Grünen Werner + Gabriele Kinder Hettersbachstraße 51 66640 Namborn Tel - 6854/1208 ~ Fax - 6854/7090227 Email - wg.kinder@web.de

This lovely FeWo in the Saarland area came with Satellite TV, DVD player, CD player, AM/FM radio, and a kitchen filled with every cooking implement known to man. We had a private terrace and very friendly hosts, who lent us a stack of DVDs that came with either English or German dialogue. (We took a portable DVD player and some movies with us, but learned that American DVDs do not work on German players.)

Gasthaus Zum Schwanen Familie Huber Schwarzwaldstraße 30 77740 Bad Peterstal-Griesbach Tel & Fax - 7806/227

Our second destination was this resort town in the Schwarzwald. Our FeWo was in a Gasthaus/Fremdenzimmer/Ferienwohnung on the main street, and came with a little balcony that overlooked a rushing stream and green hillsides at the back of the building. We had two bedrooms, two bathrooms with toilet/sink/shower, and another room with a big bathtub and shower adjacent to the kitchen. Guests in the Black Forest are given transportation passes to ride buses or trains free within the Schwarzwald area, so we took a scenic ride to Freudenstadt to spend one of our days there. Bud said he loved Bad Peterstal because we (at 82 and 76) seemed to be about the youngest people in town. It was a slight exaggeration, but you get the point.

Bud on the balcony, ready to smoke his pipe.

The hallway of FeWo zum Schwanen. Two bedrooms (with baths) are on the left-hand side of the hall, the balcony and kitchen (with adjacent bathtub and third shower) are to the right, and our breakfast table is in the hall. Not elegant, but comfortable and very convenient.

Inge und Karl Rost Finsterlohr 47 97993 Creglingen/Finsterlohr Tel & Fax - 7933/7780

Our next stop was this tiny village a few miles north of Rothenburg. A charming two-bedroom apartment with a sunny utility room where we were able to hang some laundered items on their foldable clothesline. Our hosts were both retired bakers, and treated us to fresh-from-the-oven plum cake, as well as some home-made Schneeböllen, the fried-pastry balls so popular in Rothenburg. We had a lovely large terrace overlooking fields, hills, and forests, and hope to go back for another visit in two years, with a grandson in tow. Bakery and village store are a block away.

Our hosts, the retired bakers, who plied us with homemade goodies. We were their first-ever American guests, and they were eager to help us enjoy our stay (which we did!)

Dining area and living room were charming, comfortable, and convenient.

Ferienwohnung Albert Familie Albert An der Karlskuppe 61 99817 Eisenach Tel - 3691/734475

Off to the formerly East zone city of Eisenach, where we had a marble-floored, radiant-heated, living-room-wall-of-windows FeWo. Our landlady informed us, sadly, that her husband had died four months earlier, and she was living in her big house alone. Our FeWo was on the ground floor, so we did not have to climb any steps. She also greeted us with a big plate of freshly baked plum cake, then took off on an overnight trip to visit her sister in another town. These people are so trusting! The house was in a suburb that has grown up since the end of the Cold War. It is right off the Autobahn exit, and is about a five-minute walk to a gas station, McDonalds, an Aldi store, a German version of our dollar stores, a shoe store, and a furniture store! It was at the edge of the city, with fields (and prancing horses) behind the house. A great place to stay, like all the others. Oh, yes it had a dishwasher!

"Bei Beichert's"
Familie Rüdiger Beichert
Oberstraße 13
35789 Weilmünster-Laubuseschbach
Tel - 6475/8207 ~ Fax - 6475/912577
Mobil - 0171/6815587
Email - M.Nickel-Beichert@t-online.de or Beichert@t-online.de

Next, we headed west toward (but not to) the Rhine area. Our FeWo here was another winner. It had cupboards full of platinum-banded crystal, an Espresso machine, electric egg cooker, and a ton of other kitchen gadgets. Not only had our hostess stocked the fridge with bottles of mineral water, Coke, and Limonade, but she also brought us a plate with four delectable slices of cake to enjoy on our first night there. Another winner in our book.

Sunny living room with cable TV, CD player, DVD player, AM/FM radio, and a basket full of brochures about local places of interest.

