2 weeks to Calais

---

TWO WEEKS UNTIL CALAIS

Thanks to our GPS buddy, Richard, we had a back roads trip to our selected Campingplatz near Rothenberg. It had full-services, but seemed to be totally in the wilderness, although on the Tauber river and named ;Tauberromantik camping platz. We were quickly informed that it was ONLY 1 Km. ( 1/2 mile) from the city of Rothenberg. HOWEVER, a fellow camper who had biked into the city, warned us that it was all steep uphill twisting paths and roads and also difficult coming back on those paths downhill. A taxi was available for slightly more than a very unreliable bus. Thank goodness, we decided to go that route. "Steep uphill twisting" was an understatement!

Anyway, we were transported to the middle of the ancient city area and were early enough to have wonderful photography opportunities, including two weddings. We walked the city wall, ate a Bavarian lunch at the Golden Lamb, in the center of town and visited the Christmas museum and Christmas Village. The most photographed house and entrance gate in Germany, Plonlein?, attracts everyone with a camera, and we were not to be denied. Churches, museums and panoramic views around every corner kept us in awe until it was time to call the cab for our return trip to the MH.

Leaving Bavaria and entering the Baden-Wurttemberg district of Germany and home to Heilbronn, we inadvertently joined in the final day of the annual Heilbronn Weindorf, a ten day wine festival. This was being held in the Market Square under the Decorative Astronomical Clock, one of the biggest attractions in the city. We found a centrally located Stellplatz where we stayed for 3 nights, to enjoy the city and all the activities. A 40 minute walk on a tree shaded promenade along the Neckar River was a delightful way to enter the city center and to see the Lover's Locks area on a footbridge over the river. We enjoyed the celebration and then on the following day, found the city returned to it's commercial activity. We tried to find the sculpture of Kathy, the legendary center of stories and the basis upon which a Kathy and two alternates are chosen every 2 years. Not being able to find the sculpture in spite of the city map, we eventually found out from the information office that she resides in a museum and is no longer accepting visitors Oh, well, we tried.

The beautiful green spaces along both sides of the river, has reportedly been selected as the site of the Federal Horticultural Exposition in 2019. That is the exposition that we enjoyed in Koblenz at the Eck in 2011. What a lovely addition that will make for the city of Heilbronn.
This city, although, much of it destroyed in 1944 bombings, has been restored with an exactness in many areas that opens its history to us all. It has been the seat of innovation: Carl Knorr, with his chicory factory, started the manufacturing company that has developed into a creator of products with which we are all familiar, Gottlieb Daimler, a partial creator of the internal combustion machine and of course many others, of whom the city is very proud.

We will next visit Karlsruhe (Karl's rested) known for being a fan-shaped city, based on a vision said to have been by Margrave Karl Willhelm III. He wanted a warm, new, beautiful palace with avenues radiating from it like sunbeams. And so we are now visiting a city with the palace in its center and all roads leading to the palace and center. The weather seems to have become fall-like with chilly nights and warm sunny days and we will be moving from here, West toward Mannheim, Luxembourg and finally Calais to catch the ferry back to Dover.

---