Walking the Watch

So, after a hearty supper, we joined the Night Watchman on the steps of the Town Hall along with a hundred or so others.  Though we’d walked around the old city earlier in the day, we were looking forward to hearing a few different stories and, from the little we’d heard last evening, to a few giggles as well.

He walked, we followed.  From time to time, he stopped by a bench or a step and climbed upon it to address the ever-growing audience.  His stories were interesting, well recounted and his humour was dry as a bone.  Those without English as their first language possibly missed a fair number of his asides, sadly.  But he was patient, waited for the slowest of the group to arrive before starting to speak and did his best when challenged by vehicles in narrow streets and the odd busker.  In fact, he only had to threaten use of his halberd on one single occasion!

Overlooking the double bridge, the view was splendid.  The sun was just beginning to set and the ochre houses shone beautifully in the evening light.

In yesterday’s post, I made reference to “the famous double bridge”.  To be truthful, we had no idea why it’s famous and could find nothing about it in our guide books.  Actually, I had slotted it into my mental folder marked “find out later”, but a lack of internet last evening meant that I couldn’t.  However, the Night Watchman told the story of the end of WW2, when the German army conceded Rothenburg to a particularly considerate American official, negotiating the deal on that very bridge.

So there we were.  The NightWatchman bade us farewell and wished us a peaceful night.  Goodnight Rothenburg!

Walk with us in Rothenburg

Here we are in the foyer of the Hotel Eisenhut, ready to go.  Have we got everything?

Come on then, out of the door and turn left, up Herrngasse, one of the oldest streets in town.  We’re heading towards the city walls.

 

There are already a few people out and about, though the sky is overcast and there’s a light breeze this morning.  Those clouds look a little threatening but we’re optimistic.

There are the inevitable photographers all over too (though we can’t complain about that, when we are carrying cameras as well).

I think it’d be great to have the time do do this, instead.

Anyway, just come inside this small, old Franciscan church where it’s peaceful and rather lovely.  It dates from 1285 and is beautifully maintained.

We’ll turn left here and walk down the side of the old Kloster, following the suggested walking tour route but also drawn to that potential view at the end of the street.

Isn’t it lovely?  The Tauber Valley stretches out in front of us and there’s a fine view of the famous Double Bridge down there, too.

Walking along the original city boundary, we look back and are delighted once again by what we see.

The old city sits on a leafy outcrop and those terracotta roof tiles contrast so well with the fresh green trees, don’t you think?

Through the gateway then and into the castle gardens.  There’s no castle here any more but this small park leads to another fine viewpoint and the gardens are rather lovely too.

We can see another part of the Tauber Valley with a few more groups of ochre-painted houses down there amongst the trees.  This is a beautiful part of the world, for sure.

We’ll turn around and go back through the impressive outer gate of the castle, which is the only part still here.  I love the little roof turrets and the curved walls.

Watch out for boiling tar being poured through the mouth of that face though, won’t you?  Life in medieval times could be dangerous and there’s no knowing what pranks the folks here get up to these days!

It looks like it’s worth the risk, though, because not only is there an attractive street through there, there seem to be fewer groups of tourists in this part of town too.

There’s a pretty little flower covered hotel in this small street too, with an imaginative base for a dining table.  There are so many small lanes and passages, we could spend an age exploring every one.

These small streets usually open up to another, larger thoroughfare which we can recognise, because the city is really quite compact.  This time, we find ourselves on the street which leads to the Klingen tower, on the northern edge of the walled part of the city.

We won’t climb up there to the ramparts (we have sore knees and achy backs to consider after all) but will follow them at street level around for a while before turning right and heading back into the city.

I love these street corners and the buildings which sit so comfortably on them.  This hotel has an interesting shop at ground level and is painted just the right shade to contrast with the deep green shutters.  The red flowers in the window boxes are the perfect finishing touch, don’t you agree?

