Sunday, June 25, 2023
Lechweg Day 6 – Stanzach to Wängle
Step Count: 38,554 Anika, 37,036 Nathan
Last night we ate dinner at Pat and Andrew’s hotel. There are two restaurant choices in Stanzach, and the other was up a hill, so completely out of the question! We managed to score a table outside and enjoyed a lovely meal served by a Serbian waiter. He was rightly impressed with us being from Colorado but seemed to not care at all when I mentioned the Denver Nuggets or Nikola Jokić. Must not be a basketball fan.
The waiter’s name was Christian, and when he heard we were from Colorado, he gave Nathan his pre-dinner espresso for free. (We do things in all the wrong order) He was also quite liberal with the schnapps shots, which again we did not order or pay for. We received two servings of schnapps, one before dessert, and one after the boys paid the bill and tipped. Whoops! The gents were given a strong, clear firewater, and Pat and I were given cherry schnapps, which was much nicer.
Before 9pm, Nathan and I set off for our hotel, and sleep quickly overtook us. We slept with our terrace door open, which we’ve been doing every night, but the nighttime air temperature and duvet thickness combo has finally reached the perfect equilibrium. At the first few stops, the outside air was plenty cool, but the duvet was really too thick and warm. This was the first stop where the duvet was the perfect thickness for the cool, night air.
Our hotelier was super friendly, and you can tell he knows who he is catering to. On our terrace was a clothesline and clothes pins and when we checked in, he said we could make a small packed lunch from the breakfast offerings. A few days ago, Liz had said this was ok when we stayed in Gehren, and since then, we have been surreptitiously making a lunch from the breakfast offerings. He was the first hotel who offered it up as an ok thing to do.
We checked out at about 8:30, and set off on the trail which is right outside the front door. Today’s trail is mostly flat, with very little elevation gain, and for the most part is quite close to the river. We passed another suspension bridge, and a lake with a lot of people spending Sunday along the water. By noon, we were in hot, flat pasture land with no shade, looking for a spot to have lunch. Looking up, there are four paragliders above us and three gliders making use of the wind currents and thermals.
The path finally turned back towards town, and some shade, and we stumbled upon another foot soak pool. We gladly took off our boots and socks, soaked our feet, and had our lunch in the shade.
After lunch, we moseyed up above Weissenbach, on bike routes, and then back down towards the river and into Wängle. Part of the walk was across the river from the airport, so we saw a glider pilot do a bunch of tricks above the river before he had to land. It is hot today, like 80 degrees, which is our warmest weather yet.
We were hot, tired, with sore feet, and kind of cranky by the time we checked into today’s hotel. The man at the front desk asked if we brought our dog, to which I said no, and then proceeded to give us an upgrade to a room with a better view. I booked all of the rooms for this trip except Munich via email, with my personal email signature being the blog’s website address. I can’t be certain, but are these couple upgrades we’ve received because of the blog? A couple of the hotels wanted to know or verify if we had a dog with us. Maybe it’s chance, or because we are American in a place where the tourists are primarily German. Whatever it is, alles gut. We’ll take it.
