Fredericksburg - Part 1: Brigid's Cottage

After a year in Austin and thirty years of marriage, it seemed like a good idea to get away for the weekend.http://www.blogger.com/img/gl.link.gif Fredericksburg beckoned. The one in Texas, not the one in Virginia.

Fredericksburg was founded in 1846 by folks that took 16 days to travel the 90 miles from New Braunfels. (I had a car like that once.) It has long been a destination for those who adore kitschy little shops where you can buy things like antique gasoline station signs, or vintage Coca Cola glasses, or handmade anything, from furniture to jewelry to clothes to kites. It has more recently experienced a renaissance of sorts, with a multitude of galleries and studios, theaters, museums, spas, vineyards and wineries.

Fredericksburg has approximately 327.5 billion bed and breakfast options with which to confuse the hopeful traveler. Well, not really, but it seems that way. After a while, even this place looked good. After all, how can you beat $40 a night? I ask you!

The Woman put the kibosh on that line of thought and used her extensive network of undercover operatives to pinpoint a base of operations for the weekend – Brigid’s Cottage.

One thing you notice about Brigid’s before you even enter the house – it has been decorated in the style I like to call Terminal Cuteness. This is the style that makes women go “awww” and makes all other right-thinking citizens go into diabetic shock. Take this photo, for instance. What you can’t tell is that in the corner below the lamp there is a miniature tea party attended by teddy bears. Enough said. During the playback of the photojournalistic style of our videoed entry to the cottage, you can hear the “awwws” from The Woman being drowned out by my comments, such as, “Oh, no.” or “You’re kidding me.” or “You’re not going to believe this one.”

After a short period of attitude adjustment, I was allowed to catalog the many nice features: it is a stand-alone cottage, not a B&B, for the ultimate in privacy. Since it is 600 square feet, space is very efficiently utilized. (This was once a house. Imagine that, 600 sq ft to live in. Wow.) The microscopic kitchen has a microwave, coffee maker, toaster, and a small fridge stocked with water, juice, beer and wine. The living room has a TV and game console. The bedroom has a TV with DVD player and a decent selection of DVDs. But the highlights are the private hot tub in the back yard and wireless internet.

I know what you’re thinking. You’re on vacation. Forget the internet and just chill. Ha! Think again, buckwheat. One advantage of booking a cottage with wireless internet is the ability to check out details on local happenings, such as live music options, before you make your evening plans. Used wisely, internet access increases the quality of your chill time by allowing you to make informed choices.

There were a dozen options for dinner with live music but most were too country for our tastes. A scan of relevant My Space pages narrowed it down to a few likely options and we settled on Porter Davis. But first we had to sample some authentic German cuisine.

Next week: Der Lindenbaum