WEDNESDAY TRAVELED FROM ROTHENBURG TO NUREMBERG FOR THE DAY (August 14, 2013)

We picked Rothenburg as a base for a few days because it was easy to take trains to other nearby cities.  We were both very interested in Nuremberg so we decided to go there on Wednesday.  I looked online and was able to make arrangements for us to join a six hour walking tour.  We were all supposed to meet at the train station in Nuremberg.

Of course we had our wonderful breakfast and we couldn't linger long because our train was scheduled to leave at 9:06 a.m.  Our hotel has a driver, Fritz, and after breakfast he graciously drove us to the train station and tried to help us buy tickets from a machine, but he kept getting interrupted by phone calls so we told him we would just wait for the ticket office to open and buy them there.  It was only about a 5 minute wait until they opened.  We successfully purchased roundtrip tickets and got on the train as scheduled and it was a fairly short train ride to Nuremberg, about 45 minutes total, and I think we changed trains twice before arriving.

We arrived about 9:45 and we had to wait until 10:00 to meet our walking tour group.  We thought we were waiting in the right location and we waited and waited until about 10:15 and never caught sight of them.  I finally called the company and the person told me that, yes, the group had met and left.  He told me to walk over to the information office across the street and he would contact the tour guide and have him come back and "pick us up."  We did, he did and all was well.

The tour guide, Aachin, was delightful.  He was born and raised in Germany and you could tell he loved the history of Germany.  Our group had about 11 people in it so it was manageable and we could hear what Aachin was saying most of the time.  We started the tour in old town and it was very beautiful.

Aachin was THE man for our tour; he had a doctorate in German history, specifically in the Nazi party rallies held in Nuremberg.  He had a ton information about the churches, public buildings, and, of course, the castle there.  We also saw Albrect Durer's house and learned he had a "bitch" of a wife.  David loved Aachin because he used words like bitch, dickhead, dumb dickhead, and various forms of the  "F" word to describe the Nazi leaders.  David said he now wants to get his "f___ing doctorate!"

After the old town tour we jumped on a bus with the group and headed to the Nazi rally grounds.  These grounds were huge by large and they had to be in order to hold 500,000 brown shirts plus spectators.  We walked around the massive stadium that the Nazis started, but did not complete.  It was not completed in that they did not put a roof over it.  There has been much debate about whether a roof could have even been constructed to cover the massive opening due to its weight.  We then walked some more, finally making it to the documentation center where there is a great deal of information on the Nazis.  There our group splintered up with some going into the documentation center, and some going to see more Nazi structures.  Since we were already on borrowed time with sore feet, we opted for the train station and the return to Rothenburg.

That night back in Rothenburg we stopped at the combination grocery/miniature/toy soldier store.  This store was half a small grocery store and the other half was all very detailed miniatures of cars, trains, military vehicles, and toy soldiers made in Germany.  We bought a bottle of wine, two kinds of cheese and salami from the deli, and fresh German bread and butter crackers.  We went back to the room and had a picnic in our room.  Oh, did I mention we had chocolate for dessert?  Yes, this grocery store had a great selection of German made chocolate that we just had to try!  Tonight was not hard to fall asleep even with the Night Watchman outside of our window making his rounds.

TUESDAY IN ROTHENBURG, GERMANY (August 13, 2013)

We got up a little early today because we wanted to take a walk after breakfast before the town got crazy with tourists.  Breakfast was served either in the dining room or in the garden but we chose to stay inside because it was a little cool.  They gave us a menu to select from and they had many offerings:  all kinds of bread, cheese, meat, and smoked salmon.  Also yogurt, cereal, fruit salad and, of course, eggs -- anyway you want them! They had fresh squeezed orange juice and really good tea and coffee.  They try to bring you one of everything so you have to be specific about what you really want to eat.  Everything was very good!  After breakfast we set out to explore.

Rothenburg is a walled city and is still surrounded 3/4 of the way around by a wall which was used to protect the city from invaders.  The wall no longer exists where the castle was destroyed by an earthquake in the mid 1300s.  There are stairs that take you to the walkway on the top of the wall and you can walk around and see the town from every angle, from above.  It was an amazing walk and the views were spectacular.  It's about a mile and 1/2 walk.  Along the wall there were some fairly new "bricks" or engraved stones in the wall with peoples' names and dates and other information on them.  They were interesting to read and see where all the people came from.  Later in the day we asked our hotel owner, Uhle, how you can get a brick put in the wall and she said you have to contribute a lot of money to the organization responsible for upkeep of the wall.  

