Hohenstaufen!

After our return to Weimar, we enjoyed several restful days in Warmbronn, which is a small town located just outside Stuttgart and the home of Rillings.  Helmuth and I returned to our work on the Messiah book project, which began in January of this year.  We are now editing the final draft of the book in collaboration with Greta Konradt, an American musicologist and editor for Carus, who lives and works in Germany.  So as to better focus on this process 'in aller Ruhe', we travelled to Rillings' second home in Hohenstaufen, a small village of about 4000 inhabitants located approximately 60 kilometers east of Stuttgart in the Swabian Alps.  Below are pictures of the area, followed by a brief tour of the home in Hohenstaufen -- truly a remarkable getaway from the busy life of the city!

  Ein Blick auf Hohenstaufen!

The Swabian Alps!

The rolling hills and countryside...

A view from Hohenstaufen.

The steps into Rillings' home...

The entry way...

 A view from the balcony...

 One half of the living room...

The other half of the living room...

The kitchen...

The dining room...

The swimming pool...

And the side garden!

 A picturesque building in the village...

A bit of Staufer history and the beautiful Martina...

The Honey-Do Hotel...

and their panorama view as the clouds roll in.

 A quick trip to a neighboring village to...

 visit cows and...

buy the local Schnapps!!

The overcast and rainy weather of Tuesday...

finally turned again to friendly skies with lunch on the balcony on Wednesday and...

sunny skies, peace and tranquility...

were restored throughout the land!