There was only one museum in Berlin David really wanted to see called the Pergamon Museum. He easily navigated our way there on the tram. It is so cool how he figures out the mass transit systems everywhere we go!!!
We arrived at the museum and, of course, there was a line waiting to buy tickets. I guess we waited about 45 minutes to get in but the weather was pleasant so it was OK. The building itself is gigantic and gorgeous! The construction of this building started in 1910 and the museum opened in 1930. David had read about this museum and wanted to see the original-sized reconstructed monumental buildings such as the Pergamon Altar and the Market Gate of Miletus. Luckily they had audio guides available so I could learn what I was looking at. These displays are unbelievably beautiful and it is amazing that they were able to re-construct these inside a museum. I can't really describe them . . . you'll have to wait for the pictures. In essence, German archeologists deconstructed, labeled, then transported, and reconstructed these massive altars, gates, and facades within the museum. Leave it to the Germans to pull of these incredible engineering feats!
We spent so much time at this museum that we didn't have time for anything else that day. We went back to the hotel and decided we wanted Italian food for dinner. In our room the hotel provided a magazine wherein the hotel employees recommended their favorite places to eat in the neighborhood so I consulted it for an Italian restaurant. One of the employees recommended basi'l which sounded good because they make their own pasta there.
bas'l was a very cool, hip restaurant!!! David and I both sat on the same side of an elevated table on a high, cushion-y couch with our backs against the wall. This positioned us to face the kitchen which was open and located in the front of the restaurant. Of course, it was interesting to watch. We had great wine with a cheese plate for a starter. When you order pasta you pick the kind of noodles you want and the sauce. David had a gorgonzola cheese sauce with some kind of nuts in it and fettuccine noodles; it was a sweet sauce. I had bolognese sauce with regular spaghetti noodles. Guess I was feeling like traditional spaghetti. Both dishes were delicious! We wanted dessert but we were too full. We decided to walk back to the hotel and then if we wanted dessert, we could get it in our hotel restaurant.
So guess what? We did decide we wanted dessert. I had a great, very dense brownie and David had a gooey chocolate torte. How could we possibly be expected to go to sleep without dessert??? Each day we think we're going to get bored or get homesick or both, but we keep finding incredible things to do, interesting people to meet, and delicious things to eat! We fell asleep watching the international track meet being broadcast from Moscow. When they interviewed the athletes, David translated for me, and of course, he made everything up, but it didn't matter. What a wonderful vacation we are having!!!
MONDAY IN BERLIN (August 19, 2013)
What a fun, different day we had today! We were dragging a bit from yesterday's long walking tour of Berlin, so we thought we'd try to stay off of our feet a little more than we have. David decided he needed a haircut and I decided I needed a manicure. He also wanted to go to Zinn Figuren, a store he had read about where they make and paint their own metal toy soldiers. We had also read about a department store there, Kaufhaus des Westens, more widely known as KaDeWe and we wanted to see how it compared to Harrod's. It was built in 1905 and opened in 1907.
After breakfast we headed out to check out a nail shop just one street over from the hotel. We found it easily but they had no openings for appointments for the entire week! We walked a few more blocks to a place where David was told he could get his haircut and it was a walk in place so he decided to get a haircut then and there. I walked back to the hotel and called the nail salon at KaDeWe and was able to get an appointment for 6:30 that evening.
When David returned, we headed out to do a little shopping. David was able to navigate the subway to get us to KaDeWe, located in southwestern Berlin. First off we decided to have something to eat. When we entered the store a security guard greeted us and David asked him where we could have lunch. He named like five restaurants in the store!!! We went to the chocolate cafe (of course) and you know we both loved that. I had an ice cream sundae with chocolate ice cream and vanilla sauce which was wonderful and David had warm rice pudding with cinnamon. He said it was the best dessert of the trip! Really???
We then decided to part ways for awhile and David left me there while he went to Zinn Figuren to shop. We set a time to meet later at the department store. I carefully walked around each and every floor. It was chock full of designer shops and designer shoes but I really didn't find anything I wanted to buy. The store itself was much more friendly and welcoming than Harrod's in London, that's for sure!
