Touring - Bad Windsheim

 We stayed one night at the Goldener Schwann in Bad Windsheim, July 12-July 13.

I LOVE A GERMAN BREAKFAST BUFFET!

Our view from the balcony.

We went to Ipsheim to see where I used to live.  I don't know why I never wrote ahead of

time to say that I was coming (probably because I  just was too lazy to write it in German).

We knocked on the door and Gerta answered.  She was SO shocked.  We hugged and cried.  

It was like coming home.  Sadly, Fritz had passed away a few years earlier.  We walked

over to the cemetery and saw his grave.  These photos show her backyard.  She always had

a beautiful yard when I lived there and she loved it when I would go out and pick a huge bouquet of

flowers, and I mean HUGE.  She worked at the gardens in Bad Windsheim and obviously has

a green thumb.  She did tell me that she had cut back on her gardening.  And did I tell you,

she only speaks German so I did pretty good at understanding!

Her oldest daughter, Simone has children so she has play equipment now!
When I had Amanda, Gerta loved to take Amanda out into the backyard to play.
She'd have Amanda digging in the dirt, and then if Oma came over, Oma
would scold her for getting Amanda dirty.

A 'treehouse' for the grandchildren.

This borders the walkway up to the front of the house.
I used to love coming home on this walkway.  It was so pretty.
It's all different flowers than when I lived there.

The other side of the walkway.  It's more whimsical than when I lived there,
maybe to amuse her grandchildren.

This is the apartment of the American couple that lived on the 2nd floor.
This is the apartment where I used to live.  It's been totally redone. There used
to be a wall behind that counter that separated the kitchen and the living room.  
This looked really nice!

That window view is what sold me on this apartment.  The houses that you see there were
not there when I lived there.  But, when you look out to the left - Burg Hoheneck is
up on the hill.  When I first moved into the apartment, the walls were orange and it smelled
like cigarette smoke.  I remember I closed the rouladden and repainted the room.  I painted 
in my underwear.  I didn't have 'bad clothes' with me as I came packed with clothes
to teach and to wear everyday.

What a great visit with Simone and Gerta.  They looked just the same!!

This is fairly new to the area, I believe.  It's the Ipsheimer Wine Trail.  We were there on a Sunday
which happened to be the day that the weinstube was open up on the hill.  Gerta suggested that
we walk up and although it was overcast, we took off.  (Had we been in America, Americans
would have driven up the hill.  But, there were many other Germans out walking on the trail.)

A new chapel was built along the path.

Black Forest cake, of course!

So when I ordered, one of the young women behind the counter
remembered me as the lady that used to live above the Wirths!!!

Gorgeous!