A Spectacular Day in Rottweil

Rottweil is a town about 20 miles south of where I was in Horb. It’s one of the oldest towns in Germany. It was founded by the Romans in 73 but people had been living there for thousands of years before the Italians showed up. Rottweil may be best known in America as the place of origin for Rottweilers, the large black dogs with a bad reputation for being ill-tempered and ferocious. In reality they’re just big pussycats. Don’t tell ’em I said that though.

On July 31st I had a spectacular day in Rottweil with Steffi and my new friend Yveline. The day started early. Yveline picked me up at the house and we drove to meet Steffi in Rottweil for lunch. We drove through town on our way to a place called Natur-Gasthaus Bettlinsbad, which is a beautiful beer garden on a farm out in the countryside.

As the town turned to woods, the road grew smaller and it felt like we had the country to ourselves.

We finally found Natur-Gasthaus Bettlinsbad. Steffi was already there.

Bettlinsbad is a quirky place filled with oddities and curiosities of all shapes and sizes.

Lunch was fabulous. Everything was healthy and very tasty! We dined outdoors in a beautiful pastural setting and watched cows grazing on a Black Forest farm.

Steffi is posing this way because she hopes to one day get her big break as a fork model. I think she’s a natural!

Next stop: Erich Hauser’s Place!

Erich Hauser is a brilliant German Sculptor best known for large abstracts made of metal. He passed away back in 2004. Now his home and Studio have been turned into a Museum and Sculpture Park with 10 acres of his original art. There’s also a pyramid!

As we neared the end of his long driveway a giant sculpture emerged from the trees:

Yveline and Steffi entering Hauser’s giant Studio workshop:

Hauser’s Studio is part Bat Cave, part Santa’s Workshop. This large empty space is the birthplace of many great works of art. I am breathless. This is holy ground.

As we step out of the Studio I am greeted by the large sculpture that I saw when we first arrived. It’s even more magnificent up close! It’s modern and it’s ancient; it’s mythic and yet it’s earthly. When I look at it I hear the roar of a fighter jet slicing through the heavens, but I also hear the flapping of birds wings. I can’t seem to figure out what the specific intent of the Artist was for this piece. Then it hit me: Maybe his intent was to make me see and experience a multitude of different emotions and then wonder about the meaning. Now there’s a perfect metaphor for life on earth!

We walk out to the grounds and there are sculptures of all shapes and sizes covering acre after acre. His pieces are all made of metal, which implies weight, strength, and gravitas, and yet many are ethereal – they feel light as a feather:

Reminds me of the album cover for Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield. I know you young people will have no idea what I’m talking about. So if you’re curious just ask your grandparents.

Like all his sculptures, this piece changes with the changing light, and its form alters with your perspective.

Erich Hauser built a pyramid next to his Studio. I don’t remember the exact reason but I think he said he slept better under a pyramid and he could collect his thoughts more easily. He also got terrific TV reception in the days before cable.

Unfortunately we did not get to go inside if the pyramid, main house, or office because they were closing. But we did peek inside. Apparently Hauser collected works by lots of artists, many from America, who were guests at his estate.

After a long visit to Erich Hauser’s Sculpture Park and Museum, Steffi was tired. She left and and Yveline and I headed back through town.

Whoa! Is that a Tower or is Rottweil just glad to see me??

The Tower

We were on our way back from the Sculpture Park when we passed the enormous spiral tower protruding from the skyline. “Do you want to see the Tower?” Yveline asked. Yes, yes I do!

Some background: ThyssenKrupp (TK) is a German manufacturer of high-speed elevators and lifts. About 10 years ago they asked the little town of Rottweil if they could build an 800 foot tower to test their new advancements in elevator technology, like magnetic levitation. It was a big ask. A Tower this size would change the bucolic skyline forever. I would have liked to have been in the meeting when Don Draper made his pitch for the tower to the town. There probably would have been silence followed by lots of yelling in German. “DU WILLST WAS?? BIST DU VERDAMMT VERRUCKT??

The forward thinking powers-that-be in Rottweil eventually agreed to allow construction of the Tower, but only under one condition: It had to be a tourist attraction too. Someone suggested putting a visitor platform at the top, and that clinched the deal. Work on the 800 foot tall elevator test tower began in 2014 and the Tower opened to the public three years later. The observation deck at the top is the tallest in Germany at 761 feet, and the sixth tallest in all of Europe!

The Tower is so tall that you can see it from all over that area of the Black Forest. Steffi had pointed it out to me weeks earlier, as did Yveline, but it was at a distance and I couldn’t fully appreciate the magnitude of the structure. Once you get closer, though….it’s impressive!

This is the base of the Tower. I took this shot when we first pulled in the parking lot. Now it was time to get high – really high!

We arrived at the Tower close to closing time and hurried inside. But there was a problem. Apparently we were too late and they would not allow us to visit the observation deck. Then there was a lot of fast talking in German between Yveline and the staff. I didn’t know what they were saying but I knew it was about me. I heard the word “America” a couple of times and Yveline pointed at me with her thumb. I looked at her. She looked at them. They looked at me. I put on my best Oliver Twist “Please sir” face. After a few awkward moments the staff relented and allowed us to go up.

The ride to the top was super fast – CRAZY fast! By the time I took out my phone to video the experience, we had arrived at the top. “Don’t worry” said the guide “you can video on the way down”. Okay. Then the doors opened and the view….was….breathtaking!

From this perch you can see about 30+ miles in every direction, which is a pretty big chunk of the Black Forest! I could even see the Schloss Weitenburg Castle in Starzach – the one that’s next to Kunstort ELEVEN. That’s 21 miles away!

Every view was picture perfect!

While I’m not too crazy about heights anymore, I felt very safe up here.

After drinking in the breathtakingly beautiful views of the Black Forest from an 800 foot perch, it was time to go. This time I had my phone out and I was ready to get the descent on video. It was, as you will see, wild:

On the way out of the Tower, we got in the revolving doors, but there was no door to the outside. We went around a couple of times before we realized we were getting nowhere. Was the Tower built by the same people who built Hotel California?? It’s because they had closed the outside door – didn’t even know that was possible! So we revolved back in and went out the push door! Phew!

Made it home as the sun began to set. I took a look out of my bedroom window and saw clouds spun with gold and fire. I was tired but happy. It was a spectacular day in Rottweil!