We spent the rest of the day walking up and down all the streets and alleyways looking in the many, many shops.  Of course we didn't buy anything -- we just looked!  There is a fabulous Christmas store there (actually more than one) with ornaments and everything Christmas designed by Kathe Wohlfahrt.  We walked through two of the stores and it was almost overwhelming to see everything there that was for sale.  I knew I wanted to buy a few things . . . but I decided to wait for another day.

For dinner that night we just opted for Italian, pizza for me while David got penne pasta in an alfredo sauce. We also got another round of good German wheat beer.  Germany has turned us into beer lovers -- of German beers, at least.  

We went back to our gorgeous hotel to settle in for the night.  A few minutes after we climbed into bed we heard someone with a very deep voice telling stories and a crowd of people laughing at him.  Turns out it was the "Night Watchman" tour which is conducted there nightly.  We did not go on the tour (probably should have) but it sounds like it is a somewhat comical delivery of the history of Rothenburg.  We were lucky (!) enough to hear it nightly right outside our window.  

MONDAY TRAVELING FROM FREIBURG, GERMANY TO ROTHENBURG, GERMANY (August 12, 2013)

Our train wasn't until 10:00 a.m. so we had time to linger over breakfast at our hotel  in Freiburg.  Awwwwww, isn't vacation wonderful?

We had breakfast, finished packing and requested a taxi to take us to the train station.  That all went very well and we arrived at the train station in plenty of time.  Today was going to be a long day of trains (5 hours) and we had to change trains 3 times!  At the first station we had 7 minutes to change trains and at the second station we had 4 minutes.  But it all worked out and we enjoyed our ride very much.  

We arrived in Rothenburg right on schedule and David checked with the Information Desk to see how far our hotel was to decide whether or not we would walk or take a taxi.  The woman told him it wasn't very far and to just go out the door of the train station, turn left, and it would only take us about 10 minutes to walk there.

So off we went.  It was easy walking on nice sidewalks.  We knew our hotel was in the "old city" and as we walked we thought it was looking more and more rural.  We stopped on the street so David could take a look at his map and a man pulled up in a car and asked if we were looking for a place to stay.  David told him we had a hotel reservation but we weren't sure how to get to the hotel.  The  man looked at the name of our hotel and told us we were walking in the complete opposite direction!  He offered to drive us to the hotel which was VERY nice of him . . . especially considering he owned two B&Bs in the old city and was trying to drum up business!!!  He dropped us off in front of our fabulous small hotel and although he refused David's offer of a tip for a few minutes, he finally relented and accepted it.  

Our hotel owner, Uhle, greeted us warmly and invited us out to the garden and offered us drinks -- everything from champagne to juice.  It was only 3:30 p.m., so we just had a Coke Light.  While we were visiting with her, our bags were delivered to our room.  David picked this hotel after receiving an e-mail advertising it as one of the top ten "most romantic" hotels in the world for 2013.  It only has 4 rooms and 4 suites and all the rooms we saw were gorgeous.  Ours was the Golden Apple room and it was very, very nice and very big.  The bathroom was luxurious as well.  

The building is over 1,000 years old and one of the oldest preserved residential houses in Germany.  We have never had service like we received at this hotel in our lives!  It was almost as if they offered you things before you even thought about asking for them.  

After settling in our room we took our first walk around Rothenburg and it is an amazing area. The old city is almost completely "walled" except for a small portion of it. You can enter the old city through three gates.  It is very popular for tourists and we understand why.  There are many, many shops and lots of restaurants and cafes with outdoor seating.  Think about what the perfect Bavarian town would look like and that's Rothenburg!  
For dinner we went to a casual restaurant also owned by the people who owned our hotel.  It was very small and charming.  It's name is Zur Hoell which translates to "To Hell."  It is in the oldest house in Rothenburg and is kind of tavern-y.  We ordered a cheese board and the cheeses were outstanding.  I had veal schnitzel and homemade spatzle (egg noodles).  David had a curry vegetable dish with rice.  We had wonderful German wine with it.  It was quite good!

A friend of mine who shall remain nameless (Steve) mentioned today that there seems to be a fixation with food throughout my blog.  Really?  Has he met us???? 

That was it for our first day in Rothenburg.  We walked back to our hotel and climbed into our huge bed with the fluffy, wonderful comforter!!!