The speciality of Rothenburg is the Schneeball, made from a baked dough with a sugar coating.  Having seen this window display we wonder whether we’ll indulge ourselves here, but thinking about it, decide to leave that till later.

We’ll have a drink instead (my ice coffee is delicious) and now we’re sitting in the biergarten where people are ordering lunch, my hero has decided that he might be able to manage a little something after all.

Another delicious flammkuchen which we can share, of course!  We rather like it here in the Reichs-Kuchenmeister inn’s garden, overlooking the St Jakob’s churchyard and book a table for supper tonight.  Are you ok with that?

In the meantime, we find the exterior of the Jakobskirche interesting, though we don’t go inside to see the rock crystal which is said to contain a drop of Christ’s blood.  Plenty do, though.

Instead, we walk back through the narrow streets towards the White Tower and the Roder Arch.

The watchtower is a popular place to visit and we can see quite a few people watching out from up there.  We’ll stay on terra firma, though and follow the wall around just a little further, to the star attraction, the Plonlein and the Siebers Tower.

It’s clear why this is the most popular photograph taken in Rothenburg and I’m amazed that I managed to take this one without more than a handful of people in it!  We’ll sit a while and take it all in, shall we?

Looking the other way, towards the market place,

it’s hard to think we drove through there yesterday afternoon, isn’t it?  It was especially difficult because our hybrid car doesn’t make any noise when driving slowly, so the pedestrians don’t get much of a warning, either. 

Whilst we sit here, let’s go over to Mauro’s ice cream parlour and get some, shall we?  Watching the world go by is something we all love to do and here would seem to be the perfect place, especially as a full sized coach has just driven up that street.  The driver must have nerves of steel, even if he is a professional!

It’s our last stop before the market place where there’s a small farmer’s market on today.  If we turn left here, we have only a few steps to go to our hotel.

There it is, yellow with the blue and white awnings.  We have time to put our feet up for a while, to blog, read and draw for a couple of hours before returning to the beer garden for an early supper, because tonight, we’re going to go with the Night Watchman as planned.

All right, yes, you can come too!

Ah, Bavaria!

A different landscape today.  No river to follow, just the autobahn from Wiesbaden through Hessen and into Bavaria, to meet our dear friends for lunch.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue – we were looking forward to seeing them.

 

Lunch had been planned in the biergarten, but just before we arrived, the heavens opened and we had to make a run from car to a table inside the Schluchthof.  Though it would have been lovely to have enjoyed lunch in the fresh air, it didn’t matter – we were in good company, the food was delicious and of course, there were plenty of stories to share.  By the time we’d finished lunch, the sun had come out again and we spent a bonus half hour sitting in the garden before we had to start the next part of our journey.

How we wish we could do this more often – how lovely it would be to simply ring them one morning and say “see you later”.  But never mind – it was great to spend time with them this lunchtime and we are lucky that we were able to do that.

From there, it was a fairly short drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This is a real tourist hub and more than anywhere else we’ve been so far, we’ve heard English spoken – with accents from all parts of the world.  It was pretty busy this afternoon but as the time wore on, the numbers of visitors decreased and right now, I can hear only a few voices outside our window.

We’re here just two nights, to give my hero a day off driving and to make the most of being here in this beautiful old town.  We’ll walk around it properly tomorrow, so for now, we settled for a short walk around the market place and a look inside Kathe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Shop.

This evening, making our way back to the hotel from dinner, we came across the Nightwatchman, starting his evening tour.  Looking remarkably like a young Eric Idle, his tour sounded fun – perhaps tomorrow evening, we’ll go with him.

But for now, we have journals to write, books to read and blogs to update.  The view from our window at the Eisenhut hotel is of exactly that – the iron helmet hangs over a quiet street.  We’re hoping for a quiet night too and hope you’ll join us for a walk around Rothenburg tomorrow? 

Got your comfy shoes ready?