I finished shopping before the set time to meet David so I went outside to enjoy the nice weather and people watch. I walked across the plaza to a bank and withdrew more euro. I still had a little while to wait so I sat down on the steps on the side of the department store. I sat there for quite a while watching the world go by and then . . . up walks a security guard!!! I wasn't allowed to sit on the steps because it was posted "no loitering." Of course David happened to walk up right when I was being scolded by the security guard.
He was surprised I didn't buy anything -- he had better luck at Zinn Figuren. He purchased six marching German soldiers manufactured sometime between the two world wars; some were made from a material called Lineol and others were made from something called Elastolin. He also purchased another collectible soldier, metal, that was made and painted there that was a Wehrmacht soldier from 1944 in Winter dress with an MG 42 machine gun.
We still had awhile to wait until my nail appointment so we sat in the plaza and had coke lights and then walked up and down the street in front of KaDeWe where there were many more stores. We ducked into some of these stores and marveled at the cool and hip clothes.
While I got my nails done, David wandered around the toy department at KaDeWe. He said it was the biggest collection of die cast cars, trucks, farm equipment, airplanes, and motorcycles he had ever seen. He described it as die cast heaven! He said just think of a car old or new and they had it in 1/24 or 1/18 scale in die cast.
We took the subway back to our hotel offloaded our shopping bags and decided because we had been out shopping all day and were tired, we would just eat at the hotel. We had a couple of gin and tonics first, of course! I don't really remember what I had for dinner so it must not have been great. David had "pasta pockets" which were large raviolis stuffed with spinach and cheese. He really liked his dinner. Then it was bedtime for us!
After breakfast we headed out to check out a nail shop just one street over from the hotel. We found it easily but they had no openings for appointments for the entire week! We walked a few more blocks to a place where David was told he could get his haircut and it was a walk in place so he decided to get a haircut then and there. I walked back to the hotel and called the nail salon at KaDeWe and was able to get an appointment for 6:30 that evening.
When David returned, we headed out to do a little shopping. David was able to navigate the subway to get us to KaDeWe, located in southwestern Berlin. First off we decided to have something to eat. When we entered the store a security guard greeted us and David asked him where we could have lunch. He named like five restaurants in the store!!! We went to the chocolate cafe (of course) and you know we both loved that. I had an ice cream sundae with chocolate ice cream and vanilla sauce which was wonderful and David had warm rice pudding with cinnamon. He said it was the best dessert of the trip! Really???
We then decided to part ways for awhile and David left me there while he went to Zinn Figuren to shop. We set a time to meet later at the department store. I carefully walked around each and every floor. It was chock full of designer shops and designer shoes but I really didn't find anything I wanted to buy. The store itself was much more friendly and welcoming than Harrod's in London, that's for sure!
I finished shopping before the set time to meet David so I went outside to enjoy the nice weather and people watch. I walked across the plaza to a bank and withdrew more euro. I still had a little while to wait so I sat down on the steps on the side of the department store. I sat there for quite a while watching the world go by and then . . . up walks a security guard!!! I wasn't allowed to sit on the steps because it was posted "no loitering." Of course David happened to walk up right when I was being scolded by the security guard.
He was surprised I didn't buy anything -- he had better luck at Zinn Figuren. He purchased six marching German soldiers manufactured sometime between the two world wars; some were made from a material called Lineol and others were made from something called Elastolin. He also purchased another collectible soldier, metal, that was made and painted there that was a Wehrmacht soldier from 1944 in Winter dress with an MG 42 machine gun.
We still had awhile to wait until my nail appointment so we sat in the plaza and had coke lights and then walked up and down the street in front of KaDeWe where there were many more stores. We ducked into some of these stores and marveled at the cool and hip clothes.
While I got my nails done, David wandered around the toy department at KaDeWe. He said it was the biggest collection of die cast cars, trucks, farm equipment, airplanes, and motorcycles he had ever seen. He described it as die cast heaven! He said just think of a car old or new and they had it in 1/24 or 1/18 scale in die cast.
We took the subway back to our hotel offloaded our shopping bags and decided because we had been out shopping all day and were tired, we would just eat at the hotel. We had a couple of gin and tonics first, of course! I don't really remember what I had for dinner so it must not have been great. David had "pasta pockets" which were large raviolis stuffed with spinach and cheese. He really liked his dinner. Then it was bedtime for us!
