Akzent Hotel Schranne Rothenburg ob der Tauber

... best views of the Tauber definitely came from the castle garden, go figure. That's where the waterfalls were visible from one end and the cityscape from the other.

We'd been hearing about a giant, juicy pork knuckle that's popular around here and of course had to try it. The place is packed with traditional restaurants. The one we ended up in had a ceiling that almost passed for flat in places due to a tent like paint job edging the arches. The ...

Today I toured the town of Wurzburg, which is where the often traveled by tourists "Romantic Road" begins. Along with taking an English tour of the city, which ended up being a private tour as I was the only one who signed-up, I took a tour of the Wurzburg Residence, a UNESCO heritage site, which is a baroque palace of prince-bishops.

The Residence took 60 years to build and at one time there were 400 people ...

... century. We had lunch at a quaint Italian restaurant, the owner from Naples. Best food of the trip!

This town is known for cuckoo clocks and Christmas shops. Everywhere there were beautiful shops and quaint cafes. I would return to this town in a minute. Our guide, Victoria, was enamored with the color orange. "From her head down to her toenails". She was
originally from ...

... It's beautiful and charming but ask me in a few hours when the Elderhostel tour buses and their occupants have sent me over the edge. Anyway. My goal today is to discover the deliciousness of something called "schneeballs." They look chocolate and fried and should go great with beer.

Well that's all for now- I am in a tourist office that gives me 15 minutes free internet access and I have to steal it where I can get it. Auf Weidershen :)

At Bamberg we left the Danube-Main Canal. The canal was completed in 1992 and allows ships to travel from the North Sea to the Black Sea. This connection had been dreamed of since Charlemagne tried digging one in the 8th century. Another attempt was made in the 1800s but the advent of the railroad doomed it. It took 20th century technology to make it possible. The canal itself has 34 locks out of the total of ...

... deposit at the hotel later, but it was too early for dinner, so we found a table in a corner of the square and had a beer. A very good beer! After our break, Erin wanted to find the old city wall gates in the middle of town, so we set out again exploring. Along the way we found the one internet café in town and decided to Skype the parents early. This was our most frustrating event of the trip; the café employee spoke almost no English, and knew less about ...

... our walk we seen the remaining fortress towers, the cemetery and tried a cinnamon roll, not too bad.

Creglingen is another small town. We walk around, up the hills looking for the church with a special alter in it. The church is closed and there is a sign saying the alter is somewhere else. We have a look at the stream, buildings and then leave.

Rothenburg is a beautiful town. When we arrived here we ...

... the collapsed castle was used to build the city walls which can be walked upon to this day. From the southern end of the gardens one gets a panoramic view of the valley, the Doppelbrücke (Double Bridge) and the walls of the city. By the time we left the gardens we were ready for beer and food, however there were no cafes or restaurants to be seen. We had almost resigned ourselves to thirst and hunger when we spotted a sign outside a building with an ...