Stadthotel Crailsheim

Jon and I have a new deal. I plan a trip and drive, and he'll go anywhere. He'll even drive us home. One of the perks of subbing, I'm left with pockets of time to come up with trips. Trip number one, Rothenburg ob der Tauber, mostly because it fell neatly within the day trip range.

Part of our deal means I drive . . . The morning greeted us with a pea soup fog, enough to hide all road signs from any meaningful distance. GPS is good. I did drive fast ...

... the northernmost town on the Road. It was a cute beginning, though a reminder of why I am not enamored of German food (lots of sausages and very little veggies). But Wurzburg is a huge wine producing town, so color me very happy about that. (hic)

This morning we drove south to the most famous town on the Road, Rothenburg au der Tauber. Seriously, this town has to be seen to be believed. It looks like Fantasyland exploded in 12 different ...

... the Tauber valley and the south end of town.

The last leg of the tour sent us up the widest street in town and back to the square. Along the way we stopped in the Franciscan church, the oldest one in town, Teddyland, and a huge Christmas shop. I can only compare this place to the one in Holland, Michigan we went to as kids, and it blew it away. The Germans are very serious about their Christmas decorations; we couldn't even take pictures inside.

I had ...

... Eagle, he is a big bird and so graceful. They had 4 birds flying around at one time.

We walked up to have a look at the castle, we went in and seen the display on Falconry. We were then asked to join the tour through the castle and given English books to read. It was very interesting and quite impressive, but I think they need to spend a heap of money here to restore it and keep it looking good, getting shabby in some places. The floors ...

... of the princely family Hohenlohe, and has been owned by the state of Baden-Württemberg since 1967 when the castle was bought from the estate of Prince Constantin von Hohenlohe, who had encouraged arts-related activities at the castle. Today the castle is home to the Jeunesses Musicales Germany during the summer and for large gatherings and weddings.

When the ...

So, today is the big day, only 2 hours left and my family is going to drive me to Frankfurt and then my flight to Bangkok via Dubai is leaving at 10p.m. (Aaaaaaaaaaaaaah!!!)
But as I'm still not packed and really excited I'm not goint to write that much, only that I'm really looking forward to the trip and hope to tell you guys many nice and interesting stories :)
So, here you soon from Bangkok!!
Adios :)

Marta

... harvested if the temperature gets cold enough for the grapes to freeze on the vines. then the cellarmaster guy calls all his friends, and 20 of them harvest all the grapes by hand in 2 hours. they use this crazy gentle process to get the most concentrated extract from the grapes, and it's almost like syrup. it's the best tasting, sweetest wine ever. i'm a huge fan. we saw it out afterwards, it costs about 40 euros (80 ...

Today we (Dennis, Shawn, Jessi, Teeny, and myself) went to Rothenberg. I wasn't sure what to expect, but had read on the internet that while it was a walled city and one of the best preserved in Germany, it had become something of a tourist trap. Sadly, that was true. Still, the city was worth visiting.

Upon reaching the city by train, we walked to the entrance of the Altstadt, or Old Town. We walked up onto the walkway around the ...

... It was truly incredible to ride through the narrow gate and see the spectacular architectural styling of this old village. From here we rode into the mountains and through lots of tiny quaint villages. All of our morning delays had slowed us up a bit so we arrived in Rothenburg a bit late. Riding into this city really is a magnificent sight as you pass through the one and only gate to get into the city. Caution was in order here since the cobblestone streets ...

... speak in German that I noticed the unconscious association between the German language and utter evil. This, I must imagine, being taken from way too many hours of TV, watching documentaries on WWII with Hitler spouting his rants in German. Once I made the conscious effort to suppress this innate trigger-like reaction, I felt a little better, too much TV as a kid I guess. After WWII the Germans adopted a practice of putting little white and blue 'DO NOT BOMB' signs on ...