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Published: August 6th 2008
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Hey everybody! Long time no write. Chelsea and I have been without internet access for 3 days in the medieval town of Rothenberg o der Tauber. It really did feel like the dark ages! We now have access in our hotel in Munich, but before we get to Munich I will fill you in on a little Rothenberg.
Rothenberg is a small walled town, parts of which date to the year 1000AD. It has a fascinating history that includes being a cross roads of medieval trading routes (both the main East/West route from Paris to the Orient, and the main North/South route from Scandinavia to Rome.) It was devastated by the 30 years war and the Black Plague, and never really recovered for almost 300 years. Never recovered that is until the late 1890’s when artists discovered it and were charmed by how well preserved the medieval-ness of the town was. That put it on the tourism map, and it has been a thriving tourist town ever since.
We took a tour of the town with the Nightwatchman (which happened to be the 3rd lowest position on the social totem pole, just above gravediggers and executioners) who showed us Rothenberg as
it was 600 years ago.
Our accommodations were a mixed bag. On the one hand we were in a beautiful room with a king size bed, sitting/reading area, eating area, and private bathroom. Breakfasts were a German “Royal Breakfast” consisting of rolls, cheeses, meats, eggs, coffeecake, coffee, juice, and fruit, YUM! That was all the good stuff (duh), on the other hand, our hostess was not home when we came to check in, was very flustered and a little bit rude when she came home and found us waiting on her doorstep, and to top things off we came back in the middle of the day on the 2nd day to find our bedroom door wide open with the her keys in it! She had left the door open after changing our sheets. I was frustrated that all of our valuables (passports, train/plane tickets, laptop, etc) were left unsecured in our room where any other guest could have got them. Fortunately nothing happened, but I was still irritated. I guess I will forgive her, she did after all have a fridge full of FREE BEER in the hallway! Hooray!
We have had lots of authentic German food, including brats, sauerkraut,
all kinds of German beer, swine-steaks, pork ribs, and many kinds of potatoes. Since vegetarian foods are few and far between here, Chelsea has become quite the connoisseur of potato dishes. So far she has had several types including french fries, potato dumplings, potato “bags” (filled with cream and herbs), etc. The food is good, but not all that exciting. I have found many good beers though, and tomorrow Chelsea and I are going on a 4 hour brewery tour!
Oh yeah, and I have been driving my BMW on the Autobahn! I was able to get it up to 230 km/hour, which I still haven’t converted to MPH, but it was darn fast. The weird thing was I still wasn’t going that much faster than some of the other cars. The German freeway system is very good, with long straight-aways, gentle banked turns, and almost always an open passing lane. One thing I found interested was that the Autobahns don’t run North/South or East/West. They run between cities, crisscrossing all over the country. I think this is because unlike the US, all the major cities were already established so they just made freeways connecting them, whereas in the US
a lot of the freeways were built before cities popped up so they designed our freeways on a grid system.
Today we have already driven 2.5 hours to arrive in Munich around noon, dropped of the BMW (sob), made our night train reservations for the train to Switzerland, reserved spots for 2 Italian museums, been on a 3 hour historical walking tour of the 3rd Reich, and eaten dinner at the Hard Rock Café. After almost 1 month on away from the US, we were both excited about a little American cuisine. I had ribs and Chelsea had nachos.
As we near the midpoint of our trip, it is shocking that we have 4 more countries (we were able to add 10 hours in Salzburg, Austria on our way to Switzerland) and more than a month of traveling left. Chelsea and I have been praying for everybody and taking the time to read our Bible on the trip. If any of you have anything we can pray for please don’t hesitate to let us know. We are having the trip of a lifetime, but we definitely miss all of you!
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Edmonds Mom
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back to your blogs!
Catching up on your blogs was at the top of my list when we arrived back from our travels. They are absolutely my favorite reading materials.... Chelsea, I am going to rewatch my Rick Steve's Germany DVD because I think that very same Nightwatchman is on it! I love you both! Call home soon!