SUNDAY IN BERLIN (CONTINUED) (August 18, 2013)
We thanked and tipped our tour guide Sam and bid him farewell. It was about to rain so we shared a cab back to the Hotel with a man named Chris who was staying at the Circus Hostel across the street from the Circus Hotel. Chris was a computer engineer from Montreal on temporary assignment with an automotive company outside of Frankfurt, Germany.
That night we found the real Mexican Restaurant, called Dolores. It was in the same neighborhood as Escados, so we walked there, about a mile each way. It was a small place, with maybe 8 or 10 tables lining the perimeter of the small restaurant. When we got there, people were streaming in, so we needed to decide quickly what we wanted and get a table. We each got a burrito made with the stuff we each wanted. They were fresh, hot, good, and big. Yeah, you guessed it, as big as your head! After eating French and German food for a couple of weeks, it was so good to get a messy burrito! We also got some chips and some guacamole and a chipotle sauce. We shared a table with a German couple and when they left, a Polish couple sat down with us; it was that crowded!
After dinner we shuffled back to the hotel for some much needed rest. I said this in an earlier blog, but David's feet are feeling the cumulative effect of all of our walking. He said his feet are really getting beat up, but he's not going to stop now!
SUNDAY IN BERLIN, GERMANY (August 18, 2013)
The Circus Hotel is a very "green" hotel. For instance, they do not automatically provide soap, shampoo, etc. in the hotel room, you have to request it at the front desk. Accordingly, they had a very limited buffet for breakfast but it was a very good selection. There is a sign there that asks that you not waste food. The coffee there was very good so that made me happy.
I had read online about a "free" walking tour of Berlin that left our hotel around 1:00 p.m. It's the kind of tour where you just tip the guide at the end of the tour. Since it was our first day in Berlin, we thought it was the perfect thing to get the lay of the land. We went down to the lobby and waited for the group to pick us up and get started. Our tour guy was a young British man named Sam who writes for a travel website and conducts tours as well. He was really into the history of Berlin and he was quite knowledgeable and interesting. He walked us to Museum Plaza where we met a few other guests and he pointed out the various museums and told us which ones he recommended and which ones were all in German and maybe not as good for us to see as others.
Sam gave us a very good and detailed explanation of the history of Berlin and West Berlin and East Berlin and the powers who governed them at various times. As we walked he also told us when we were in East Berlin and when we were in West Berlin. We stopped briefly at the largest chocolate store in Berlin called Fassbender and Rausch. It was amazing! They had huge displays made out of chocolate. I will post some pictures soon. The store is huge and on the second floor they have a Chocolate Cafe where some kind of chocolate is in every dish. Believe it or not David and I did NOT buy any chocolate but we tucked the location away in our minds to return later.
Sam then took us to Checkpoint Charlie which I was very excited to see but which turned out to be a tourist spectacle!!! There are actually "actors" there dressed up in Russian military uniforms who you can get your picture taken with and who fake stamp your passport. Sam told us most of them were porn stars at night! I have to say Checkpoint Charlie didn't move me like I thought it would. We stopped for a break there and some people had lunch and David and I had ice cream!
We continued on too see some sections of the Berlin Wall which still exist and that was very moving. Sam told us about how the Wall looked at the time and where the "kill zones" were. He also had some stories about people who tried to cross the wall and were killed and people who successfully crossed the wall. He talked about President Reagan's famous speech when he told Gorbachev "tear down this wall." Of course David and I remember the speech clearly and Sam remarked how much he likes it when "older" people who remember the history personally take his tour!!! That might have lowered his tip!
We then walked to the former Nazi Luftwaffe Office. It was massive as were (are) all Nazi buildings. It is typically drab, stark, and, of course huge by large. It is now being used as the finance office for the German Government. On the end of this building was painted a long mural, painted by the communists depicting "the people" in various forms of industrious endeavors. We continued our walk to an open, green area surrounded by apartments buildings. It was here where Hitler's former bunker existed underground. There was really nothing to identify it as such, other than a small placard. It looked as if most Berliners used the area to walk their dogs.
We concluded our walking tour on the Unter den Linden, the street where the Brandenburg Gate is located. It is a pretty impressive looking gate with the chariot and horse team on top. We also saw the Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of the window to show the crowd below. Our guide told us Queen Elizabeth stayed in this Hotel and was so impressed with it that she bought a 10% interest in the hotel.
