JClark

Our last full day: woke up in Dinkelsbuhl and came to find that it wasn’t 38e/night - it was 38/e/person/night. Jeremy then broke it down by how much we paid per limb and per digit. We walked around a bit and somehow found our way back to the “big cheese” plate for another dose of happiness before leaving on the 12:40 minibus which ended up costing us nothing for an hour’s ride - nice. My calculations were right on the nose for all the connections, danke. After 1.5 travel hours and a quick snooze we landed in Schwabisch Hall which is a town that dates back to a time when Celtics produced salt there, something like 500bc. This too was a cute-beyond-belief town on a very steep slope with hundreds of steps everywhere. St. Michael’s church ... read more

Is it possible to be nearing enough of cute little germanic towns? quite. R was an incredibly perfect amazing town - just like a hollywood movie set. I kept taking all these pictures of street shots because I couldn't get over it. The church is huge. We climbed up the tower in the smallest steepest stairway i've ever imagined. We went through the Kriminal museum which showcased all the different ways they used to torture people in medieval times - and for the smallest of crimes. There were lots of special devices for women for doing things such as gossiping or bickering with their husbands - like shame masks, "violins" which held their heads and hands up and they weren't let go until peace had been restored. Yikes. If you missed church or drank too much ... read more

People can drink publicly, I knew that, but it's still weird to see it. People by themselves and in groups, on the bus, hanging out on the corner, walking around town with their country colors and get ups on and their beers in hand. Kinda like how it used to be at Grand Ol' Day when folks could walk through the streets with a drink. very festive. But it wasn't as mayhemic as I anticipated - until after. I had a hankering for some schnitzle, spatzle and hefeweisen and we found a great little spot right across from a cafe that was showing the game. Not that we cared but we were trying to care. J got the schnitzle "vienna style" -- these are not light meals, mine even had a big dollup of super sweet ... read more

Still didn't find the Italian place last night, and actually he was taking me to a different place that someone had told him about ....but we couldn't find that one either, so we opted for a random place, had a delicious pizza and shared a bottle of chianti. We had a deep conversation about many topics, one of which was a bet as to how long Carrie Underwood and her hockey (i stand corrected, i thought he played football) playing husband's marriage would last. This is the official record that J gets the under on 5 years - whoever wins gets a trip somewhere. I thought I'd wait for J today and "surprise" him by dragging him along with me on today's excursion, but, it's now 11:15 and he's not back yet - I'll give it ... read more

4 hours of sleep is plenty. just returned from the breakfast that still makes me happy. There is something about the coffee and the little spoons that they use for real, not just for show, that makes the coffee delicious. I skipped the prosciutto this a.m. - it too is delicious but every once in a while when i eat it my brain plays a trick and thinks it has a mouthful of raw squirming animal fat and forces me to gag obnoxiously. I didn't want to go through that again and besides, i was already shaming America by showing up with my bed head and puffy eyes to bfast. This sure ain't like the Americinn continental bfast up der in Brainerd - most people here are showered and ready to show themselves in public. not ... read more