We Visit the Burgs (Rothen and Frei)

Back to work for Stephen on Tuesday and a busy day for me with blogging and telephone conversations. Stephen is working very hard and is feeling somewhat tired. We have found a new place to eat, Cafe Fagioli, where the food is very tasty. We've been back a couple of times now and the young waitress, who doesn't speak English, is always very helpful, although Stephen thought he was ordering a tomato salad and ended up with the best tomato soup he has ever tasted - apart from mine of course! A mistake with benefits. The local German food we have had is very salty, so we have been sticking to mainly Italian restaurants.

The weather this week started out quite hot but has cooled a little towards the weekend and is now raining - you know that stuff that use to fall from the sky in Melbourne about 7 or 8 years ago! The one thing we have noticed as we tour around is how green the countryside is. When we first arrived all the trees were leafless and now they are all out in full bloom. How the scenery has changed in only 7 weeks.

Friday night was really balmy so we decided to go and sit up at the centre and act like locals. We vent to a wery trendy bar for a quiet drink. If there are no seats inside or within the immediate vicinity outside simply find a rock or a lump of concrete nearby (approx. 1km) which we did. Friday night drinks took on a whole new meaning!

Saturday Michael and I were back on the road with the hybrid, Prius and off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This is a walled city about 1 hour 30 minutes north of Stuttgart, or moderately more for the average driver. It was a beautiful day and we walked around in the sun. There were a lot of tourists in the town and the market square (platz) was doing a booming Saturday morning trade with fruit and vegies. We climbed the Rathaus (town hall) tower for a great view of the surrounding area. I must admit my fear of heights was given a massive work out on this climb, with narrow wooden stairs that were very shiny after millions of pairs of feet had ascended and descended them. To say I was scared would be a big understatement. After I recovered from the trauma and Stephen had stopped laughing, we walked around the town.



The town seems to specialise in wooden puppets and has some large shops devoted to Christmas decorations. We could have spent a fortune but most things were wooden and of course you are not allowed to bring them back into Australia. Everything else was glass or delicate and we are limited with packing stuff into our bags. We walked around the wall and through the gardens and finished in our usual fashion by having something to eat and drink. For those of us old enough to remember our mums using Persil, you can buy it in Germany in bulk.

One thing that has caught our attention throughout Germany is the number of ‘Goths’ with their black clothes, hair and piercings. In Rothenburg there were nought to be seen. However we did find where they all originate from – The Goethe Institute (see photo). Obviously they were all busy attending lessons prior to fanning out across the country. As we were returning to the car the heavens opened up and down came the rain. We didn't have far to go but were drenched by the time we got back to the car - no coats or umbrella. However, before we left we managed to photograph "a vell with a wery, wery vell vorn vooden vheel". !!!! Were you aware that Mark Twain, during a visit to Heidelberg, said "to learn the German language is perfect for the dead as it takes an eternity". Especially the Vees and the Wubblues.

Home to check the footy scores and watch a movie on the computer. So far 5 winners, could we possibly pick 8 this week??

Sunday morning a quick hello on Skype to the beautiful grandchildren and off to Freiburg Im Breisgau. We had been advised by a number of people that if you go to Germany you must go to Freiburg so we were looking forward to the day. The weather was a bit overcast but with sunny breaks. Freiburg is about 2 hours south of Stuttgart and Michael S was enjoying the drive. Would someone please warn the Victorian police that he will be home shortly. We arrived at the information centre only 20 minutes before it closed. The Germans hate to work on Sunday and unless you are eating, everything is closed. No 7 days a week shopping for them. The tourist office was across from St Martin's church so we popped in for the 3rd and 4th quarters. Now we were a little surprised that there was such a person as St Martin because the only Martin we know is no saint, as a matter of fact he is a Demon.

(Aren't they cute!!)

We did a self walking tour of the old town and were delighted at every corner we turned. Beautiful medieval buildings and little canals running through the town, and I do mean little, they would be no wider than about 10 inches. They would be lethal if you had had too much to drink and were trying to get home, not that we advocate doing such a thing!! One street had the most beautiful wisteria trained from wall to wall on either side of the road forming a gorgeous overhead display. Freiburg is quite compact and space is at a premium. One group of young people had taken their diningroom table, music and coffee machine out onto the main street and were enjoying Sunday lunch as the trams whizzed by. Can't imagine doing that in Strathmore.

We arrived at the market square and were surprised to find the Hotel Rappen still standing. We had heard that it had been trashed in the 1980's by some marauding New South Welshmen.

The south of Germany is very Catholic and we were not surprised to find an ordination was occurring in the Munster (Cathedral) when we arrived. The church was full of dignitaries and family and friends of those being ordained. The ordinary folk were only allowed to stand down the back which we were quite happy to do.

From there we sat at the cafe across the road and had an ice cream sundae and some apfel strudel for Stephen. Ever since we arrived we have been amazed by the number of people eating ice creams. They eat it at all hours of the day so it wouldn't have been right if we didn't join in. Unfortunately the weather changed quite dramatically and we headed back to the car to get our coats. We walked in the rain for a while but soon realised we had seen all of the old centre by this stage anyway. So, back to the car and home to the hotel in Stuttgart.

Surprise, surprise we both picked 8 this week along with 90% of AFL tipsters (Essendon supporters excluded).

This week it is happy birthday to Leonie and we wish Meg a great night on 22 May for her confirmation. Love and kisses to Dad.