Rothenburg is pretty much a tourist town now but is still surrounded by a town wall originally built in the middle ages of 950.
Needless to say, lots of history here and as we walked into town we got some of the history. Now it caters to the tourists with lots of quaint shops, restuarant and the town square which had the Christmas Market.
We spent about 4 hours here just wandering around with a stop in for some food and to get warmed up at one point. We had about 45 minutes to kill before having to be back at the bus, so Ron took me on a carriage ride around town. So romantic!
Back into the bus we left about 4pm to head on to Nuremberg. I was all warm and snuggled in and took a quick cat nap as it was about a 2 hour ride. We arrived at the boat and were promptly showed to our cabin that would be home for the next 10 days. It's not very large and we have twin beds that fold down from the wall, but it was comfy. Our luggage arrived quickly and I had a chance to start unpacking before meeting in the lounge for our first port talk and then into dinner.
At this point we got to see the rest of the people we would be traveling with. Our pre trip group had about 30 of us and we were by far the youngest. There were about 90 more people on board for the river cruise portion and thankfully, there were a few more our age. I knew and had warned Ron we would be some of the youngest on board, but I think it still took him by surprise. It's hard for people our age that are still in the working world to take a 2 week vacation, so these trips really are a senior citizen heaven. Not that there is anything wrong with that. We did meet some very nice people.
One thing on these trips that is hard for me is the fact that they get you up and moving very early every day. And I'm NOT a morning person. Breakfast was from 6-8am every morning which is way too early for me! They have us off the boat by 9am for either a walking tour or bus tour and then you can go back to the boat for lunch or stay in town and do your own thing.
Sunday morning it was snowing again, so I was excited. They took us for a bus tour after breakfast all around Nuremberg. Lots of history here too and a larger city of about half a million people. They have the Nazi documentation center here and also the trials were held here after WW2.
Ron just really soaked all of that up. I was mostly interested in the Christmas Market as Nuremberg was supposed to be the mecca of all markets. It's held in the old city square and is supposed to be where the Christmas Markets started from. They don't allow any kind of mass produced toys or stuff, so that was nice. They are also known for their "prune people", but I thought they were ugly! This city was also known for their sausages that I have to admit were AMAZING. You get 4-6 sausages that are the size of your small finger on a roll for about 4 euros and they were so yummy!
After our bus tour, our guides walked us into the old city center to where the markets were. Being Sunday, none of the other stores were open, but the area was packed with people. It was hard to move down the rows of vendors because it was so crowded.
The snow was falling and everyone was in such a festive spirit. I loved it! Again, we stopped at a local restaurant for lunch, which is always an experience. You walk in and just find somewhere to sit. This time we were with a German couple that didn't speak any English and two guys from Brazil that were in town for business that spoke both German and English, so they worked as the translators for everyone! We were crowded around this small table but just had the best time! Everyone was interested in everyone else and we did lots of sign lauguage with the German couple. We ordered a plate of sausages and saurekraut that was to die for! I just wanted a hot chocolate to warm me up but the table wasn't happy until I ordered a beer!
We made our share of purchases in the Christmas Market and then decided it was time to head back to the boat. They had a shuttle bus running back about every half hour and we needed to be aboard by 4pm as the boat was to set said down the Danube at 5pm. At the port talk that afternoon we learned we would be going thru quite a few locs as we traveled the canal to actually reach the Danube. This caught Ron's attention and little did I know, he was up and down all night long watching our progress thru each loc. He was really amazed by that!
Next stop, Regensburg!
No comments:
Post a Comment