Five Days in Limpach: Monday

The weather forecast for the next few days was rather dismal, and indeed it had started to rain on Sunday evening, but all things considered, Monday (11 Mai 2026) wasn't quite as bad as expected.

View from our patio at about 8:00 that morning...

...and ten nminutes later: A glimpse of blue sky and sun!

One of the nice things about this particular hotel is that guests can have breakfast until 11:30 - that's much later than most other places, and although we never really wait so long before we have ours, it is nice to know that we don't have to be up and about early-ish unless we want to.

The entire day went by at a leisurely pace, partly spent in the spa with suprisingly few other people. In between two rounds in the sauna, we rested and read; it was very cosy and relaxing.

We had booked a back & shoulders massage each for mid-afternoon (all in view of the "bad weather day", since on a dry day those times would probably have interfered with the day's hike), and by the time we were finished, it had brightened up and stopped raining.

Of course we took the chance and went for a little walk around the village, just under an hour, and then changed for dinner which was again really delicious.

This is the building next to the hotel where our flat is on the ground floor; you can just about see the kitchen window in the lower right corner. The patio and garden are at the back of the house. There are other flats in the building, and the mother of the hotel owner & chef lives in one of them.

Afterwards, we looked through our "proper" wedding pictures together - the photographer had sent us the link to an online album, and we sorted through the pictures, deciding on which ones to keep, which ones to delete and which ones to send to family and friends. It is amazing how much time one can spend over something like that!

It was considerably cooler than before at about 15C/59F, and a chilly wind made it seem even cooler. But for tomorrow, no more rain was forecast, and we were looking forward to another hike.

Five Days in Limpach: Sunday

Sunday (10 May 2026) was not only Mother's Day in Germany, but also a very important day for the village of Limpach: Every year on the second Sunday in May, they celebrate St. Georg (George in English, but without the last "e" in German), their patron saint.

Every inhabitant of Limpach is automatically a member of the Georgs-Bruderschaft ("George's Brotherhood"), meaning they help and stand by each other.

Horses have always been important in the rural area, for farming as well as for transporting goods and people. No wonder, therefore, that the celebration involves riding groups from Limpach and various nearby villages and hamlets who turn up in their finery, horses polished and groomed, for a special mass held on the green space behind the church and the vicarage, followed by the priest blessing the horses.

A procession with all the horses, several brass bands, pilgrims and dignitaries walks from Limpach to Höge, a distance of about 1.5 km, and back again. This is called Georgiritt ("George's Ride"), and all participants take great pride in it. Photos can be seen on the website of St. Georg, the church in Limpach; just scroll down until after the text.

In yesterday's post I showed you the decorations on the vicarage and the "gate"; all this was done for the Georgiritt. Also, on the lawn between the hotel and the building where our flat was, tables and benches had been set up, and by the time O.K. and I got up, almost all of them were full of people having sausages, beer and other drinks.

We woke up at around 7:00 that morning when the church bells started to ring, and from that moment on, the celebration was in full swing. The noise of brass bands, church bells, whinnieing of horses and chatter of the crowds were enough to draw anyone outside. Luckily, the sun was shining, and as the morning progressed, it was warming up.

 View across "our" part of the garden.

O.K. and I only stuck around for a little bit after breakfast; we had no intention to attend mass or have sausages and beer on the lawn - we wanted to go on the longest of the hikes we had in mind for this holiday: The Höchsten-Runde.

Höchsten literally means "highest", and it is indeed the highest hill in the area. We've walked that same tour twice in 2023, as I have described here and here.

The 18 km tour is well signposted and leads up and down hills, across meadows and through woodland. We found everything more or less as we remembered, but unlike previous times when we stopped for a shandy at the beer garden on the Höchsten, we decided to just drink from our water bottles and have our shandies back at the hotel, again on our own patio - the Höchsten beer garden was packed, and staff very busy because of all the visitors for Mother's Day.

I let the pictures speak for themselves:

Click to enlarge; on this and the next two pictures, you can just about make out Lake Constance and the Alps rising behind, with snow-capped mountains.

After returning to our flat and enjoying the shandy on our quiet patio, it was time to shower and change into suitable clothes for dinner, which was again delicious. 

The weather forecast was right: In the course of the evening, the wind picked up considerably, and later the long awaited rain began to fall.

Five Days in Limpach: Arrival

Saturday (9 May 2026), the day after our wedding, was the start of a short break at a hotel in Limpach where we've spent a May holiday before; if you're interested, the first of my 2023 posts about that holiday is here.

We took our time in the morning to get everything sorted. While my suitcase had never been unpacked since my arrival at O.K.'s on the 30th of April, O.K. of course had to pack his for our time away.

The day was as sunny and warm as the Friday, and after we'd said good-bye to my new mother-in-law and loaded the car, we left the village at about 1:45 pm. 

Almost exactly 2 1/2 hours later, we arrived at the hotel in Limpach, part of Deggenhausertal, 20 km from Lake Constance. The hotel's website is here (in German only), in case you want to have a look. All their food is organic (some of it comes from their own farm, which existed long before they opened the hotel), and the hotel, restaurant and spa are run on sustainable energy and a low-waste philosophy.

We were booked for dinner at 8:00 and used the time until that for a first short walk, taking in the beautiful meadows, picturesque church and views.

This is how we found our bedroom at the hotel flat!

