by Jpholland441

January 8th - Saturday - Newark to Frankfurt

Left on Lufthansa flight from Newark Airport. Nothing eventful which I consider a good thing! Flight was quick (about 6 hrs) - good jet stream speed.

January 9th - Sunday

Arrive bleary-eyed and start the “retrieve the bag’s” cycle. Bags arrive in reasonable time, and I head to the nearest ATM (Geld-Automatic) Take out my first wave of Euro’s and I am off to the train station. I have made my reservations ON-LINE at the D-Bahn web site. Found the web site very easy to work. I wanted to save money so I made reservations in advance for specific trains and time schedule. If you can work this way, you will have good savings against just buying when you arrive. Knew that the plane should be arriving around 7:00-7:30AM so I made reservations for a 9:00AM train to Rothenburg to allow for some delays.

NOTE: Take advantage of the offer for Seat Reservations on the website! The reservation is free and will insure you a seat assignment on the ICE trains. Those are some sweet trains!

Three hours and two changes of Train later... I arrive at the Rothenburg Bahnhof. There waiting for me is my host for the next two nights Frau Karin Weiss. (I want to say here and now that I cheated on my trip to Rothenburg. I just printed out Ben's “Three Weeks in Heaven” trip and followed his - literary. It worked perfectly for me!! Danke Ben!)

Checked into the BnB Haus Karin. I was the only one staying at the Haus so it was more than perfect! Stayed in the Bavarian Ben Suite! :-)

Changed and walked around Rothenburg. I have been to Rothenburg many times. But this was the quietest time of all! It was too quiet! Most of the stores were closed for the combination of Sunday and Post-Holiday. Most of the Hotels were closed as well. Even Käthe Wohlfahrt was closed!!

Went back to Haus Karin, showered and went back out to dinner at Altfrankische Weinstube.

Meal was decent and a good price. The menu said “Kase Spaetzel” which I love, but what came out of the kitchen was “macaroni and cheese... American Style! Big disappointment! At least the Bier was wonderful!

January 10th - Monday

Woke to a big Haus Karin breakfast! Wonderful! Once again I took out my trusty B.Ben report and headed out to visit the town of Detwang. I must add that the weather was very warm for January, about 60 degrees F, which was great for touring. I walked out of the St. Wolfgangs Church gate and headed down the hill. The town of Detwang is very small but also very charming! I wanted to visit the Church of St. Peter and Paul but it was closed on Mondays!! So y’all make note of that when you are in town!

I walked back along the Tauber Valley, over a wooden bridge, and took up the very steep trail back to Rothenburg. It was a bit too early for lunch so I decided to head over to the “Kaufhaus Mall” that is near the Bahnhof. Now I have this thing for “doing what the locals do” so I highly recommend a quick stop at this mall. You can have some great breakfast pastry’s near the entrance, shop for things you might have forgot at the many shops, go into the Kaufhaus for bottled water, Milka Chocolate Bars, Liquor for gifts (Stroh 80 Rum and Asbach Uralt) and just get away from the tourist for awhile!

Back into town, it was time for a schnitzel so I headed over to the Roter Hahn for a wonderful Schnitzel/pom frites, washed down with some more excellent Bier! (Danke Ben!) The waitress is from Mexico, but has been in Germany for many, many years! Her only accent is a German one!

After Lunch I walked the wall and took some pictures.

I also had promised my wife that I would buy her a Steiff Teddy at one of the many shops. Well I should say one of the ONLY shops that were open! So my choice was limited. The owner of this shop was very nice; even let me use her Internet to email my wife to get the specific instructions on the type of bear she wanted!

Picked out one I thought she would like and headed back to the Haus Karin for a bit of rest, shower and change of clothes.

Note: Haus Karin, while a great value, is slightly outside of town, I, being a frequent visitor to Rothenburg, still had a bit of time figuring out where I was in relation to her home. The town of Rothenburg is a maze with many cobblestone streets, alleyways, German Strasse, etc. But I finally figured out a sure fire way for future guests of her home. Get back to the Market Platz.

Face the RATHAUS, put out your right arm (pointing at the Mayor Nusch Clock). Go in that direction until you get outside the gate into Parkplatz 5.

Turn right and go until you see the path for the “Tennis Platz!” Hey, it worked for me... especially after a few Biers!

Now back to my days... Monday night I decided to go to Hell!.. Höll that is! Once again I was the only one in the place for a few hours! Took a few pictures of the place sat back and had some fine Franconian wine! My kind of place! Very atmospheric, good wine/Bier and could be a great place when the people return!

Since this was my last night, I decided to wander around and soak up the wonderful feeling of Rothenburg at night! I do not recommend this to anyone, especially with a few carafes behind the pallet, but I took in the “wall path” and thought about what it must had been like in the 12th century! It was very dark and spooky and very dangerous for stepping, but I trusted that I would be fine unless I met the headless horseman or who ever guards the place at night! :-)

Tried out my “night feature” on my cheap Sony digital,

looked around one more time and headed off to bed.

Thanks Ben! I left the itinerary at Haus Karin for the next lucky traveler!

“Haus Karin”