I had read online about a "free" walking tour of Berlin that left our hotel around 1:00 p.m. It's the kind of tour where you just tip the guide at the end of the tour. Since it was our first day in Berlin, we thought it was the perfect thing to get the lay of the land. We went down to the lobby and waited for the group to pick us up and get started. Our tour guy was a young British man named Sam who writes for a travel website and conducts tours as well. He was really into the history of Berlin and he was quite knowledgeable and interesting. He walked us to Museum Plaza where we met a few other guests and he pointed out the various museums and told us which ones he recommended and which ones were all in German and maybe not as good for us to see as others.
Sam gave us a very good and detailed explanation of the history of Berlin and West Berlin and East Berlin and the powers who governed them at various times. As we walked he also told us when we were in East Berlin and when we were in West Berlin. We stopped briefly at the largest chocolate store in Berlin called Fassbender and Rausch. It was amazing! They had huge displays made out of chocolate. I will post some pictures soon. The store is huge and on the second floor they have a Chocolate Cafe where some kind of chocolate is in every dish. Believe it or not David and I did NOT buy any chocolate but we tucked the location away in our minds to return later.
Sam then took us to Checkpoint Charlie which I was very excited to see but which turned out to be a tourist spectacle!!! There are actually "actors" there dressed up in Russian military uniforms who you can get your picture taken with and who fake stamp your passport. Sam told us most of them were porn stars at night! I have to say Checkpoint Charlie didn't move me like I thought it would. We stopped for a break there and some people had lunch and David and I had ice cream!
We continued on too see some sections of the Berlin Wall which still exist and that was very moving. Sam told us about how the Wall looked at the time and where the "kill zones" were. He also had some stories about people who tried to cross the wall and were killed and people who successfully crossed the wall. He talked about President Reagan's famous speech when he told Gorbachev "tear down this wall." Of course David and I remember the speech clearly and Sam remarked how much he likes it when "older" people who remember the history personally take his tour!!! That might have lowered his tip!
We then walked to the former Nazi Luftwaffe Office. It was massive as were (are) all Nazi buildings. It is typically drab, stark, and, of course huge by large. It is now being used as the finance office for the German Government. On the end of this building was painted a long mural, painted by the communists depicting "the people" in various forms of industrious endeavors. We continued our walk to an open, green area surrounded by apartments buildings. It was here where Hitler's former bunker existed underground. There was really nothing to identify it as such, other than a small placard. It looked as if most Berliners used the area to walk their dogs.
We concluded our walking tour on the Unter den Linden, the street where the Brandenburg Gate is located. It is a pretty impressive looking gate with the chariot and horse team on top. We also saw the Hotel Adlon where Michael Jackson dangled his baby out of the window to show the crowd below. Our guide told us Queen Elizabeth stayed in this Hotel and was so impressed with it that she bought a 10% interest in the hotel.
SATURDAY TRAVELING FROM ROTHENBURG TO BERLIN (August 17, 2013)
We really hated leaving Rothenburg but we needed to catch our train to Berlin. I had received an "alert" email from the German train authorities but I didn't pay much attention to it because it was in German, however, as far as we could tell, it looked like it just added a stop to our route. Kind of a mistake because the stop it added was the stop we should have gotten off to be rerouted to Berlin on a different train! But I digress.
We had our usual fabulous breakfast at the hotel and were preparing to head to the train station. Uhle told us that her husband, Klaus, was driving another couple to Wurzburg and we could ride along if we wanted to and that would save us from having to change trains two times just to get to Wurzburg. Sounded good to us so we hopped into the van and had about an hour's drive with a very nice young German couple. David sat up front and spoke German with Klaus and I sat in the back and talked to the couple. They were on holiday -- he was on a break from school and she was on a break from working two jobs. Very ambitious young couple and I enjoyed talking to them. The young woman told me she had been to the United States and loved Los Angeles. We found that of the German people we talked to who had been to the States, Los Angeles was their first choice to visit. She had also visited Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. The couple plan to live in the States and the young man hopes to complete his education here.