SUNDAY IN FREIBURG, GERMANY (AUGUST 11, 2013)

One of the things we will remember most about Freiburg is the sound of the cathedral bells ringing.  In our travels we have heard many, many church bells ring but there was something about the bells in Freiburg that was different and haunting.  David described it as some kind of continuous background melody playing along with the chiming bells.  He thought it sounded like one huge bell was set up to ring with a constant hum.  In any event, we loved that we could hear the bells clearly from our hotel room.

We had a very good breakfast Sunday morning -- the usual selection of cheeses and meats with the most wonderful bread you can imagine.  And homemade jams!!!  There was also cereal and yogurt available as well as juice, coffee and tea.  

That day we had planned to take the train to the nearby village of Staufen, but after talking to the owner of our hotel, we decided to stay in Freiburg for the day.  He told David about a museum in one of the old city towers with miniature soldiers set up in various battle scenes so, of course, David wanted to see that.  David said the individual soldiers were only 1 inch high and painted in extreme detail and positioned by the thousands in detailed battles.  He thought it was great!  The hotel owner (sorry, I don't know his name) also suggested we take a walk in the oldest part of Freiburg and then take the tram and bus to the cable car that takes you to the top of Schauinisland mountain.  On a clear day you can see the Swiss Alps . . . but it was a little overcast when we were there.  The view from the cable car was incredibly beautiful, 750 meters suspended in the air!  We saw lots of people mountain biking and hiking.  Some people also take their bikes up to the top on the cable car and then ride down.  We also saw a few people hang gliding and it looked so peaceful and scary!!!

We hiked around a bit but it was kind of cold at the top and we did not have jackets with us.  There was a small restaurant there so we decided to have lunch.  We could eat and enjoy the view AND the people watching. David had cream of leek soup and I had --------- a delicious ham sandwich!  When we were almost finished eating an Indian family joined us -- they currently live outside of London.  They were very talkative and interesting.  They had lived in Atlanta and their English was very good.  We talked a lot about how expensive London is.  The man used to spend over 500 pounds per month ($780.00) just taking the tube to and from work!!!  Yes, they have a great subway system but it is very, very expensive!  

After lunch we headed back down the mountain on the cable car and, of course, made friends on the cable car too!  Our car-mates were an older Indian couple with two college-aged girls; one from Switzerland (Stephanie) and one from Germany who is attending university in Freiburg (Hannah).  It seemed like an odd group but it turned out the two women had spent a year living in India with the couple.  It was a Rotary Club program.  The girls had invited the Indian couple to visit them at their families' homes and then travel around their countries. They were all very nice and the two girls were very enthusiastic about visiting the United States.  David gave them our information so I'm sure someday they will show up on our doorstep.  Actually, that would be fine because they were lovely young women.  When we reached the bottom of the mountain we took a few group pictures and then boarded the bus to go back to the tram to take us back into the town.  We parted ways in the center of Freiburg and David and I headed back to our hotel.  

At dinner time we weren't very hungry so we decided just to go get some ice cream in the town square and go to bed early and that's what we did.  Oh all this fabulous European travel is exhausting!!!  Seriously, we feel very lucky to be here and seeing all of these beautiful places and meeting nice people!  

SATURDAY TRAVELING FROM STRASBOURG, FRANCE TO FREIBURG, GERMANY (AUGUST 10, 2013)

We didn't have to get up too early because our train didn't leave until a little after 1:00 p.m.  We skipped breakfast and I bought food at the train station to eat on our ride.  David had a delicious mozarella and tomato sandwich with pesto and olive oil that he said was very good.  I had the same old ham and cheese and it was as good as always.  I also bought us big cookies for dessert -- chocolate chip and chocolate chocolate chip. WONDERFUL!!!  The first leg of the trip was to Offenburg where we had to change trains.  The entire trip only took about an hour.

Freiburg's name means "free city" because it did not answer to a king.  I thought that was an interesting tidbit. Anyway, we were feeling very brave so we decided to take the tram to our hotel instead of taking a taxi.  We walked to the tram station and David approached a German couple and asked them if they spoke English.  The woman said "yes," and her husband said, in German, "no you don't!"  That made us laugh.  She attempted to help us buy tickets but then told us the machine was broken and told David to go back to the train station to buy them.  So off David goes and at the train station he has his first encounter with German Police Officers. They told him he could buy the tickets on the tram so he walks back to the tram line.  By then I had discovered that the ticket machine did work and even gave instructions in English!  We bought our tickets and only had to ride a few tram stops to our hotel.  

