Bavaria

It’s my fault; I’ve spoiled you. I’ve always felt it necessary to show you about 35-40 photos and relate the entire story all at once in each post. Though I enjoy it and do it gladly, it is a rather big job and takes up the majority of a Sunday writing and processing photos.Well, you’ve probably noticed I haven’t posted anything for a couple of weeks. I’m in the process of moving and amid several other things which are consuming much of my former free time, including Sundays. I’m not complaining, but I admit I’ve neglected telling you about my life in favor of actually living it. I’ve hit upon a solution (yeah, rocket science – get ready): In the future I’m creating two or three posts out of one day or event.  So, I’m scaling back to make better use of my time and to get an actual post out every week, starting with this one. And, hey, maybe it will make you want to read the next post even more than you already do (and you DO, right?). Oh, and a new Photo for No Apparent Reason will continue to appear at the end of each post.So, this is Part 1. Here goes…Last year about this time I posted a soothing blog about an end-of-summer bike ride I took. The weather this year, at least this day, was very similar. Mild, blue sky, white clouds, very warm during the afternoon but not too hot overall.I had an online student named Rosa who lives near Bamberg in Würzburg. She is about my age and does freelance work translating documents issued by the European Union from English into German. Fascinating lady and we had a lot of fun with our conversation course via Skype. As the last “class” she suggested I meet her in Würzburg where she would take me to a favorite lunch spot of hers. Hey, you know me – I agreed almost before she got the invitation out of her mouth!So, on a Friday, I hopped a train for the 40-minute ride where she picked me up at the train station. We rode about 30 minutes on this perfect summer day to a small town called Holzkirchen. There stands an old millhouse that has been converted into an inn and restaurant. It’s called Holzmühle, which means ‘wooden mill’ in English. Of course it was located near a stream and we walked along the little brook on our way from the parking lot:

Just before the bridge into the grounds of the inn was a little wooden house built over the stream. Rosa told me it was used for wedding receptions and such:

Of course by now I was totally charmed by the place:

Rosa told me this working mill had fallen into disrepair several years ago. Then the current owners bought it and restored it to its current incarnation. They have guestrooms, whose windows you can see on the right above where the car is parked. We made our way down to the left and into the restaurant. You have to go in to order then choose your seat, and they’ll bring the finished dishes to your table. I liked the block-print motif of the menu – notice the mill wheel at the bottom (no they don’t serve donuts): Here’s a shot of lovely Rosa in the middle of the traditional main dining room:

I captured the beautiful sunlight streaming through the window behind her:

Comfy as the dining room was, we chose this table outside in the garden, quite near the little wooden house over the stream you saw before:

I chose the aubergine melanzane for my lunch and was NOT disappointed. The fresh goat cheese and basil really set it off, not to mention the fresh baguette:

For dessert we split a portion of the blueberry cheesecake, at the top of the plate in this photo, and a portion of fresh plum streusel cake. Now, I’m not particularly enchanted by plum streusel cake, but this one was phenomenal! Note the Bavarian state flag design on the tablecloth: read more