Day Trip to Rothenburg

Friday, July 15, 2016
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany
This morning we checked out of our hotel and walked to the train station. On our way I noticed one of the cigarette vending machines that Bryan had seen yesterday while he was looking for a bankomat in order to get money out to do laundry. We also crossed the street near a kindergarten and a friendly crossing guard stepped out into the crosswalk to assist us in crossing. :)

We took 3 trains to get to Rothenburg . This is a stop that is supposed to be one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in Europe. It did not disappoint. The town was quaint and beautiful, and when we arrived in the morning it was not overrun by tourists like ourselves yet. We stashed our backpacks in a locker (unfortunately the stroller didn't fit) and walked around. We particularly enjoyed the gardens by the church with a view overlooking the town and the valley.

It began to threaten rain, so we headed back into the little town where we could dodge into a shop if need be. We looked for lunch. Bryan was still wanting to get some actual breaded schnitzel, so we looked at various menus until we found a restaurant that had what we wanted. In the meantime, I stepped into one of the Christmas shops and looked at all the wooden, German Christmas ornaments. What fun! We ate lunch, and got breaded schnitzel. While we were there a UPS truck drove up and did a delivery (which Desmond was excited about because his grandpa works for UPS) . The clock in the square struck the top of the hour and I stepped outside to snap a photo of the uninspiring show as the little windows came open. There was a replica clock inside the restaurant, so Bryan and Desmond got to see it too. Desmond, for one, was impressed. He kept wanting the little shutters to open again.

After lunch we folded up the stroller and walked the walls which surround the town. That is always fun. :) All in all it was a nice day trip.

We took 3 trains to Frankfurt. We had found out there was a Chipotle is Frankfurt and decided it was close enough to the train station we would go in search of it. About 3/4 of a mile was well worth the familiar meal. Desmond was excited as well. "Potle!!"

We retraced our steps and took yet another train (our seventh today, but who's counting?) to the Hyatt in Maines. This was a really nice hotel and our room had a beautiful view of the river. The room, particularly the bathroom, was very nice. It had a bath, spa-style shower head that rains down from above and also a hand held massage shower head. There were two separate water controls. So, if desired, someone could bathe and another person could shower simultaneously. It also had heated mirrors and heated towel racks. These I put to use drying out the last few items of damp apparel we had from the downpour.

The only bummer with this hotel was our stay did not include free drinks or breakfast . But you can't have everything all the time. ;)

Bryan spent part of the evening trying to figure out how to make our river cruise plan work for tomorrow. I hunkered down in the hotel room and enjoyed the river view while Desmond played.

We crashed by 8PM, allowing Desmond a respectable bedtime. Although we were tired, Bryan and I ended up not being able to sleep very well. The comforter was very warm (maybe down?) and the air conditioning was functional but not impressive. Also we had had an early dinner and got a bit hungry, but were reluctant to dip into our food stash as we are unsure when we will find more peanut butter and jelly to purchase.

We will see what tomorrow holds. :)

~ Merilee

Our stop in Rothenburg was great, but small towns like that are trickier to find free hotel stays, so we had to make it a day trip.

We headed on to Mainz to set us up for the next day's Rhine cruise. The Hyatt that we stayed at was modern and very fancy. We got our room for free from a Hyatt credit card that also covered our stay in Boston. The card gave me a status that got us nicer rooms, but no free breakfast like Mer gets at Hiltons.

At this point, we are both pretty tired. It's been fun having Desmond along, but caring for him has taken away most of our relaxation time.

This day was also the end of our rail pass. It doesn't cover Belgium or France where we will be heading next. So no more 1st class train rides.

~ Bryan
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Comments

Foremans
2016-07-16

Beautiful town. It's almost surreal - like visiting D-land. Thanks for sharing.

Andrea
2016-07-17

What a pretty town! When you mentioned walking the wall, I pictured something like Lucca, but it appears to be quite different. Interesting!

Jaynie Roberts
2016-07-17

You write the most interesting blog entries. I love catching up.

2025-02-16

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