A week in Fredericksburg

The grounds here are beautiful. It's like being on a farm. There are seven guesthouses on the property. The first time we stayed in Bohl Cabin. It's a cute little old-timey cabin, with a couple of wooden rockers on the front porch. It's a bed and breakfast, but you don't really ever see the owners. Your key is under the doormat when you arrive and breakfast is brought in the evening for the next morning. Our breakfast was a couple of moist muffins and some breakfast banana bread. There is a coffeemaker, microwave and mini-fridge. There is coffee (caf & decaf) in the fridge as well as milk, juice, soft drinks and water. We're not big breakfast people, so this was fine.

They didn't have a king-bedded guesthouse when I made the reservation, so I chose this cabin because it had two bedrooms. I just can't sleep together with my husband in anything less than a king, so we slept in separate rooms. After 20 years of marriage, this is fine. The bedrooms are on the second floor and the steps are very steep. The beds were very comfortable. There is no TV or radio here, but they do have a TV/VCR combo and a few movies in the room if you get bored watching the fireflies outside. During our evening here, we sat on the front porch in the rockers and just chatted away. We had bought some vodka and tonic and by the end of the evening we were as lit up as the fireflies.

There are some sheep and a donkey that roam the property (each cabin is fenced, so they don't come up to your steps) and a couple of friendly cats. I gave the cats a bowl of milk and they stayed with us until we went inside to retire. No restaurant nearby. You'll have to drive 5 minutes to Fredericksburg to eat, unless you bring your own food.

This is another place with guesthouses. We loved Old Home Place the best. It's outside of Fredericksburg a few miles on the way to Kerrville. We stayed in Lungkwitz's Cabin and were very happy there. This place has the feel of Settler's Crossing, but is so much better. The bathrooms are luxurious, the king bed in the loft upstairs was very comfortable, and the breakfast was to die for. The night before, breakfast is brought to your cabin. We had quiche, two wonderful muffins and juice. There is a toaster oven, microwave, large fridge, and coffeemaker. You can grind your own coffee beans from the selection on hand.

There is satellite TV here, which is a nice choice to have. We chose instead to sit out on the porch in the rockers again and have a few cocktails. I would make this my only place for lodging in Fredericksburg. It's that good. There is no restaurant nearby. You'll have to bring your own food for lunch/dinner or drive a few minutes into Fredericksburg.

Admittedly, we arrived in the middle of a non-busy week in town. We had reserved the Kew Garden Cottage through Gastehaus Schmidt reservation service. The confirmation said the key to our cottage would be in a box next to the front door of the main house. There was no key. In fact, my husband went in the house and couldn't find anyone. We then went to the cottage and tried the door. It was unlocked. We used the phone to call the owners and let them know we arrived. They hadn't been expecting us, but were very friendly and welcoming.

The room was cute, the way some B&Bs are overly cute. The decor wasn't to my taste at all. The bed was moderately comfortable and breakfast was served the next morning in the main house. As we were the only guests, the host asked us what we would like. We chose sausage and scrambled eggs. I don't know what the regular choices are. We sat in the dining room alone and were finished eating in 10 minutes. Outside our room were a couple of plastic armchairs on a small deck. There is a small pool (which looks larger on the website) and the grounds are well-kept. There's the usual fridge with soft drinks and juice; microwave, and coffeemaker. We both felt that even though this place was cute, we wouldn't stay here again.

We stayed here a second time, this time in the Von Heinrich Home. Fortunately, this house has a king bed in one of the upstairs bedrooms. The kitchen is also larger and has a full-size fridge. Unfortunately, there is no front porch on which to sit and rock. There is a little covered patio in the back with some charming-looking, but uncomfortable, metal chairs. We sat there for our evening cocktails and enjoyed it, but had to bring some cushions from the sofa to place on the chairs. We said hello to the two friendly cats again and gave them another saucer of milk. Our muffins and coffee were good and our breakfast bread went to the donkey. He loved it.

We were here during the week, and it wasn't very busy. After we received our meal, I knew why.

We ordered the Sausage Plate, which had two different types of German sausage, plus hot German potato salad and red cabbage. Both the potato salad and cabbage were overly sweet. The sausage was nothing to write home about either.

