Another scorching day dawned, and we had a lazy morning in the shade. Our desire to explore eventually got the better of us and we went into Sesslach to have a look. It is beautiful, an almost completely preserved medieval town with walls and 3 gates, each with a tower and huge wooden doors (the ones that were closed when we tried to drive through on Monday!). An arched stone bridge with a statue of St Nepomuk on it leads up to the Rothenburg Gate, built in 1543 and currently decorated with boxes of flowers on each of the wooden steps.


 We wandered around admiring all the beautiful buildings, then went into the church of St John the Baptist. The exterior is fairly plain but the interior is just the opposite – wonderfully ornate carvings, gilded statues and a fantastic painted ceiling all leading the eye to the altar and screen of gold and white with yellow drapes.


 Following this we drove through some of the local villages, all beautifully kept and with the same ancient buildings set in rolling countryside of fields and forests. Returning to the van, we had lunch and a siesta in the shade (35° and rising) then got ready to return to Sesslach with our friends for our evening meal.


 They had decided we should experience a proper "Frankische" meal, typical of this area of Franconia, so we went back into Sesslach to the Roter Ochse beer garden. It was really full (obviously the first choice for many people) but we eventually got a table. This was our first experience of a beer garden in Germany and we enjoyed it very much, especially when 2 guys with an accordion and a double bass proceeded to entertain us with traditional German songs, vocals provided by the guests.


 The meals were wonderful: I had thick slices of roast beef with hot radish sauce, cranberries and traditional Thuringian dumplings, sort of mashed potato balls, and Hubby had a huge pork on the bone with dumpings and sauerkraut. It was one of the tastiest meals we have had this holiday – washed down with local Radler beer and in good company.