The name of our hotel was Hotel Schwartzwaelder which David says means "Black Forester."  It was a very quaint hotel with a small winding staircase from the lobby to the floor our room was on.  Our room was small but very comfortable!  And it was the least expensive hotel of the entire trip AND it included a great breakfast!

After checking in we set out to get some ice cream and explore the town.  There were many cafes and stores (especially shoe stores it seemed) and we walked up and down all the little streets.  The most amazing thing, tho, was you would be walking along the shopping streets and they would open onto a plaza and WOW the gorgeous, gorgeous cathedral would pop into view.  It was very beautiful and we took many pictures of it.  All of the churches have gargoyles on them and our favorite gargoyle was on this church.  I hope the picture turns out.  David says if I was a garygoyle, I would be the one with big teeth, chomping M&Ms and Heggy's chocolates.

Our hotel had a restaurant that served dinner but it was closed for two weeks for the employees to have a vacation.  We asked the hotel owner where we should go for a traditional German dinner and he recommended the restaurant at The Baren (bears, plural) Hotel.  It was close by so we walked over.  We asked for a recommendation of a good beer and our waiter recommended a local bear named Ganter.  We both loved it.  It is a wheat beer -- perfect for summer -- and just had a hint of spice in it.  Delish!  We both had salad first. David had mozzarella and tomato towers which he had to cut gingerly so they would not topple over.  There were three towers and they were pretty and he liked them.  I had a Spring salad with a variety of lettuces and it had strawberries and raspberries in it with a very light dressing.  Great.  For dinner I had veal medallions and fried new potatoes.  So, so good.  David had the best meal of the trip so far -- a curry, vegetable and rice dish that was bright orange and yellow.  And, believe it or not, we were too full to order dessert plus the fact that nothing on the dessert menu appealed to us.

After diner we strolled the streets and went back to our hotel and settled in.  

FRIDAY IN COLMAR, FRANCE (August 9, 2013)

Today we booked a full-day wine tasting tour of the Alsace Region of France.  We had to take the train from Strasbourg to Colmar which was only about a 30 minute ride.  We planned to have breakfast in Colmar before meeting our tour guide at 8:40 a.m.

When we arrived in Colmar, there was not much going on that early in the morning.  We started walking away from the train station to find a cafe but everything was closed.  I had spotted a Best Western Hotel right across the street from the train station and we decided if all else failed, we would eat there . . . but we wanted something with more atmosphere!  Just about the time I was ready to turn around in defeat, David spotted the perfect French cafe!  Two women were setting up an ice cream stand outdoors and when we walked into the cafe, there before us was the most beautiful display of bread and pastries ever!!!  We picked out our pastries and sat down and were served coffee for me and hot chocolate for David.  It looked like a few local people were having breakfast and reading the paper.  

A very interesting man walked in and sat at a table beside us in the corner.  There were many other tables available so we think that was "his" table.  He placed a few coins on the table and soon it seemed his regular order was delivered to his table.  He glanced at the newspaper a few times and muttered to himself.  David said he was fascinated by my iPhone and kept staring at me using it.  He was certainly a character!

While we were eating a young man kept bringing trays of the most beautiful pastries upstairs from, I'm assuming, the bakery.  I wish I could have taken pictures of all of them!  David couldn't see them but we stopped and looked at all of the full display cases before we left.  OMG!

Anyway, we walked back towards the office where we had to meet our tour guide and I had to tinkle very badly! We could not find a bathroom and the only bathroom in the train station was closed for cleaning!  We resorted to walking into the Best Western Hotel and while David waited politely at the desk to ask permission to use their bathrooms, I followed the signs to the ladies room very quickly.  When I went back to the desk to meet David he had been told the restrooms were for guests only!  Oh well, my bad.

We met our tour guide, Jean-Claude and the other tour members.  He instantly told us not to confuse him with Jean-Claude Van Damme!  Not a problem.  With us were a nice, retired couple from Ohio (who also own a condo in Chicago -- more about that later) and two women from Spain.  

First Jean-Claude drove us to chateau du Haut-Koenigsbourg -- a huge castle built in the 12th century.  The castle fell into disrepair during the 30 years' war.  After Germany took control of the Alsace region from 1871 to 1918, the German Emperor Wilhelm II decided to renovate the castle.  This took about 8 years but was very important in that it gave the local people good jobs and restored the castle to its former glory.  We spent about an hour there and it was amazing.