We had an uneventful train ride for the first leg of the trip and I even asked the ticket taker if our reservations were good (after showing him our tickets) -- in other words, should I have paid attention to the alert I had received. He assured me that everything was fine. We arrived in Gottingen only to discover our train to Berlin was cancelled! Luckily David knew enough German to talk to employees at the station and we were able to add another connection to the trip (and about one and one-half hours extra travel time) and we finally arrived in Berlin around dinner time. It wasn't that much of a delay or too big of a hassle but in the future I may pay more attention to alerts!
We took a taxi to our hotel called The Circus Hotel which was very nice . . . and very simple. The location was perfect for getting around Berlin. We checked in and decided we wanted something a little different for dinner so we asked at the front desk if there was a Mexican restaurant close by. She said yes, and sent us to Escados. We found it without any problem BUT it was an Argentinian restaurant, not Mexican. But by then we were tired so we had a great dinner there and headed back to our room for the night. We knew we needed rest because the next day we were going on a walking tour of Berlin.
P.S. Berlin is very fashion forward and, of course, I window shopped on the way to dinner. Sheryl, the first shirt I saw and liked was a t-shirt with the saying "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead!" on it. Of course I laughed out loud. I would have bought it for you but it was an oversize tank top and was all ripped up. Not exactly your style! In another store window a mannequin was dressed in a t-shirt that said "No One Reads Your Fucking Blog!" That really made us laugh and I think David wanted to buy it!
We had our usual fabulous breakfast at the hotel and were preparing to head to the train station. Uhle told us that her husband, Klaus, was driving another couple to Wurzburg and we could ride along if we wanted to and that would save us from having to change trains two times just to get to Wurzburg. Sounded good to us so we hopped into the van and had about an hour's drive with a very nice young German couple. David sat up front and spoke German with Klaus and I sat in the back and talked to the couple. They were on holiday -- he was on a break from school and she was on a break from working two jobs. Very ambitious young couple and I enjoyed talking to them. The young woman told me she had been to the United States and loved Los Angeles. We found that of the German people we talked to who had been to the States, Los Angeles was their first choice to visit. She had also visited Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon. The couple plan to live in the States and the young man hopes to complete his education here.
We had an uneventful train ride for the first leg of the trip and I even asked the ticket taker if our reservations were good (after showing him our tickets) -- in other words, should I have paid attention to the alert I had received. He assured me that everything was fine. We arrived in Gottingen only to discover our train to Berlin was cancelled! Luckily David knew enough German to talk to employees at the station and we were able to add another connection to the trip (and about one and one-half hours extra travel time) and we finally arrived in Berlin around dinner time. It wasn't that much of a delay or too big of a hassle but in the future I may pay more attention to alerts!
We took a taxi to our hotel called The Circus Hotel which was very nice . . . and very simple. The location was perfect for getting around Berlin. We checked in and decided we wanted something a little different for dinner so we asked at the front desk if there was a Mexican restaurant close by. She said yes, and sent us to Escados. We found it without any problem BUT it was an Argentinian restaurant, not Mexican. But by then we were tired so we had a great dinner there and headed back to our room for the night. We knew we needed rest because the next day we were going on a walking tour of Berlin.
P.S. Berlin is very fashion forward and, of course, I window shopped on the way to dinner. Sheryl, the first shirt I saw and liked was a t-shirt with the saying "I'll Sleep When I'm Dead!" on it. Of course I laughed out loud. I would have bought it for you but it was an oversize tank top and was all ripped up. Not exactly your style! In another store window a mannequin was dressed in a t-shirt that said "No One Reads Your Fucking Blog!" That really made us laugh and I think David wanted to buy it!
FRIDAY IN ROTHENBURG, GERMANY (August 16, 2013)
We had planned to visit another town close to Rothenburg, Dinkelsbuhl, but when we got up on Friday we were just too tired. And we loved Rothenburg so much we wanted to explore more of the town. Additionally, we learned that Dinkelsbuhl was holding Germany's 2013 heavy metal concert that weekend and David reminded me that he left his leather and "spiky" things in Belmont to save weight in our luggage, so this pretty much ended our plans for Dinkelsbuhl. We had our usual delicious breakfast and went for a walk. There was a lovely park nearby which we wanted to walk through and it was beautiful. The views were breathtaking. While sitting on a park bench, David kept hearing what he thought was a hot air balloon adding fire to the balloon and he was right! Soon it came into sight and was beautifully floating through the air. What a great sight!!!