Schloss am Maiberg
Dagmar Ohly
Im Hafergarten 48
61239 Ober-Mörlen
Tel - 6002/1400 ~ Fax - 6002/1403
Email - dagmar.ohly@t-online.de

Our last FeWo was the funniest. I really had to search to find this one, and they don?t really have a web-site, but I sent an email to Dagmar (the owner) and she emailed me a picture. It is called Schloss am Maiberg, the Castle on May Hill, and looked pretty grand in the photos. It sat up on the side of a steep hill, was comfortable and we enjoyed our nights there.

Our living room in the "Castle on May Hill." No heat in the radiators, but plenty of warm fleece blankets were available.

Dagmar's hand-built railing, constructed to keep us from falling down the steps.

Ferienwohnung Familie Klotz
Am Rebenhang 43
65391 Lorch/Lorchhausen
Tel & Fax - 06726/9949
Email - klotz.lorchhausen@t-online.de

FeWo Klotz was 39 Euros a night (2009), with vineyards behind the house and across the road in front. It was on the ground floor (no steps to schlep luggage!) and had a magnificent view over the Rhine. Brötchen service was available, so we put in our order with the landlady and spent the afternoon sitting on our terrace. Bud drank his first Bier of the trip, and I enjoyed a couple of glasses of wine - bottled by our hosts from their own vines. This is a very nice FeWo, with friendly hosts, in a small town with a couple of very nice restaurants. One (Kolpinger Haus) was owned by a retired British soldier who is married to a German. We had an interesting chat.

Ferienwohnung Dietrich
Heidi and Jürgen Dietrich
Frontalstrasse 37
67693 Fischbach
Tel & Fax - 6305/4084
Email - montawinger1@gmx.de

We left the Rhine and drove to Fischbach, a small town near Kaiserslautern, with an American Army post that is (or was) home to the largest American community outside the continental United States. Our home there was Ferienwohnung Dietrich, and we were lucky once again to be on the ground floor. This FeWo had a washing machine, a dryer, and - once again - Brötchen service, with fresh rolls delivered to our door by seven in the morning (not that we were ever up at that hour).

Ferienwohnung Schwendemann
Am Großen Stein 7
89150 Laichingen
Tel - 7333/5814
Email - info@fewo-schwendemann.de

We returned to the FeWo Schwendemann, where we stayed the previous summer with our grandsons. It is a very nice FeWo, with separate heating units in each room - so we could turn up the heat in the evening and keep nice and warm. Washing machine in the bathroom, and Brötchen delivered to our kitchen every morning. The apartment also had a telephone, so we could call our daughters with our AT&T card. It's so easy - just dial 0800-225-5288, enter your card number, and dial the party you're calling. FeWo Schwendemann was equipped with every comfort.

Haus Bartmann
Unterer Bergweg 9
64743 Beerfelden-Gammelsbach
Tel - 6068/1631 ~ Fax - 6068/941320
Email - info@haus-bartmann.de

We drove to Gammelsbach in the Odenwald and checked into Haus Bartmann - a very nice (very warm, we were glad to learn, because the weather was turning a bit cooler) with washer and dryer service, and Brötchen delivered to our door again each morning. It was a lovely place with a lovely view (castle on hillside across the road) and the only drawback was that it was on the third floor, a good workout for our aging legs. We spent a lot of time on our balcony, reading, playing Gin Rummy, daydreaming, just relaxing, for this was our almost-last stop of the trip.

~ Departure Hotel near Frankfurt Airport ~

Airport Hotel Kelsterbach Waldstraße 126 65451 Kelsterbach

34 rooms with toilet/shower, minibar, cable-TV, desk, phone, some with balcony, wireless internet access. Shuttle service from/to the airport for a fee. Parking (fee required), Restaurant, Bar, 24-hour Front Desk, Newspapers, Breakfast Buffet, Room Service, Laundry, Dry Cleaning, Ironing Service, Internet Services, Currency Exchange, Car Rental

We drove to Kelsterbach the day before our return home, checked into the hotel, and turned our car in to AVIS. The AVIS people drove us back to our hotel, which was nearby. It was very nice, and definitely NOT expensive, considering the convenience of being near the airport.

We had our final German beers and the last Schnitzel dinner at this restaurant, just a few steps across the street from the hotel.

The hotel offered a buffet breakfast, which we didn't want (too early in the day) and it had a nice little bar. Our room had a mini-bar, TV, shower, and featherbeds in crisp white duvets. We would recommend this hotel for anyone who is on a budget.