Made it back to the states after a very long flight from Frankfurt. Thanks to the volcano in Iceland going off again our flight had to take a southerly route that added 2-hours to our flight to Chicago. Once again I was asleep before the wheels of the plane left the ground.
One correction to be made from the last blog (ok, so there were typos, I was buzzing when I wrote it, sue me) that my lovely hostess advised me about. I'll quote her to get it right:
"It is legal to drink beer and wine here at 14 if you are with your parents. That also includes in restaurants with parents....At 16 you can legally buy beer and wine and drink. At 18, they add hard liquor....That spreads it out a bit and there is alot less binging here when it is not tabu......."
Its so much more practical than our drinking laws.
Our last day there was in Rothenburg and it was lovely. We walked a lot, climbed a lot of steps, and took a lot of pictures. We also shopped a lot but ya'll knew that was gonna happen, right? There is a wall around this old city and we walked along part of that enjoying the view. This city is very touristy, as evidenced by the number of tour buses in one of the parking lots. It is worth seeing for its beauty, abundance of shops and restaurants, and sights.
We went into the Criminal Museum and that was a lot of fun. So many torture devices on display and facts about laws and courts of the times. Several floors to this one, definitely worth the price and a nice break from the palace/castle tour spots. Different and interesting.
I am a big fan of Christmas ornaments, etc, and so is my hostess, Alison so we had to go into Katy Wolfehardt (spelling?) which also contains a Christmas Museum that we opted not to see. It's a really cool store. I like to get small ornaments from places I visit and found some cute items here.
That store is directly across the street from the old tower that Danielle and I climbed to view the entire city. Now this was a real adventure. We had to go in through the old church next door and up many stoned steps in a spiral staircase. Then you go through this doorway into an old room after going through a turnstile. Four guys were ahead of us as we went through and we all paused before going on. The guys were out of breath, but we all stopped because of an alarm going off. It was to limit the number of people going through at one time. Made since as it's an old place and you can imagine it only holds so many people. So the guys were gentlemen and let us go up first. So we start climbing these old wooden steps. The steps continue to get steeper and the walls narrow. We get to the next small landing and are greeted by a lady who says 'two Euro, please'. So we pay (there was a sign at the turnstile but we didn't see it) and then look to see this ladder. It is standing nearly straight up and the steps are small and we have big American feet. So we do it cause we are troopers and we paid for it! As you climb this vertical ladder and reach the top you have to grasp these metal rings and pull yourself up through the opening, like getting out of a hole in the ground. You also may miss the sign that says you are only suppose to stay up there for 5-minutes for that 2-Euros. It was worth it. The view of the city on all sides was incredible. The walkway around the steeple is narrow and two can't walk side-by-side. We make our way around the steeple and had to wait to go back down the ladder because people were coming up. It's the guys we passed in the room with the turnstile. The fourth guy is on the ladder but won't come out and one of the others says to him 'you're embarrassing me, map up, those chicks made it up here'. The man never did come up while we were there, we passed him when we came down. Coming down that ladder off the steeple was the scarey part. Straight up and down and you can't see where to put your feet before the ladder actually begins, you just kinda feel for it with your foot and hold on tight. I'm glad we did it - a challenge met and the view was worth it. You really could see the whole town.
For the trip to Rothenburg it was just us three girls, me, Alison and Danielle and we enjoyed ourselves. Indulged in cakes and snacks at a bakery late that afternoon which probably explains why we didn't care about a big dinner and ate light that evening. We all enjoyed walking the town taking pictures of things that interested us - flowers, doors, doorknobs, hinges, structures.
Alison got the car up to about 200 Kilometers an hour on the Autobahn on the way home and that was fun. We took a rest and had to begin the great task of packing up as it was our last night in Germany. We each were trying to pack and keep it under 50-pounds with wine, glasses, candy (tons of it) and other souvenirs. Alison has the gadget that weighs your suitcase and it was very handy as we were close to the limits and had to be creative. Alison is an expert packer and advised us how to pack the wine and glasses with bubble wrap. I'm happy to report all items made it home without breaking!
Marc was kind enough to get up and drive us to the airport at 4am! He's wonderful. We didn't sleep much but were awake enough to appreciate that he got the Audi up to 155MPH on the Autobahn, couldn't go faster because of traffic and construction. What a thrill! I loved it. I had previously called shotgun for this ride.
This was a wonderful vacation. We visited friends, did some sight seeing and shopping, and most of all relaxed. It was a great mix. I got what I wanted in that I saw each place from a local's perspective, and as a traveler and not a typical tourist. I went to places that a tour bus or guided tour may not know about, saw things that weren't in a guidebook, met wonderful people and saw each place as it really was and not as the marketing machines want to play it.
England and Germany were my third and fourth countries I've visited this year and it only whetted my appetite to see even more. All of this was worth working three jobs for nine months.
"I ate the last mango in Paris
Took the last plane out of Saigon
Took the first fast boat to China
And Jimmy there's still so much to be done" Jimmy Buffett
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