Along the river

We’ve spent most of the day exploring the river Rhine, starting from Koblenz where we stayed last night, and ending our day in Wiesbaden. It’s been a fairly warm and humid day with the inevitable thunderstorm this afternoon which cleared the air and left us feeling more comfortable this evening.

Our first stop this morning was Rhens, where many years ago I’d stayed overnight with my parents, en route to or from the Alps where we’d spent our summer holiday.  Such a picturesque village; we couldn’t drive straight through without stopping for a few minutes to take photographs and marvel at the lovely old buildings.

The succession of castles and vineyards prompted many stops along the way, but there was little traffic on the road and it was easy to slow down, wind the windows down and hang out there with a camera.

We parked the car in a few places to have a wander around.  My hero was keen to stop in Boppard, where he’d stayed on a school holiday just a few years ago ( )  and we couldn’t pass straight by the Lorelei (above) without a closer look to see if we were missing something.

Most of the time, we simply ooohed and aaaahed at the glorious scenes around us.  Oh, and took a photograph, of course.

When we reached Bingen, we decided to take the ferry across to Rüdesheim, which provoked many happy memories for me.  I was particularly keen to visit the Niederwalddenkmal and to walk through the Drosselgasse again.  I’d been there a couple of times previously, most memorably as a teenager with Karin’s family and had fond memories of both.

The ferry across the river was remarkably efficient and in no time at all, we were making the ten minute journey and spotting the gondola lift up there to the memorial.  My hero decided straight away that he’d drive up there and meet Mary and I at the lift station.

First, though, a spot of lunch was called for, and following a short wander up the narrow – and rather smarter than we remembered – Drosselgasse, we went our separate ways.  Mary and I hopped into a small gondola for the peaceful ride through the vineyards up to the summit, whilst Mark went back to the car.

It was glorious up there.  So quiet, warm and very clear. 

We were quite sorry to reach the summit.

Until we got closer to Germania, that is.  I’d remembered the memorial as being very impressive indeed and for a fifteen year old, that was quite something!  I didn’t remember it being quite so developed, didn’t recall the terraces and the steps and viewing platforms at all, but all of that made for a great visit this afternoon, for sure.  The mass planting of lavender resulted in a heady aroma around those lower terraces and the overall effect was magnificent.

A heroine such as Germania should be just like this.  Long flowing locks, standing confidently with sword and crown.  She’s a suitable figurehead for the united Germany of 1871 and stands proudly above the most glorious landscape.

What’s more, the thunderclouds were the perfect backdrop for her this afternoon, gathering as they did whilst we were there and causing us to make a quick dash for the car as the heavens opened.  Did someone suggest a Wagnerian soundtrack?

We left the rain behind as we drove to Wiesbaden, though it caught us up  shortly after we arrived and the heavens opened once again.  But thankfully, the rain has passed and we’ve had a pleasant couple of hours in this elegant city, finishing the day in the Paulaner Bierstube.

Who said that we’re leading Mary astray and teaching her bad habits?

Blue skies, green fields

Though the sky was pink as the sun rose over the brewery this morning.

Time to leave Kempten and head southwest towards Bodensee.  Not much traffic around, we expected a fairly easy run as far as the border, but from then we’d need to pay attention, because our German hire car has neither a Swiss nor an Austrian Motorway Pass.

We really enjoyed the scenery of the Deutsches Alpenstrasse and the miles passed quickly.  In no time at all it seemed, we were nearing the turn for Lindau.

We’d turned off the Navi in favour of a map on my knee – I don’t keep updating our time of arrival every minute or so, and mispronounce placenames so badly that they are unrecognisable.  So, arriving suddenly at the junction near the airfield sign on the map and seeing a motorway sign up there, we made a quick (but mistaken) decision to carry on the same road. 

Ooops.  Not only had we gone wrong, but there wasn’t another turn until we reached Kressbronn, which you can see is a good deal further on.  And guess where the only traffic jam of the trip was to be found? 

You’re right.

