We left Baden-Baden by taxi for the station, then boarded the train toward Tübingen. By now we were becoming more familiar with the German rail system, but that didn't mean the trains were finished surprising us.
At one point our train was pulled onto a side track because of a problem farther along the route. We sat there much longer than expected. It wasn't quite the late-night adventure we'd had getting into Koblenz, but we still arrived in Tübingen later than planned. There was time to check in, find dinner, and get ready for the next morning, but not much more.
Our hotel, the Boutiquehotel La Casa, was unlike any other on the trip. It had ornate carvings, columns, decorative details, and an almost Moroccan feel. It was a nice place, and reasonably central to the old town, but the bathroom design certainly caught our attention.
The wall between the bathroom and bedroom was glass, with a deliberately fractured or shattered-looking middle layer. You could see through toward the bathroom, although the shower enclosure itself had frosted glass. Teresa is a fairly modest person, so this wasn't exactly the room design either of us expected. I don't recall whether it had a bathtub; I think it was just a shower, which was unfortunate because Teresa enjoys a bath.
We were hungry and tired, so we walked to a nearby place called Pizza and Pasta—literally about a block away—picked up takeout, and ate it back in our room. Then we turned in, knowing we had a walking tour booked for the next day.
Tübingen has a wonderfully old town, a university, historic churches, and a well-preserved hilltop castle or fortress that I wanted to explore. I'd also been looking into another dramatic castle farther away, Hohenzollern Castle, which had been on my personal wish list. It would have required a separate excursion, though, and we hadn't built that side trip into this visit.
The next morning we were up early. Our private walking tour was scheduled for eleven, so we had a couple of hours to explore on our own. As I checked the sights, I discovered the museum inside the castle was closed on Mondays and Tuesdays. We could still walk in certain outdoor areas, but not tour the buildings. I was disappointed, although I figured our guide would still have plenty of history to share.
We wandered through the university area and turned toward a beautiful church. Then we heard a woman's voice carrying through the streets. At first I wondered whether it was a hymn or some kind of performance. As we got closer, we found a woman walking along and singing at the top of her lungs, almost operatically.
She wasn't the finest singer I've ever heard, but she certainly wasn't the worst. More than anything, she seemed happy to be singing. I couldn't tell what had put her in such a cheerful mood, and there was no need to speculate. She continued on her way, singing as she went, while we explored the church and surrounding streets.
We didn't want to see every corner before the tour; after all, the point of booking a guide was to hear the stories behind the buildings. So we took a longer loop through some residential streets and worked our way back to the meeting point.
Teresa opened her app and clicked through to the reservation for our tour. When we first walked over that morning, the pin on the ticket's map had put us right in front of the tourist information office, so that's where we came back to meet at eleven. We were there roughly fifteen minutes early. Teresa stayed near the meeting spot while I stepped into the tourist shop, looked at souvenirs, and went to get a Coke. I asked her to message me if the guide arrived.
Eleven came and went. We saw people walking around, but nobody approached us as our guide, introduced themselves, or gave us any indication that they were looking for the two people booked on the tour. We waited until around twenty past eleven. By then, with the town already explored to some extent and the castle museum closed, we decided we could use the extra time to reach Munich earlier.
We walked back toward the hotel for our bags. Just as we were preparing to leave, Teresa received a message asking where we were and saying the guide had been waiting. That was news to us. We had been at the tourist information office, and Teresa had photos of herself waiting there with nobody approaching us.
Teresa exchanged messages with the company. From our perspective, we'd shown up at the meeting point and no guide had identified themselves. The company maintained that we had failed to appear and said there would be no refund. It was never resolved.
I was disappointed. I like history, legends, and the stories that distinguish a town from any other. A private guide could have added a great deal.
We'd booked this one, Discover Tübingen in 60 Minutes, through LocalBini, a booking site we'd used before without any problems. This was our first issue with them, and I don't want to make a big deal of it. The cancellation policy sits with the tour operator rather than the site, although I wish LocalBini had helped a little. But we were right where the ticket and its pin sent us, and no guide ever approached us. I wouldn't recommend this tour again, and I would have thought the site would have reputable guides. So check the guide as well as the site before you book.
One of the loveliest things about Tübingen was the flowers. A bridge was lined with colorful planters, and we kept noticing how much care German towns put into flowers and public spaces. It wasn't just Tübingen; we'd seen beautiful displays throughout Germany. Compared with Florida's different growing conditions, these arrangements seemed to be everywhere during our September visit.
I spent some time taking photographs, including close-up shots of bees moving among the flowers. I like experimenting with photography when something catches my eye, and this was a good opportunity to try a little macro work. Those pictures may end up being some of my favorites from the stop.
Even without the tour, I enjoyed Tübingen. The old town was attractive, the university buildings and churches were interesting, and the hilltop fortress looked like a place I would have enjoyed exploring inside. We saw quite a bit just by walking around, although I missed hearing the history from someone who knew it well.
I also missed the castles. I found out later that Hohentübingen itself had been open; it was only the museum inside that was closed. And Hohenzollern, which had been on my personal wish list, never made it into the plan. Neither did Lichtenstein Castle, the fairy-tale castle I'd read about and really wanted to see. It's only about forty minutes away by car, or closer to an hour and three-quarters by train and bus. When I gave Teresa my list of places I wanted to see, I put down Tübingen because of its castle. What I probably meant was Tübingen because it was close to Lichtenstein. We'd see some magnificent castles before this trip was over, including Ludwig II's Neuschwanstein and Linderhof, but there were still places I wished we'd had more time to visit. I don't count those as complaints about the itinerary. They're reasons to come back.
We collected our luggage, made our way to the station, and caught the train to the next—and much bigger—part of the adventure: Munich.
