Hotel Reichs Kuchenmeister Rothenburg ob der Tauber

... was juicy and large, and all it lacked was a deep fry on the skin for Jon. It even came with our first serving of sauerkraut in Germany, believe it or not sauerkraut is not that easy to find around us.

Somehow Rothenburg is a hit for Americans and Japanese, a sister city? It did mean the Criminal History Museum was in English and Japanese as well as German. We're quickly learning; museums with signs in English are much more interesting for us. They had ...

... Wurzburg also has several beautiful Baroque churches.

I had my first bratwurst at a stand that has sold them for 30+ years. Cheap and good. I also had some Gluchwein, or something like that, which is hot spiced wine. It was great on a cold day like today.

I left Wurzburg and headed to Rothenburg. When I arrived there were once again, no taxis. So I to lug my luggage, in the cold, drizzling rain, about a ...

Guten tag from Germany!

We've been all over Europe, to random places like Bosnia and Slovakia, but we've never managed to make it to Germany. So here we are!

We flew through Iceland, and landed in Frankfurt yesterday. We picked up our very cute Smart Car convertible, and drove out west to the famous Romantic Road. This is a 220 mile long stretch of road running south that is dotted with castles and medieval towns. We stayed the night in ...

... between Budapest and Amsterdam.
We’re now traveling on the Main River. We’ve seen many swans and ducks on the river and the hills have many vineyards. After lunch we docked at Wurzburg , another picturesque town with many church spires and a fortress on the hill. The river is crossed by another old stone bridge with large statues of Bishop Princes and saints lining the sides of the bridge.

... but we also got a Champagne truffle one for me and a Pistachio one for Dan. They were delicious by deadly..and we couldn eat it all. So, then got the car out and headed to Lidl for food and drink that we can cook back at the apartment. We ended up with bread rolls, cheese and Bratwursts (Dan's current favs!) and then back at the apartment I took myself off to have a nap in the new bed which was great. Dan channell surfed with the cable tv in the seperate room and ...

... the attendant and climbed a ladder and squeezed out onto the onion domed roof catwalk, I’m glad I had a light lunch. The railing surrounding it only went up to my armpits and offered the best view you could ask for. You could only walk around one way because it was too narrow to pass someone, but we liked the openness of our high perch on top of town and couldn’t believe they let people go out there. Very cool!

We did a bit more shopping and made ...

... as well as various Nurse Barbies, Psychologist Barbie, Poofie Hair Barbie, and European Barbies who drove VW's and Vespas.
There were some token non-doll exhibits of trains and such, but it did appear that this museum's efforts at diversification were not yet complete. Jessie appeared satisfied with the present state of affairs, but the boys were less than impressed.
After that, we took a further walk around town, making use of the self-guided ...

... back then. I even took a picture in some pillories outside... We walked around the town, which was really beautiful, and plus we also walked the entire length of the wall. Really squishy, barely enough room for one person to walk across, let alone two, and plus there were some pigeons who "assaulted" us. All in all, though, it was much fun. :) After the free time in the Old Town, we headed back to the hotel to ...

... incredible wood carving, the Altar of the Holy Blood. After, I wandered around town - through the Convent Garden, and along the town wall. It was reminiscent of Orvieto, as I walked a section that sloped downhill, and enjoyed views of the lush valley below (see blog entry entitled: "A bad combination - cheap wine and limoncello", http://www.travelpod.com/travel-blog-en tries/pwong/europe_2006/1159993920/tpod .html?tweb_UID=pwong ) Next up - the ...

... it was green fields dotted with red rooftops and a church spire poking through. In Rothenburg we checked into our hotel (The Golden Rose). We we given a lovely room in the garden house. Beautiful! It was starting to get drak so we decided to expore the town walls. A little nerve-wracking in the dark with only a loose wooden beam separating you from a 25-foot fall! We arose bright and early (again) and decided ...