The [Small German Town] Adventure

For a change of pace from big-city life, we decided to retreat to a small town in southern Germany--Weingarten.  We chose the town off a map while we were still in the States.  Tony's family is originally from southern Missouri, and his mom's side of the family (all Germans, by the way) is from a small town called Weingarten, so when we saw the name on a map of Germany, we decided it was a must-see.  It turned out to be the perfect respite.  The town is quaint, charming, relaxing and just a nice place to be.  If we had to live anywhere that we have visited yet, we would choose this little gem.

Germans, as we already knew, tend to have a bit of a tough exterior, and sometimes their facial expressions alone can be enough to intimidate (let alone their harsh speech...), but we found that under that tough exterior, most of them were very nice.  Very few people in the area spoke any English at all, but the ones who did were helpful and kind to us.  The ones who did not speak English were, perhaps, trying to be helpful, but it also turns out that Germans have short tempers, so we experienced a few uncomfortable moments, too.  But it's all part of the experience...

We stayed at a wonderful family-owned hotel called Hotel Gasthof Baron.  It was right in the middle of the old town square, directly across from Town Hall and surrounded by little shops like the delightful (though stinky) cheese shop where we purchased some amazing goat cheese and brie.  

Our room was on the top floor of the hotel and, especially compared to the place we had stayed in Paris, it was really nice.  The window overlooked the cobblestone streets of the old town center, with Town Hall (and the cheese shop) across the street and we had a nice view of red and orange tiled rooftops.  In the morning, we awoke to church bells from the nearby Basilica of St. Martin, which is certainly a very pleasant way to wake up.

Our window

View to the north from our window: Basilica of St. Martin in the distance

View to the south from our window: Town Hall

This was the sort of small town where everything actually closes on Sunday.  We could only find three open places at all--a gelato shop and two bakeries.  We bought gelato and bread to eat that day.

Besides the charm of the town itself, there is little to see in Weingarten (which is one of the reasons we loved it), but the one main attraction is incredible.  The Basilica of Saint Martin sits on a small hill in the center of town, and though it doesn't look entirely modest on the exterior, we were not expecting what we found inside... It is one of the most beautiful churches we have ever beheld (which is saying quite a lot now), and its elegance is present in the beauty and craftsmanship of every tiny detail.  It is extremely large (can you even spot Tony in the photo below?), and there are so many wonderful works of art within it, that one is truly awe-struck the entire time.

Interior of St. Martin's: View from nave, facing East, to the apse
(if you look closely, you can see Tony standing near the apse)

The high alter and fresco vault depicting The Pentecost

Liturgical alter containing the relic of the Blood of Christ

Side alter dedicated to the Most Holy Eucharist

Central dome at the crossing of the transepts, and fresco depicting the Victory of Christ
(the white "statues" in the corners of the ceiling are actually paintings...)

Close-up of the Victory of Christ 

The detailed beauty is carried over to the pews

Heavenly pulpit, with statuary angles holding it up

Satan being cast out of Heaven and falling

With such precision, coloring outside the lines can bring a picture to life...

Kate appreciating the 6,666 pipe organ

We had the opportunity to attend two liturgies within this beautiful basilica--Friday Vespers and Sunday Mass.  Both were extraordinarily beautiful (though we understood very little of the language, we knew exactly what was happening), and the acoustics are perfect for liturgical organ and chant.  However both were also ridiculously freezing, since the place is not heated, and was actually colder than the (very cold) outside temperature.  There was no chance of falling asleep...

On a bit of a whim, we decided to take a short trip to the nearby city of Ravensburg on Saturday to see if we could find some wireless Internet and to check train schedules.  We were pleasantly surprised to find another adorable town--though it is a bit larger than Weingarten and is really more of a city.  The city was a large trade capital in Medieval times, and many of the original fortresses and remnants of the city walls are still intact and create a unique charm.

The main road

 As we quickly discovered, there is also a huge farmer's market on Saturdays, and the tiny streets were packed with vendors and shoppers.  The scene was lively and smelled amazing, and it was very fun to see the local fare: cheese, sausages, flowers and plants, clothing, art, etc.

Hundreds of street vendors every Saturday

We bought some sausage for later and one to eat for lunch.  It was delicious!

It would not be a trip to Germany if we left without eating some sausage...

The Marienplatz was the main square of the town, and on all sides of it were cafes and restaurants with outdoor seating.  So many people were sitting out enjoying the sunshine, eating and drinking and being merry, so we decided this was the perfect place to get our first glass of German beer.  The atmosphere was very festive and relaxed.

Our German beer

Warm(er) sunny day in Ravensburg

Outdoor cafes on the Marienplatz

Our next adventure was to travel a few minutes by bus to find Weiler, Germany.  Weiler is Tony's mom's maiden name, and when we saw on a map that it was close to Weingarten, we knew we had to go.  It took some time to find a bus that passed through there, but we found one, and made our way to the tiny village.

Note the bus stop sign...

Turns out, there's not much to see there...  

These constitute about one fourth of the houses in Weiler, Germany

The fields of Weiler with beautiful accents of Kate (Tony wrote this)

Besides some houses, which were all very tightly condensed in one area (all of the country towns there are like this, whereas in America, small country towns are often rather sprawling, with lots of land between the houses), we saw only an old lumber mill, a bus stop and a tiny church.  The church happens to have the very same name as the church in Weingarten, Missouri where the Weilers grew up!  Coincidence?  Probably.  But we thought it was exciting.

Mary Help of Christians Church(!) in Weiler

The people across the street were wondering what on Earth we were doing there...
They probably don't get many visitors. 

As soon as we got off the bus in Weiler and realized that there was essentially nothing there, we made sure to know exactly when the bus was returning so that we didn't miss it.  When it did return, and we tried to get on, however, the bus driver very sternly tried to tell us not to get on.  He mentioned something about going a long way back to the city, but since the next bus was 40 minutes later and there was, as we have mentioned, nothing in Weiler, we got on anyway.  He wasn't terribly pleased with us, but as far as we were concerned, we'd rather be on the bus than waiting at the bus stop.  

Incidentally, we got a nice (long) tour of the German countryside as the bus went about 13 miles away from the city, before turning around to head back...

Beautiful German countryside from an incidental bus ride

The city, far off in the distance

Sunset in Weingarten after returning from our long bus ride

We absolutely loved our stay in Germany.  It was truly peaceful and beautiful and relaxing--we spent all of Sunday, which was rainy and cold, inside our lovely room just reading and talking and relaxing with one another.  We decided against going to Munich, as we had considered, and instead, on Monday, we took five trains (!) to Prague.

We are in Prague now and are absolutely loving it.  It's no wonder that everyone we talked to before we left the U.S. said we must come to Prague.  They were right!  We are staying here for an entire week, in a great little apartment with our own kitchen and laundry.  It's perfectly lovely.  We'll write more soon!