But hey, we’re patient.  We can manage.  Except our hire car engine stops as soon as my hero takes his foot off the pedal…and then starts again.  And stops.  and starts. And we hope we have a good battery.  Because this starting and stopping gets on our nerves in a traffic jam!

At last, we were on our way again, back along the lake shore, or at least, a little above it.  There are cloud banks over the water and the whole scene is rather lovely and very peaceful.

We drive through mile upon mile of apple orchards before reaching Lindau and the suburbs of Bregenz.  Suddenly, we found ourselves driving over the border into Vorarlberg, Austria.

These days, crossing Schengen borders is a bit of a non-event, because there’s no need to show passports or anything.  It was interesting to see how this small piece of Austria has transformed itself into a bit of a shoppers paradise, with cheaper petrol and other goods than the neighbouring villages in Germany and Switzerland.

We had no need of fuel and didn’t feel like shopping so carried on along the road.  But my hero is very good spotting things which might interest me and guess what suddenly appeared on the right hand side?

Only a true hero can recognise a Wolford sign at a couple of hundred metres and it takes one with a particular skill to notice that there’s a factory shop there as well.  Guess where we went next?

Well, he did insist!  Usually, Wolford tights are a luxury and when I find them reduced in a sale or in somewhere like Bicester Village, then I’m very happy.  Here, the “ordinary” designs were on sale for 18 Euros, compared with the normal price of around £25 at home.  I wasn’t really tempted by those with chains attached, or perhaps with Swarovski crystals embedded in the “seam” – even though that particular design looked stunning on one of the assistants.   But thinking that such things might be a little much in a Cotswold village, I thought better of it!

Driving away, we passed by a Hanro store too and I realised that this area is renowned for fine textiles.  The not-so-far-away areas around the Swiss cities of St Gallen and Winterthur have a long tradition of embroidered fabrics and lace and I suppose it’s no coincidence that Bernina sewing machines are made just along the lake in Steckborn.

 

Well, a hero’s patience is not without its limits, and so we drove on, to the Swiss border, where there was a jam. 

We thought we’d better get out passports out, just in case.

No need – we drove straight through without any fuss or question.  Apart from the sign which welcomed us to Switzerland with a friendly “Gruezi!”, the only change of note was a sign on our Navi:

That’s all right then.

Within minutes, we were there, behind a tractor, a car and a bicycle, pootling alongside the railway lines with a distant view of the Alps.  Were we happy?

We climbed higher into the countryside, heading for Appenzell, where we planned to buy some cheese and apples and have a picnic lunch.

But we failed in our timing, arriving shortly after the whole town had shut up shop and gone for lunch. 

Oh well, an enforced snooze in the car was called for, the quarter hours counted by the church bell.  The minute we heard “one thirty”, we closed the windows again, gathered our things and returned to the well stocked cheese shop to make a hard decision.  Buying cheese in Appenzell isn’t quite like ordering a pound of Cheddar!

Not only did we succeed in choosing the most delicious Säntis Bergkäse, a conversation with the shopkeeper resulted in her removing the rind and cutting the slices into perfect picnic sizes for us.  Since we can no longer travel with our Swiss Army Knives in our bags, such impromptu picnics can prove challenging.  So, there we are, two brötli, a couple of apples and eine viertel of cheese, cut in half.  Eaten in the fresh air, with the river just beneath us, it tasted divine.

And not a Weissbier in sight!  (well, someone has to drive….)

Having eaten, snoozed a little and enjoyed a little walk around one of our favourite Swiss towns, we were ready to be gone.  Just a shortish drive over the pass then, and down towards Lake Zürich and the small town of Rapperswil, where we’re staying.

It’s lovely to be back here again, by the lake.  The weather is perfect and we’ve already bought our tickets for tomorrow, when we’ll leave the car behind and travel by train into Zürich, have a potter around and maybe a spot of lunch, before coming back here by steamer in the afternoon.

Bliss!