At Abstatt

In Europe, Catholic church equals Downtown!

Even on this side of the Ocean my association with small towns continues. With the population less than five thousand people, it will be the one of the smallest cities I have ever lived in. And with this smallness come the interesting tit-bits. For starters, English seems to have skipped this town. This ensures I exercise my rudimentary and terrible sounding German. And while that is exactly what I wanted, the locals unfortunately wince in pain as I mash the language to pieces. In fact, at times, for mercy’s sake even the old timers decide to switch to English. Yet, I get along quite with my Hotel Manager. A man of few words who finds himself strangely comfortable in the service sector?

A tale of splattered towns

If you ever wanted a tour of my town, make sure you spare 15 minutes. If you want the bonus package I will include the nearby supermarket which technically belongs to another town. However, the town is surrounded by rolling hills, abandoned castles and in-season vineyards. So if you do stroll out of town by mistake, I suggest you keep walking for an hour or two.

Vineyards and Castles are at a stone’s throw

It is the kind of Germany I wanted to be in. I say lesser thank you’s and sorry’s. Drivers blaze on narrow winding streets with no regards for jay walking pedestrians. The food is far tastier and the beer just supremely better. And no one really needs to say hello to each other on empty streets. The essential is stressed, the unimportant is neglected. And there exists no such thing as a bad beer garden or rather bad German beer.