Next we visited the little town of Ribeauville.  It was a very cute, French town, typical of the area with gingerbread-type houses with exposed timbers and stucco in between.  In addition, the houses had flower boxes below each of their windows and scalloped eaves.  There were many shops of meats and cheeses, trinkets, clothing and eye glasses.  We could have spent a few hours here, however, we had just 30 minutes to go from one end of the main street to the other.  We had to move on because our first wine tasting awaited.

Jean-Claude then drove us to the town of Riquewihr.  The two women from Spain were leaving the tour at this point and not going to the wine tasting.  Jean-Claude took the couple from Ohio and David and me to the winery of Dopff de Irion where we were surprised to learn that Jean-Claude is a licensed sommelier and he conducted the wine tasting.  

Continued on next page.  

FRIDAY IN COLMAR (CONTINUED) (August 9, 2013)

We tasted one sparkling red wine, a Muscat, three Rieslings and a Gewurz Traminer.  David is the white wine drinker in our family and he tends to like the medium sweet wines.  His favorite was probably the wine made with the later-harvested grapes called vendanges tardives.  But in my opinion, after the first glass, the couple from Ohio (Linda and Mike -- yes, we were becoming best friends) and I LOVED them all!  We were provided with a bucket so we could throw away the wine we didn't like but noooooo, we all drank it all.  The last time I saw David he was trying to get French girls to dance on the table!  Ha!

Jean-Claude had to leave us for awhile to drive the women from Spain back to the Colmar train station so he organized lunch for Linda, Mike, David and me at a traditional Alsatian restaurant.  We were directed to eat lunch and then explore the town.  Instead the four of us spent two hours at lunch eating and sobering up for a later wine tasting session!  

Linda and Mike live in Ohio and he is a retired dentist.  They have four kids -- some live in Ohio near them and some live in Chicago.  They visited Chicago so often they decided to buy a condo there.  Here's the interesting part, they registered at www.homeaway.com and arranged a home exchange this year.  They spent the first two weeks of their vacation living in a nice apartment in Paris while the Paris residents lived in their home in Chicago!  David and I have thought about doing this but haven't been brave enough.  Yet!  Mike and Linda said everything worked out great for them and they will definitely do it again.

OK, let's continue.  Jean-Claude picked us up and we drove to Kaysersberg.  This is where Albert Schweitzer was born and lived a short time before he made a fortune which enabled he and his wife to help people in undeveloped countries (Africa and others).  His museum is located in this small town.  It is another beautiful town with many shops.  Also, many French fighters are buried in town as a result of Kaysersburg's liberation in December 1944 during WW II.  David and I treated ourselves to ice cream there.  

We stopped in Therese Bonney and Jean-Claude pointed out a huge storks' nest.  I was fascinated by it!!! There were two storks in the nest (that we could see).  I think they were resting after delivering baby Colton to Karin and Brandon Salata!!!  Seriously, I've never seen a stork's nest or a stork before, so I took a bunch of pictures of them.  Sure hope they come out!

Next up was the town of Turckheim.  It was first mentioned in 743 as a wine growing site.  In 1312 it acquired the status of a town.  The Thirty Years' War was a harsh time for the town and it had to be rebuilt in the beginning of the 18th century.  This is where we had our second wine tasting.  Here we tasted the wines of winemaker Edouard Leiber.  We started with a very dry, sparkling white wine and worked our way up to the fruitiest or sweetest wine.  We tasted L'Ambassadeur, a couple of Reislings and four Pinot Gris, once again not wasting a drop!  We tried wines that were made from late harvest grapes which David liked and unlike the previous wine tasting, David liked the sweetest Pinot Gris that to him was a better wine than the earlier, less sweet wines from this winemaker.  After this wine tasting we were all more than ready to head back but Jean-Claude wasn't through with us yet.

He took us to Equisheim -- another gorgeous small town.  It distinguishes itself because it was named the best small village in France by French people in a survey that was conducted last year.  It was so charming David expected Pinocchio to come bounding down the street!

Jean-Claude returned us to the train station at 6:30 p.m.  It was a long, wonderful day filled with sites of the most beautiful, charming French towns you can imagine.  We returned to 
Strasbourg tired but happy.  We did not want to go out for a long dinner so on the way from the train station to the hotel we stopped at a store for David to buy cheese and crackers for his dinner and a to-go pasta place where I got macaroni in meat sauce.  Just what we wanted!