How lucky can we get?  We woke up this morning to rain pouring down.  Berchtesgaden was getting a good soaking, but we were going to be leaving today.  After breakfast, we packed the car and headed down the hill.  The rain was light by the time we were heading out of the city.  This was another chance for us to see the countryside and enjoy the beauty of the German Alps.

We got to the autobahn and headed toward Munich.  Today, we are headed to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This is a walled city from the Renaissance period.  I decided this was a cool place to stay the night before we leave Germany for Krakow.  It turned out to be close to where Rich’s friend, John Wolfe and his wife, were staying.  We decided to meet up here for a bit.

As we drove north, the rain stopped.  The clouds hung around and it was windy.  It would be a good day to drive.  We worked our way up the autobahn with little issue.  Some of the construction sites would slow down, but nothing too bad.  We were making good time.

We stopped at a rest area for a break.  I parked right next to a replica early 1900s racing car.  It reminded me of Barney Olges’ Indy car.  The name on it was Alte and Sexy.  There were two older Porsche rally cars nearby.  Everyone was standing around this car.

While I was stuck in line for the ladies bathroom, Rich said the guys who owned them came out.  They explained they were driving the cars up to Frankfurt.  I missed seeing them leave.  Tour buses from the casinos just cause you missed so much.

We got a call from John about halfway to Rothenburg.  Apparently, he had trouble finding a place to park.  We didn’t know what this would mean for us at this point.  We promised to call him once we got closer.

When we reached the city, there were cars and buses everywhere!  The navi was trying to take us into a road that was shut down.  After circling the city for a bit, we opted to park out in a bus parking lot and walk into where our hotel was.  As we got into the walled city, we discovered there was a Ren Faire going on right in the middle of town!

We found our hotel and went to the front desk.  We explained where we parked.  The poor guy who helped with the cars just shook his head.  He was going to have to walk out there to get the car and bring it into the city to put into their garage.  At that time, he would bring our luggage to the hotel for us to get.

Rich called John and made arrangements to meet nearby.  While Rich waited outside, I waited in our room for the phone letting us know our luggage was here.  Pretty soon, I heard Rich on the landing with the porter and our luggage.  So much for plan A.

We tipped the poor man for getting the car and luggage to the hotel.  Then we were free to go in search of John and Andrea.  We walked down the street toward the main square.  We were surrounded by visitors and costumed people.  Rich needed to stop for coffee in a local coffeehouse.  After a few minutes, he came back out.  Apparently, the place was overwhelmed with orders.  Coffee would have to wait.

We found John standing outside of the Christmas Museum just down from the square.  Andrea was inside shopping for ornaments.  Kathy Wolfhart is a designer of ornaments here and this place is very, very popular.  We stood outside talking and waiting.  Pretty soon, it was time for John to go for his parking.  He let Andrea know and headed off.

I had never met Andrea before, but Rich had.  He recognized her when she came out of the door.  We stood talking as we waited for John.  We noticed that they raised ropes around the street and then cannon started to go off.  The thing was so loud and scared us, even though we knew what was about to happen.  It went off twice for about 10 rounds each.  The ropes were lowered and the crowds could get down the street again.

John returned and we decided to walk down the street and see what was down that way.  We ended up around the old city wall on the south part of the city.  There were two booths there manned by friars.  One sold Dunkel beer and another wursts and brotchen.  We decided to take a break and talk for a while.  The sun was warm and we got caught up on the current happenings.

After a bit, it was time to start up the street again.  We wandered back to the square and down the street toward the old castle ruins.  Down that way, we could get to the old wall where you walk the ramparts and look out of the arrow slits.  Rich and John went up to have a look.  The stairs were not that protected and we decided to watch from ground level.

At this point, it was getting chilly outside with the wind.  Only John was dressed for this sharp change in temp.  The rest of us were getting cold.  Walking about helped, but not totally.  I’m sure it would get worse as the sun was going down.

Back on the street, the stores were closing.  People were beginning to leave the city in droves.  Even a large bus was trying to come down the narrow street.  It was time for the city to close up.  John and Andrea were thinking about heading back out themselves.  We walked up toward the gate where they parked.  John decided he wanted to see where we were staying the night and we walked to our hotel.

After John and Andrea left, we went up to rest for a bit.  After warming up, we decided to go downstairs to eat and not have to go back out in the chilly wind.  Rich had the trout and I got the venison stew.  Both were very good.  The hotel even did their own homebrew and Rich got a glass of their beer.  It was OK, but not quite what Rich likes normally.

After dinner, we returned to our room to rest and get ready for our flight tomorrow.  I pulled up our flight info and needed to print our boarding passes.  I checked with the front desk and they could print them if I sent them in an email.  When I went down to pick up the passes, the owners were curious about the email address of Zurekbrau.  She wanted to know if we owned a brewery.  I said that it was the name my husband used and he was a homebrewer.  They found that very interesting.

I worked on my blog entries as we were being serenaded by people sitting at the open bar areas around the hotel.  They could actually sing.  They kept up for quite a while.  I quit hearing them about 10:30.  Rich said he heard them up until about 2:30.  Around 9:00, the cannons went off for quite a while.  I assumed it was part of the show for the nightwatchman taking visitors on the rounds.  I had wanted to do that, but it was too chilly out there in the dark.

So another day had gone and it was going to be time to leave Germany for the next stage in our trip.  I really love Germany and enjoyed our stay.