We also walked to the other end of Rothenburg and walked down many, many steps (which, of course, means you have to walk back UP many, many steps) to see an old castle that is now a huge hotel! We walked in and the lobby was very beautiful. Of course David had to use the restroom so I had a chance to snoop around. It looked like the kind of hotel which held big conferences and events. Staff was setting up a large buffet in one of the meeting rooms and I could see many people listening to a presentation in another room. It was gorgeous but larger than the hotels we generally choose to stay in.
We again spent some time in the hotel garden -- blogging and just relaxing. The garden is surrounded by rock walls so you have tons of privacy and at least part of the garden is always in the shade so it was fabulous!
The hotel has a fairly fancy restaurant and we did not plan to eat there because the food all looked too snooty for us. But the reviews of the restaurant were so good that we felt like we might be missing out on something so we made a reservation to have dinner there on our last night in Rothenburg.
The weather was so nice that they were only serving dinner in the garden. We had a nice table for our lovely, intimate dinner. The hotel owner, Uhle, runs the restaurant very efficiently with two additional servers. We asked for and took their advice on wine selection and we both LOVED our wines. The restaurant lived up to its reputation, that's for sure!!! The server brought us an amuse bouche (David wanted to give you his definition of what that means but you can all imagine why I'm using my definition instead. It seems to be the latest thing where the chef makes something hoity toity and and barely large enough to see on the plate and you get it for free before the meal) which was a quail leg in some kind of vegetable puree. We both had delicious zucchini cream soup with tomato pesto and basil. David's entree was aubergine (egg plant) in a light egg batter stuffed with aubergine mashed. I had fabulous ossobuco on creamy truffle polenta. It was definitely the fanciest dinner we had on the whole trip and it was out of this world. And, for Steve, I also have to tell you about our dessert. It was called the Grande Finale and it came out on a three level serving tray. It included mousses, custards and ice creams and it was unbelievable!!! I know it sounds like we've been eating like pigs, and we have, but the servings are small!!! David said this was a long way from his sitting in his underwear in the lazy boy recliner eating baked beans out of a pot! Too much of a visual????
After that dinner we were lucky we only had to walk upstairs to go to bed! It was the most perfect ending to our stay in charming Rothenburg!!!
We also walked to the other end of Rothenburg and walked down many, many steps (which, of course, means you have to walk back UP many, many steps) to see an old castle that is now a huge hotel! We walked in and the lobby was very beautiful. Of course David had to use the restroom so I had a chance to snoop around. It looked like the kind of hotel which held big conferences and events. Staff was setting up a large buffet in one of the meeting rooms and I could see many people listening to a presentation in another room. It was gorgeous but larger than the hotels we generally choose to stay in.
We again spent some time in the hotel garden -- blogging and just relaxing. The garden is surrounded by rock walls so you have tons of privacy and at least part of the garden is always in the shade so it was fabulous!
The hotel has a fairly fancy restaurant and we did not plan to eat there because the food all looked too snooty for us. But the reviews of the restaurant were so good that we felt like we might be missing out on something so we made a reservation to have dinner there on our last night in Rothenburg.
The weather was so nice that they were only serving dinner in the garden. We had a nice table for our lovely, intimate dinner. The hotel owner, Uhle, runs the restaurant very efficiently with two additional servers. We asked for and took their advice on wine selection and we both LOVED our wines. The restaurant lived up to its reputation, that's for sure!!! The server brought us an amuse bouche (David wanted to give you his definition of what that means but you can all imagine why I'm using my definition instead. It seems to be the latest thing where the chef makes something hoity toity and and barely large enough to see on the plate and you get it for free before the meal) which was a quail leg in some kind of vegetable puree. We both had delicious zucchini cream soup with tomato pesto and basil. David's entree was aubergine (egg plant) in a light egg batter stuffed with aubergine mashed. I had fabulous ossobuco on creamy truffle polenta. It was definitely the fanciest dinner we had on the whole trip and it was out of this world. And, for Steve, I also have to tell you about our dessert. It was called the Grande Finale and it came out on a three level serving tray. It included mousses, custards and ice creams and it was unbelievable!!! I know it sounds like we've been eating like pigs, and we have, but the servings are small!!! David said this was a long way from his sitting in his underwear in the lazy boy recliner eating baked beans out of a pot! Too much of a visual????
