Day 25: Rothenburg ob der Tauber

August 15, 2015

We enjoyed some last hours this morning with Franz and Eva, and Oma (Eva's mom). As is well known to people surrounding Crazyguyonabike or Warm Showers, bicycling involves a fraternity of generally like minded people, and when they meet they can often become fast friends almost immediately. This is how we feel about Franz and Eva, and we think they felt the same. Now we are glad to think that we have a trusted base in the centre of Germany, as well as friends that might one day come to us in Canada. This is so much that case, that if for instance we decided we should have ebikes here, we could send 10,000 euros and ask Franz to go get some, with not the slightest qualm for the money or for his ability to select according to our request. That is a very strong friend to make in just two days!

Goodbye Oma and Eva - you were so nice to us!

Today was really a day about strong friends, because our next step was to meet Jurgen and Birgit and Joachim and Karla, in Rothenberg ob der Tauber. Jurgen et all are the parents of Christian and Marius, young men who moved in the last seven years beyond being strong friends into near family status. Jurgen and the others got up at 6:00 a.m. near Leipzig to drive to meet us, and as I write this, they are driving back. That's over 6 hours of driving, just because we were somewhere in the vicinity!

We could not remember and somehow failed to record the name of the good, and cheap, guesthouse in Rothenburg that we had found last year. So we asked Franz to scan the listings and do some phoning. We needed a place that would store our bikes from early morning, so we could walk Rothenberg with the Leipzig contingent without impediment. Franz did find a gorgeous place, just outside of town (but still walking distance). It has a large room, patio, and immaculate and beautiful bathroom. We also noticed the remains of a very nice breakfast, as we arrived early to store the bikes.

Franz walked us in to town, and handed us off to the Christian and Marius parents. We certainly felt as if Germany was watching over us, as for these days we have friends/guides/ interpreters at all times.

One good thing, though, is that Jurgen et al had never been to Rothenburg, so we could be the guides a bit, and also feel as though we had dragged them down from Leipzig for something interesting (other than talking to boring Grampies).

And Rothenburg is genuinely an interesting place. It's origins date from about 1000 a.d. Between then and 1400 it prospered on a trade route crossroads, and eventually became an independent city state. During this time, it was fortified, and eventually completely surrounded by a tall wall. Because of continued growth, a second wall was constructed outside the first. These walls, dating from about 1200 are still intact! Things went sour for Rothenburg in the early 1600's, with the 30 years' war. All kinds of armies occupied the place, and by 1650 it had lost half its inhabitants. Pretty much nothing happened in terms of development from then until late in the 19th century. The wars had turned the town into a sort of fossil, until it was discovered in its original state and became a tourism sensation. There was one last risk, in that 40 percent of the city was destroyed in WWII. A story is told about how the Americans were ready to level the place,just at the very end of the war, but an enlightened US general and a German officer arranged a surrender, and the city was saved. Following the war, international donations permitted reconstruction. Along the wall are the names of individuals and companies that contributed. It is gratifying to see the various countries from which donors came, and to think that they recognized the importance to the world of this place.

Because the folks from Leipzig had been driving for hours since early morning, they were keen to sit for fruhstuck right away. We had already eaten at Franz and Eva's, so I made my first imprudent choice of the day, by having apple strudel with ice cream and whipped cream, with hot chocolate, for second breakfast. Dodie, smarter, I think stuck with the hot chocolate. We ordered in German, impressing (I hope) our friends. I noted a bit ruefully that there was no point in squirrelling away any of the buns, meat, and cheese that came, because we would be in the guesthouse tonight.

We then walked towards the wall, in the direction to take us past our last year's guest house. Last year, the place had been recommended to us by some Australian cyclists we met out on the road. They too could not remember the name of the guesthouse, but they gave us a postcard on which you could see where it was. When we got to town, we just showed the postcard to the first tourist, and they immediately directed us to the spot from which the postcard was shot. This was easy, because the photo in the postcard is the most common photo taken in Rothenburg, the one that is also coincidentally in every blog of cyclists we pass here. And this is it: (Coming soon)

Jurgen and Dodie are back to their old tricks

A few Asian photographers, but where are the rest?

A wedding at the Rathaus. Note the groom's traditional looking costume

The first dirndls we have seen this trip

Those famous fancy been steins. Not sure if anyone actually uses them.

