Although this place is less than a block from our apartment, I had never heard of it and never noticed it although walking by frequently. They do not advertise and a quick search with a search engine did not give me their website. I know that they are gay-oriented and I can say nothing about the place except that the location is excellent, you are a 5-10 minute walk to the absolute center of Stuttgart, the Schlossplatz, and even quicker by the four U-bahn lines that are a block away. We always recommend the City Hotel to people which is less than a block away.

SouthernTrvlr,

not that Stuttgart is a bad destination, but if you are going to the Freiburg area, why not concentrate of Freiburg itself? It is IMO a smaller but much more beautiful city than Stuttgart, and the area around the city offers more than enough for holidays.

Teningen is just about 15 -20 km from Freiburg, about 20 min by train or by car.

There seemed to be a little bit more to do in Stuttgart and this way I can fly in and just use the public transport to get around. I wanted to stay in an area, too, where I knew that lots of folks understand English. I am trying to get up to speed on German, but I am not ready to try and survive on just my limited Deutsch just yet.

I'm planning to get a Eurail Select Pass Drive 3 Country (Germany, Austria, Hungary) Pass that will give me three days of train travel and two days of car rental. I plan to rent the car in Stuttgart at the Hauptbahnhof and turn it in at the train station in Freiburg two days later (where Hertz just opened an office). I hope to have some time to do some sight seeing in Freiburg, but the main focus of this excursion is on finding the Lutheran Church in Teningen where my ancestors are buried. (On Martin-Luther-Strasse of course)

The other purpose of the trip is to scope it out for my parents, who may be coming the next year.

The web site for the hotel is www.hotel-ziegler.com and I did receive a reply to my request for a reservation, but was told that they would prefer that I wait until a little closer to my trip time.

The innkeeper at the hotel in Denzlingen, Mrs. Petra Haas, was more than happy to take my reservation early. I've been able to trace my father's family back about 400 years (Hans Michel Hess born 1686, son of Hans Hess and Barbara Liebundgut) and the hotel is about 400 years old and gay friendly and just minutes away. It seemed like a good fit.

I may try driving down to Freiburg after I have thoroughly explored Teningen (which I may be able to do in less than a day).

I walked by the hotel this morning and now see why I have never noticed it, the name is inconspiculously on a brass plaque about a foot square. Ziegler owns several buildings in the area and has a fairly large electrical business across the street from the hotel. I imagine to have placed his name on the hotel, it probably is good.

For your information, the second oldest protestant church in Germany, and the oldest in southern Germany, is the church in the old palace of Stuttgart. Martin Luther has preached there. Outside of church services, it is only open for visiting on Wednesdays from 1-2PM. The clock on the church is interesting as the two rams on it butt heads to indicate the hour, e.g. 10 times for 10 o'clock.

On your way toward Freiburg, if you take A81, you can visit one of Germany's most significant castles, Hohenzollern near Hechingen, which is fairytale-like and the family seat of the influential Prussian Hohenzollern family. Actually, taking B27 out of Stuttgart will be faster, and then joining A81 later.

Oh, one other thing. It probably is impossible to trace your family history beyong the mid 17th century as almost all churches (which kept the records) were burned during the religious 30 Year War. Actually, it would be good for you to read about it to get a better historical perspective of Germany and one of the important events that helped shape it.

Thanks marcopolko! I will go ahead with my plans to stay there and will plan to post a review when I get back to the States. They say on their website that it used to be an electrical company building and they are adding/renovating more space. (Or that is what I think it says after Google gets through translating the page)

I'll add a visit to the old palace to my itenerary for Wednesday, April 2nd.

Thanks too for the driving tips. That is actually the part of the trip that I am the most nervous about. Mapquest suggests that I can get there in under 2 hours going A8 and then A5, but then I am not really in a hurry and don't really want to see Karlsruhe's traffic. Driving through the Black Forest is bound to be more of an adventure.

I read about the 30 Years War and other history when I got frustrated trying to trace my family history back.

Hi, i was just wondering if you stayed in Stuttgart and if you liked it. Cheers Dorothee

Hi, i was just wondering if you stayed in Stuttgart and if you liked it. Cheers.

Dear Dorothee,

I did enjoy my stay in Stuttgart in April. There is a review of the Gastehaus Ziegler posted, but I guess I failed to write up a report of the rest of my visit.

The Mercedes Museum was well worth the effort to see and even if you aren't all that excited about cars, it has a wonderful display of the history of the 20th century from a distinctly German perspective. The museum in the old castle downtown was spectacular, and the old church next door with the museum containing musical instruments was fabulous. You can't help but be amazed at how quickly things have advanced from barely being able to fashion crude weapons to the creation of computers and automobiles in a couple of thousand years.

I used the trains to get around town and they are very safe and clean. The maps for the train system make it look more complicated than it is.

When I came back to Stuttgart in my rental car I had more than a little anxiety about my driving skills and ability to find my way back to the airport. After a few miscues, though, I made it, even though it was snowing for the last twenty miles of my trip.

Have fun.