The flowers were ours (not my bridal bouqet, but a gift from friends).

St. Georg is just up the road.

 Click to enlarge; on the horizon, you can make out the Alps with snow-covered mountains and a glimpse of Lake Constance.

The vicarage was adorned with garlands in view of a celebration the next day.

This gate was also put up for the celebration.

Looking back towards Limpach

There was still time to spare after unpacking, so we went up to the hotel bar and grabbed an Apérol Spritz each, which we took back down to our flat on the ground floor of a different building. Our own private sunny patio outside the French windows was the perfect place for that!

 

Dinner was as delicious as we know their meals to be, but we didn't last long after that; the restaurant was rather full, and the group of six at the table next to ours was talking rather noisily (for Neil: there was at least one Meist in that group). Instead, we retreated to our nice, quiet flat, looking forward to Sunday and our first full day here.

Our Wedding

At about 1:05 pm on Friday, the 8th of May, O.K. and I were officially declared husband and wife - a big step and important moment in our lives!

As I have mentioned before, we deliberately kept it all very modest and small with just our immediate family present: our mothers, sisters and the husband of O.K.'s sister. The only other two people there were the registrar and the photographer.

My Mum and my sister had arrived a couple of hours earlier; their 150 km drive had been smooth and they found us without a problem (it was their first visit to the village).

As arranged, the seven of us met with the photographer outside the village hall a quarter of an hour before the scheduled ceremony and then proceeded to the room where we were going to be married.

It was modestly but elegantly decorated, and real candles (always important to me!) had already been lit. There was a vase ready for my bouquet, and we took our seats.

We had given the registrar (who looks even younger than she is) personal information about ourselves, how we had met and so on, and she used that information well in her speech, which was really nice and appropriate, even eliciting a few smiles (and probably the odd tear or two) from those present.

Our rings were exchanged, a kiss followed, then the signatures of us, our witnesses (our sisters) and the registrar, and we were married!

It being a beautiful sunny day (but not too hot), we all went up to the village hall's rooftop terrace where my brother-in-law opened the sparkling wine we had brought, along with some nibbles. Between clinking glasses, photos were taken and the view from the roof admired.

Before we said good-bye to the photographer, he took some more pictures on the ground in front of the village hall - and guess what... O.K. allowed me to show one that shows BOTH of us!! (I doubt he'll make it a habit now, and I swear I did NOT nag him into it!)

The seven of us then were at my mother-in-law's for coffee and cake. She had made a raspberry cream cake and an apple pie, both delicious. My Mum gave a short speech, and we were presented with some lovely gifts (I will tell you about these at a later time) and many hugs.

Afterwards, my sister and my Mum drove to the nearby village where I had booked rooms for them at a hotel and where we were booked for the evening at the adjoining restaurant. O.K. and I had about an hour to ourselves, which provided a welcome little rest and plenty of time for me to get changed.

We all met again at the restaurant in time for me to have a look at the rooms where my Mum and sister were to stay the night, and found them very good.

The restaurant offers typical Black Forest cuisine, and as it's the middle of the asparagus season, there was plenty of choice on the menue. We all enjoyed the meal and conversation and were a happy little gathering. In spite of our two families having met only once before (in 2018 for my 50th birthday), everybody got along very well and there wasn't an awkward moment between them.

At around 10:00 pm, we left the restaurant - happy and a little tired. The entire day had been just like we had wanted it to be, modest and small in terms of "fuss" but big in importance and emotions.

The Last Four Days…

…before our wedding were sort of busy but not too much. Little had to be done in view of the wedding, but a few jobs in and around the house were in order to prepare for being away for a week.

Monday (4th of May) was overcast and a little cooler than Sunday, but it remained dry. Perfect for gardening, wich was what O.K. did practically all day. We had a snack around lunch time, and for the evening, I prepared a mix of vegetables to be fried; we ate that with hummus.

We went for some errands on Tuesday (5th of May) and later for a walk in the sun, followed by coffee and pastries on the balcony. Rain was coming up then, and lasted for much of the evening. We enjoyed a typical meal for this time of year: green asparagus (fried in the pan) with ham and a dry white wine.

The scent of this rose in the garden next door was as beautiful as the rose looks.

The long awaited and much needed ‚proper‘ rain finally arrived on Wednesday (6th of May). O.K. drove us into town for a few more things to do in readiness for our upcoming holiday. 

Neither of us fancied lunch in town, so we had a snack at home instead. I had a longish nap in the afternoon and later cooked couscous with what vegetables were still in the fridge and needed using before we‘d leave. We also did a last load of washing so that there would still be time to iron and pack some items for Saturday.

Thursday (7th of May) was our last day as an unmarried couple. It was chilly with sprinkles of rain, but by late afternoon, it was nice enough for a walk around the village before we retreated to the kitchen where we grabbed a frying pan each and fried another bunch of green asparagus in one and two bulbs of fennel, thinly sliced, in the other. We added plenty of spices and quite liked the result.

It being the eve of our wedding day, we then had an impromptu type of combined hen and stag party, just the two of us, playing our favourite songs quite loudly. (Don‘t worry, no neighbours came to any harm!)

My next post will be about the 8th of May, and yes, there will be pictures, but no, not of O.K. or anyone but myself. As a first glimpse, here are pictures of my two dresses, the headband I wore and my bridal bouquet: