Day 4: Creglingen Day 2:

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We woke up around 7:30 this morning, then headed downstairs for our included breakfast. There was one other guest there, a middle-aged German guy walking about 100 kilometers as part of his annual hiking vacation. Breakfast consisted of cereal, some assorted meats, cheeses, and breads, along with coffee. After a leisurely breakfast I brought our luggage down to the car while Manoli settled the bill. We actually accepted the place and spent the night there, without having any real idea how much it would cost. It turned out to be 60 Euros, about what I'd expected.

By this time it was around 9am, so we headed out in the car to find the Herrgottskirche and the Thimble Museum or Fingerhutmuseum. We knew the Thimble Museum didn't open until 10am, and found out when we arrived that the church doesn't open for tours until 9:30am, but the lady there let us in around 9:15. We walked around the church, checking out all the unusual and mostly old tombstones on both sides of the church. This church is world famous for its Marienaltar or Altar of the Virgin Mary. It was very impressive, being carved out of wood, standing 33 foot tool and very intricate, well worth the stop and the 2 Euros entry fee. There were several other large altar-like decorations, and the floor had intricately carved stones, some with ancient lettering.

The Thimble Museum or Fingerhutmuseum is located right across the street, so we walked across and figured we'd have wait another 15 or 20 minutes for it to open, but the owner noticed us wandering around and told to wait just a minute and she would open for us. The entry fee here was the same, at 2 Euros, and again quite worth the money, as far as I'm concerned. I used to collect silver charms from all the places we visited, but it got to be hard to locate relatable charms, so I switched over to thimbles a number of years ago. This museum housed an incredible number (around 4000) of thimbles and thimble-related items, such as sewing kits, tools used to make them, etc. The thimbles were from all over the world and from modern times back supposedly 10,000 years ago. I couldn't resist buying one of her thimbles, in this case one with her museum image on it.

We next decided to head to an old Cistercian convent that had been converted to a museum in the nearby town of Frauental. There was also supposed to be a very interesting Feuerwehrmuseum or Fire Brigade Museum near that. Well, we did find Frauental and I think the church/convent, but there weren't any signs telling us it was such, and the Fire Brigade Museum was another 5 kilometers away and apparently only open on Saturdays. We did get to check out a fancy looking wedding place on the outskirts of town where got the information about the Fire Brigade Museum, but all in all it was a waste of time. Having failed on both searches, we decided to head to Rothenberg ob der Tauber (Rothenberg on the Tauber River). We had no problem finding the town, since it is pretty good sized, and located on well marked roads. It also turned out we were visiting on the opening day of a big renaissance type festival. Fortunately, most of the activities didn't start until Saturday, so the crowds weren't too big and parking was easy to find. We ended up parking in one of the metered lots we'd seen other places and found out the machine where you pay for your ticket can be viewed in English. I paid about 3 Euros for two hours, got my ticket to put in our car window and off we went.

A map by the parking lot showed us where the Tourist Information building was, so we headed towards the main square, or markplatz. This part of the town, within the medieval walls, is all old and interesting buildings, now mostly housing stores and restaurants. When we reached the Markplatz, I wandered around trying to find the Tourist Information Center, until I looked back and saw it behind me, marked plain as day. We walked into the square right below the big "I" sign without even noticing. They had a good number of pamphlets, many in English, and a decent map. We then started wandering down the street from there towards the south end of the wall. It was after noon by now, so when we saw this store with strange-looking confectioneries, we decided to try it out. The store was called Diller Schneeballenträume, and apparently they make a local confection called a schneeballen or snowball. You could watch them make them. Dough was flattened out pretty thin, the cut in ribbons most of the way from top to bottom, then the guy picks up the strips, pulls a couple together and makes the rest into a ball shape. He then places this "ball" into a cup shaped frying utensil and puts in oil to bake. They offer them in all sorts of flavors and fillings. We only tried the original snowball variety with just has powdered sugar on it. Quite tasty, and it softened nicely in my cup of cappuccino.

We then wandered down the main street until the end passing two different "towers", the Siebersturm and the Spitalbastei, again passing one store, restaurant, or guesthouse after another. At the Spitalbastei, we noticed there was a walkway along the wall and stairs next to it going up to the wall. We climbed the stairs and walked along the wall for quite a ways, appreciating the views from that high up. At about midway back to the main square, we climbed back down so Manoli could check out the main church, St. Jacobs Kirche. While she toured inside, I walked back to the parking lot to put some more money in for extended time. When I met up again with Manoli, she told me she was surprised to find out she had to pay to enter the church. It wasn't much... something like 2.50 Euros, and she said it was worth it, but still unusual to pay to enter a church. We then found the Christmas Museum (Weihnachtsmuseum), which is attached to and part of the Kathe Wohlfahrte Christmas store. Since the store was so big, we decided not to bother with the museum. You wouldn't believe the variety and sheer number of Christmas ornaments and decorations this place had! Manoli didn't find an ornament she wanted that wasn't breakable, but I found a good ornament of Rothenberg.

By this time it was after 3pm, and we hadn't eaten much since breakfast, so we wandered around and found a "doner" restaurant, which I believe usually indicates Greek food. We sat down outside and I had a "Doner Box" which was lamb with french fries and a tzatziki sauce and Manoli had a falafel. Neither of us could finish the servings, so we took them away with us for later. Manoli did eat the rest of her falafel, but I didn't feel like eating my fries cold, since this hostel is a bit different than most we go to and lacks a public use kitchen. Around 8pm, since I hadn't eaten anything since 3pm and Manoli wanted to see what Creglingen looked like at night, we walked downhill to the main part of town in search of a place for me to get something to eat. There are only a few real restaurants in Creglingen, so we ended up settling on a pizzeria called Do Salvatore. Manoli ordered a soup and I was torn between trying their lasagna or a more typical German dish, spaetzel. I ended up ordering the spaetzel, but the cook or waitress got something mixed up and unbelievably served me lasagna. I didn't have the heart to say anything, but they did figure out they'd messed up, so I just said it was okay, and ate my lasagna. Both dishes plus water and coffee came to about 13 Euros.

After dinner, we walked back up to the hostel to wrap up my blog and get ready for bed. We have a private 3-bed room here, one single bed and a separate bunk bed, but no toilet or shower. Guess I'll have to find the bathroom downstairs, in the middle of the night. Tomorrow we plan on visiting the little Lindleinturm Museum in the morning when they open at 10am, then maybe check out another nearby town like Weikersheim.

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Comments

[D MJ Binkley]

Germany
Looks like you've found some amazing architecture and museums.