I walked over to take a photo of the exact name and door of the place, so we would have it for next time. As I approached, the sweet little man who runs the place opened the door. I introduced myself and explained that I had stayed there last year, and so on. He looked at me benignly, but I suspect he did not understand a word.

The guesthouse that we could have stayed at, but did nothave a photo like this to remind us.

Once at the wall, we climbed stairs near a gate and began to walk around the perimeter. The walkway is roofed, so it is also good for sun protection. We do not have the heat and sun today an in the past week, but it still got quite strong. As we walked along, I could look out the conveniently spaced portals, designed for shooting safely at the enemy. All I could see, unfortunately, was parked tour busses.

It's about 5 km around the wall, but after maybe 3 km we decided to descend. Lunch time, for hard working defenders! We happened to descend beside the hotel Reichskuchenmeister, a beautiful one beside the St Jakobs Lutheran church. We were shown to a table on an outside terrace, and could see that like in the Beer Gardens of the past days, everyone was being served the totally authentic dishes of the region. Dodie spotted a man nearby with what turned out to be "Schmankerlpfanne". We found it later, on the menu page for "pfifferlinge", which are chanterelle mushrooms. It was a pan of pork tenderloin, sauteed with mushrooms and covered with cheese. So yummy! But also enough for two. We each had one.

While I asked for one of my new favourites, schorle made from half coke and half lemonade, Dodie surprised me by ordering Radler. Evil Franz may have made a beer convert!

Suitably reinforced by enough food for a week, we proceeded to walk thorugh the St Jakobs church. This used to be a (proper, catholic, gothic) church when it was built in 1311, but it got reformation-ed in 1544. Now it is rather plain inside, but it has two claims to fame. First, as St Jakobs church, it is big on the pilgrimige to Santiago de Compostella, and even has for sale lots of cockle shell stuff, as well as a statue of St James out front. Next, in rather catholic style, it has a blood of christ relic, in the form of some drops in a crystal, suspended in an elaborate carved altar by famous Wurzburg sculptor Tilman Riemenschneider. It must be famous, because this is the first church we have encountered that charges admission.

Further to tourists, by this time the streets had fairly filled with tourists, who seem to take time to wake up and exit their guesthouses, or to pour off arriving tour busses. Satisfying as it was to see lots of people, I still say the Asian ones are lacking. It makes me feel off balance not to have their familiar presence

We led our friends to a sort of museum, which is a fachewerk house from the 1400's that somehow got preserved in its original state. It is filled with household items and artisans tools from the period, and it very atmospheric, with low ceilings and steep stairways.

The two visits had tired us out, so we naturally sought an eis cafe. Just around the corner from the museum house was one place with a lot of good shade, but it seemed to us that they served only full meals. Jurgen was undeterred, and he went in to interrogate the kitchen about eis. It turned out that they indeed had a full eis menu. We just chose sort of normal (for here) bechers (large sundae cups). But what came were giant and elaborate creations. Now for the first time I was really struggling to finish and ice cream product! I managed it, but may be cured about eis for a while. Maybe for a whole day!

We slowly walked with the group back toward their car. Birgit's back had begun to hurt, and Dodie lent her one walking stick. So now we had two old ladies with canes in our group. It's strange that in other capacities (especially on a bike) they are quite brave and zippy.

After the mandatory kiss and cry, we trudged back to our guest house. The temperatures have moderated and the guest house is large and breezy, so we are now feeling infinitely better than we have in the past week. On the other hand, we have been doing short days and playing around with friends long enough that we are now behind our schedule. With rain forecast for tomorrow, it is conceivable that we will jump a train and skip forward on or route, to Donauworth, or maybe even go crazy and hit Augsburg. It's all part of the fun, though.

Lots of fun trinkets in the stores, like these garden frogs

There are many models of these ceramic houses, some representing exact buildings in this town. No way to get one home intact!

The family on the restaurant terrace near the church

A provocative Eve at the church. Hey, how come I may have to wear long shorts to be allowed in to church in Italy?

Same statue with a funny guy in the background

Hey, now I can see why those guys thought the tree stump near our tent was a drinking and smoking spot!

Here's a new one. for 59 to 99 euros, you could rent a Porsche or a Ferrari for a 20 minute self driven spin on a no speed limit German road

Italian grapes at a fruit store. Soon we will be there to sample them in their native land

The bathroom at our guesthouse tonight is not spectacular, but still good - the place is really nice overall at a good price of 50 euros

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