The beer was good, but the service was mediocre. The server didn't bring the appetizer we ordered, but at least we weren't charged for it. The chairs are the old, fold-up wooden chairs and are pretty uncomfortable. I wouldn't go here again.

Someone in Fredericksburg told us that there were two good restaurants in town with German chefs. After our rotten experience at Auslander, we thought we'd try lunch here.

We ordered the wienerschnitzel with the trimmings. The schnitzel was overcooked, the potato salad was, once again, too sweet, and so was the red cabbage. Red cabbage is supposed to be somewhat sweet, but not this sweet.

The service was very ordinary, and we're glad we came here at lunch for ordinary food instead of at dinner when the same ordinary food would have cost more.

This place is wonderful. The menu is what you might find in Los Angeles or New York, but without those kinds of prices. Navajo Grill was a little more expensive than some other dining choices, but the food was excellent - they have a good wine list with some great local wines (Becker, for instance) and the service was superb. We both had a crisp Caesar salad with just the right amount of dressing; I had the Rosemary Chicken, cooked just right; my husband had a rib-eye steak, cooked perfectly to medium as he requested. The veggies were good. I would go here again next time we're in town.

We went here with a couple of friends and it was quite busy. Friedhelm's is a busy, but large, restaurant. We had reservations and I think we needed them. It was full except for a couple of empty tables. The food and service were fantastic. I had the Jaegerchnitzel with mushroom sauce, boiled potatoes and red cabbage. This red cabbage was wonderful, as was the schnitzel. My husband and his friend had a NY Steak, both very tender and cooked to their liking. The other friend had a large salad with spicy ahi tuna atop. We were all pleased with our meals. This is another place that has a German chef. I would go back here again.

We ate here twice for lunch. It's a cute little biergarten, where you sit around old barrels with umbrellas.

The first time we had lunch there we both ordered the wienerschnitzel. For some reason, they put cornmeal in the breading. Ugh! The second time we ordered the sausage sampler. That was a better choice. We each had a nice, mixed-green salad, as well. They have a very nice selection of domestic and imported beer.

I would go here again, not because the food is so good (it's okay), but because the service is friendly and it has a nice atmosphere to sit outside in the summer.

We first visited here because someone told us they served great coffee. We ordered two large cappuccinos and they were excellent. In fact, we came here every morning for five days to get our coffee. Besides, while you're waiting, you can look around the shop. They have an outstanding selection of everything you could ever want, many things imported. This place has everything and is way more fun to browse around than Sur La Table or Williams Sonoma. I bought a mortar and pestle and accidentally left it at the Visitors Bureau a block away. When I got back to Los Angeles, there was a message from a Fredericksburg policeman that they found my purchase. They returned it to Der Kuchenladen and I phoned them. They knew I'd call, so held it until they heard from me. Fredericksburg is truly a wonderful, friendly place.

We have been looking for a place to retire and my brother told us to look at the Texas Hill Country. We decided to check out Fredericksburg because of all the wonderful information on their Chamber of Commerce's website (http://www.fredericksburg-texas.com/index.asp).

We were enchanted with the area and find living would be very affordable there. Since we wanted to get a feel for the place, we went once for 3 days and then again for 5 days a month later. The people are "down home friendly" and it feels very safe. Where else do innkeepers routinely leave doors unlocked or keys under the mat?

It's an easy and scenic hour's drive from San Antonio or Austin (the way we came). There are lots of places that have guesthouses, many of them old log cabins. In many of the guesthouse-type lodgings, you may never see the host. That's fine with us. We're not really into B&Bs, but these kind appeal to us.

The only thing I found lacking was "full" use of the internet there. The Visitors Bureau on Austin Street has two computers with free internet access. That's good. But there is no way you can print something if necessary. They directed me to two different establishments where we could do that. One place wasn't open. The other place was open, but somehow lost their connection. We waited 20 minutes and they weren't able to get it back. They directed us to the public library. We signed up to use a computer (no charge), but weren't able to download a document that we needed to read and respond to. At least we could have printed something there for a few cents per page (had we been able to download it). We had to wait until we were back in Austin until we could access the document.

Other than that minor occurrence, we know why people keep going back to Fredericksburg. We will too.