After that dinner we were lucky we only had to walk upstairs to go to bed! It was the most perfect ending to our stay in charming Rothenburg!!!
THURSDAY IN ROTHENBURG, GERMANY (August 15, 2013)
After our VERY long walking tour in Nuremberg yesterday, we decided to hang out in Rothenburg today. David said his feet were shot! Our hotel owners gave us a few suggestions for the day. One was to visit the Doll and Toy Museum or, as David says, the Puppchen und Spielzeug Museum. We wouldn't normally choose to go to this kind of museum but Uhle said it was good so we took her word for it. It was a two-story museum and much larger than we anticipated. We had a catalog-guide and even tho it was difficult, we managed to match up the numbers in the display to the numbers in the catalog. I should say David was able to do that. The display cases were numbered and the individual pieces were numbered and most of the time they matched up with the numbers in the catalog. The museum had the most intricate doll houses and individual doll house room displays down to the smallest pots and pans, food items, pieces of clothing and even the miniature children's toys within the doll houses. Incredible! Most of the toys were from the 1830s up to the 1890s. There was even an intricate train that David paid .5 euros to watch run through the town with traffic jams, construction workers, and police and emergency workers doing their jobs. It was really a great museum.
After the museum, we split up and I went back to the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas store to do a little shopping and David went back to the grocery/deli/wine/miniature store to look at toy soldiers. Even tho the last thing on earth I need is anymore Christmas decorations, I couldn't pass up one or two. The made-in-Rothenburg decorations are wonderful. A little later I met up with David while he was soldier shopping and I actuallly picked out a soldier for him. It's a WWII German Officer marching in a band, made by a company headquartered in Rothenberg.
After shopping we went went back to our hotel and spent some time in the garden. I had a Coke Light while blogging and David had a big wheat beer. Very enjoyable!
We didn't have any plans for dinner but I wanted pizza so we asked a hotel employee where we should eat. She suggested a fairly new Italian restaurant near one of the old entrance gates, called Michelangelo's. Our friendly hotel driver, Fritz, was standing nearby and heard our conversation and he offered to drive us there because he was heading to the train station to pick up some other guests. He dropped us off and we walked into the restaurant which had an ultra modern decor (considering Rothenburg is an old medieval village). We were given a great table clear in the back of the restaurant from where we could view the entire restaurant including the bar. Made for some great people watching. David ordered a salad with Spring greens, apples and walnuts in it which he shared with me. We each had big wheat beers which were delicious and excellent pizza. And, of course, we had chocolate sundaes for dessert!!!
We rolled out of there and walked back to our hotel. Got ready for bed and settled in to listen to the Night Watchman's stories. It was a great day and it did us good to rest a bit because we've been walking miles every day!!!
After the museum, we split up and I went back to the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas store to do a little shopping and David went back to the grocery/deli/wine/miniature store to look at toy soldiers. Even tho the last thing on earth I need is anymore Christmas decorations, I couldn't pass up one or two. The made-in-Rothenburg decorations are wonderful. A little later I met up with David while he was soldier shopping and I actuallly picked out a soldier for him. It's a WWII German Officer marching in a band, made by a company headquartered in Rothenberg.
After shopping we went went back to our hotel and spent some time in the garden. I had a Coke Light while blogging and David had a big wheat beer. Very enjoyable!
We didn't have any plans for dinner but I wanted pizza so we asked a hotel employee where we should eat. She suggested a fairly new Italian restaurant near one of the old entrance gates, called Michelangelo's. Our friendly hotel driver, Fritz, was standing nearby and heard our conversation and he offered to drive us there because he was heading to the train station to pick up some other guests. He dropped us off and we walked into the restaurant which had an ultra modern decor (considering Rothenburg is an old medieval village). We were given a great table clear in the back of the restaurant from where we could view the entire restaurant including the bar. Made for some great people watching. David ordered a salad with Spring greens, apples and walnuts in it which he shared with me. We each had big wheat beers which were delicious and excellent pizza. And, of course, we had chocolate sundaes for dessert!!!
We rolled out of there and walked back to our hotel. Got ready for bed and settled in to listen to the Night Watchman's stories. It was a great day and it did us good to rest a bit because we've been walking miles every day!!!
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