No Burgers in Rothenberg

Day 5
We arrived in Rothenberg, another medieval walled city with colorful flower window boxes, cobblestone streets and little brass store signs above the doors. Our charming Hotel Gerberhaus had two breakfast / dining rooms. Darlene and I had a large room with 3 beds. We had beautiful fluffy down comforters and down pillows on each bed. The room was charming with its lovely view of the garden below, and matching light unfinished oak armoire, headboards and table and chairs. The marbled bathroom had a tub. An internet connection was in the hallway just outside our room.

We all walked across the street for a group lunch of asparagus soup, salad, breaded pork cutlets with potatoes, and fruit salad with whipped cream.

We went for an orientation walk, then had free time to explore and dinner on our own. There were so many cute shops with handi crafts. I toured the cathedral which had elaborate wood carvings, and the Crime Museum which had all sorts of strange medieval implements of humilation and torture.

A group of us met for dinner at a Greek restaurant, and we ordered an assortment of food to share. Again, we ate very well, with different kinds of marinated meats and vegetables, Greek salad, and breads.

We met the group in the town square in time for the “Night Watchman,” a man dressed in medieval garb carrying an axe-like weapon. He took us on a twilight tour of the town, talking about various aspects of life in the middle ages, town history from then to WWII and how the town escaped destruction. A huge thunderstorm broke out during the Night Watchman tour, and we finished the tour under the cover of an arched entry of some sort. I went back to the hotel, while others were ready for more exploring at night.

Day 6
We had an incredible buffet breakfast: wonderful assortment of breads, cheeses (like brie, swiss, fresh mozarella), ham, fresh cherries, strawberries, pineapple, melon, fruit salad, cold cuts, muselli, yogurt, and scrambled eggs. We met after breakfast with our luggage, and walked along the medieval wall to our waiting bus.

On the way to Austria, we stopped at Dachau concentration camp, a very sobering stop. We went to a movie in English about concentration camps and the Jews, and the atmosphere was so oppressive and horrifying that I could not bear to look at the facilities. I thought it was fitting that it was a gray and rainy day.

It was still drizzling when we got to our lunch break at a monastery that makes beer in the Bavarian area of Germany. I personally needed a little levity after the Dachau stop. It was a 4 day holiday for the locals, so the place was full of Germans drinking HUGE steins of beer, and eating big portions of meat and potato salad. Our group went in different directions, but many of us sat together drinking and eating with the locals. Some people really DO wear those leiterhosen in Germany!

There was very ornate Rococo style church around the corner, which was interesting. We made another short stop at yet another Rococo church built for a relic, a statue of Christ, which a farmer found in his field, put it in his barn, and later saw the statue crying.

Many of us napped a bit on the bus on the way to Austria...it was the beer! HOME NEXT: Austria / Bavaria