As usual, my husband headed to breakfast, when he put out the bags at 6:45. I headed down about 15 minutes later. He had saved me a seat at his table with D from CNN and K and his wife L from Wyoming. We had a nice chat during a delicious breakfast.
When we got on the bus at 7:45, I was wearing both knee supports. I knew we'd be sitting a lot today and then suddenly walking a lot and thought they'd help. There was great joy all around, when 87-year-old D got on, feeling terrific. He had nothing but praise for the EMTs. The pastor had walked a half hour both ways to a pharmacy last night to get him the required medications and M, D's daughter acted like it was a big deal that I had told her where to find the pastor. When I asked her how she was doing, she said great because she wasn't taking home her dad's body. That thought had crossed my mind last night. I'm very glad for all involved that he is so much better. He's decided to swear off Brussel sprouts. M said his regular meds had been causing acid reflux.
We left at 7:50 and very quickly the city gave way to farmland and atmospheric hills.
This is my ninth or tenth trip to Germany. I've visited Berlin twice before and taken the same Rhine cruise on a previous trip, but the other locations so far have been new. But, today, we are going back into Bavaria and not only have I visited every place on the rest of the itinerary at least once, but my great-grandfather was from here. This area is in my blood. I always feel at home here.
At 10:10, we got off at a rest area on the autobahn. As usual, I bought chocolate for 2,79 minus the 1 Euro credit from us both paying 0,70 at the restroom. Toilets still putting on a show!
Charlie had us back on the road at 10:32. A mere 17 minutes later, we were parked in the large lot at the new Rothenburg ob der Tauber Visitor Center, which is not yet open. As we got off, Brane told us that we needed to be back at 1:30, but he would take us to see the Lutheran church first.
Still a Marylander at heart, I was very happy to see the state flower, the black-eyed susan growing by the Visitor Center.
When we reached the town square, it was crowded and the weather was cruddy. However, it still makes for a nice panoramic photo.
We passed through the square and on to St. Jakobskirche, which you may recall means St. James Church. This Lutheran church signals its membership in the Camino de Santiago paths, with a seashell in the hand of the statue outside and one on a lectern.
Brane paid the entrance fee for the group, but I don't remember one in the past. The fee is no doubt due to the popularity of the church's treasure, the Holy Blood Altarpiece, carved by Tilman Riemenschneider from 1500-1505. You climb up stairs at the back of the church to reach this altar behind the organ. There are chairs there and it was really easy to take photos from that vantagepoint.
The cross at the top holds a sample of Christ's blood in a rock crystal. The carving at the center is of the Last Supper, with Judas at center receiving a morsel of bread from Jesus. During Easter week, they remove Judas. After time here, we were released to explore.
My husband and I went downstairs to look at the main altar and the side altar, Altar of the Crowning of Virgin Mary. That altar has carvings from Riemenschneider's studio. in 1520. The scenes depicted are definitely Catholic, not Lutheran.
We took advantage of the town restrooms behind the Rathaus before going to Anneliese Friese's shop, which we had passed on our way to the church. She befriended Rick Steves, when he first came to Germany. Not only is this the shop, where I bought my first Christmas ornament in 1974, but I've had the pleasure of meeting her and chatting with her since. She was not in the shop today, because the weather is tough on her now, her son told me. She will be feted at a 90th birthday party soon. We found gifts and ornaments there and got a discount, thanks to having Rick Steves' book with us. We were even given a tote bag and a map autographed by the lady herself.
The next stop was the pilgrimage to Käthe Wohlfahrt. However, we noticed a rummage sale benefiting an animal shelter in the passageway under the Rathaus and just had to walk through.
When we came out, I took a photo of the St. George fountain and sent my husband to see the Glockenspiel, as it was almost noon, and I headed for the Christmas store I love.
Sadly, one is not allowed to take photos in this treasure house. (Check out their website, though.) Truthfully, I do own a lot of ornaments from here. I even got some from them in June, when they had an online sale. I was looking for a couple of things. We have a collection of wooden angels that play musical instruments that we keep together on the tree. It is getting harder to find ones we don't have and it doesn't help that the place that makes them in the Erzgebirge has started making them to stand up. We did find one this time that plays a recorder. I also found some nice holiday linens in shapes like trees, that I will frame. There were some nice lace and crocheted ornaments that I didn't have. They have been carrying matchboxes with scenes in them for a while, but the selection has shrunk. I did get a couple, though. The selection of Reutter Porcelain in the store has expanded and it was so hard to choose! The place is a machine. There are clerks everywhere and if your hands are getting full, someone is suddenly there with a basket. There was quite a line, that moved along, until someone decided to jump the line. I didn't even have to ask for the Global Refund paperwork to get my VAT returned at the airport. The clerk simply produced it at the end of checkout. I was surprised to see so many Asian clerks here and elsewhere in town. I've not seen that before.
Time was rapidly shrinking. We had passed a quilt store that I wanted to visit and my daughter had asked for a specific souvenir. My husband wanted to eat, but it was after 12:40 and I didn't see that we had time. He had noticed a butcher shop, Metzgerei Erich Trump (couldn't possibly be a relation, the family was really Drumpf), on the way into the town center. I would have been happy with a Schneeball, but, he went there, while I frantically ducked into a good 8 shops searching for what she wanted to no avail. I came upon this fellow near the square and had to take his photo.
It was amazing how many of the shops I entered were actually branches of Käthe Wohlfahrt. I went in a shop that smelled wonderfully of lavender and had to buy some of the embroidered sachets they make. (Rothenburger Wäscheladen part of Anno 1893). I found a shop selling all manner of wooden signs and it smelled of fresh wood. I got a charming little oval with Grüß Gott, the Bavarian "hello" to put somewhere at home. I managed to find the quilt shop again. I was bemused to see decorative buttons that I've see in craft stores at home. The fat quarters weren't cheap, but I couldn't resist getting fabric with German motifs, so I got 2 for 9 Euros. She had patterns and even a whole kit to make a quilt, but at 110 Euros, that was just too much.
Oh, this place is named for Nusch:
At some point, my husband caught up to me and wanted me to eat one of the 2 ham and cheese sandwiches with potato salad that he'd gotten for 5,40, after waiting in line a long time, but I just couldn't take the time. This was the one day that we had with time for real shopping.
I realized that I really couldn't leave town without a dark chocolate Schneeball. I wasn't seeing any more bakeries ahead of me, so I spun around and hurried back toward the town center. Of course, now I wasn't seeing any bakeries with them. Finally, I ducked in one that had a few Dunkleschokolade Schneebälle at the end of the case. Impatiently, I waited for the guy ahead of me to stop putzing around and get done. I ordered, she put it in a paper bag and I hurried out.
We headed down the street at what I would describe as my college gait-fast as possible to get to class. I totally ignored whatever my knees where trying to tell me about how much they didn't like this or the intermittent rain. Of course, that passageway was further along the street than expected.
It was 1:25 by the time we reached the restrooms at the far end of the Visitor Center, of course. We each paid 0,50, just grateful there was a restroom. We made it onto the bus at 1:30 and I tried to catch my breath, before eating the sandwich and the rest of the potato salad that my husband had saved for me, as well as my Schneeball.
We were not the last ones on. In fact, we were short one, B, the Catholic organist from Wyoming. Brane got off the bus to go look for her. Folks were getting irritated, but as time passed, irritation turned to concern. The pastor and another man from Wyoming headed off. The rest of us just didn't know what to do. The town isn't big, but if you get off the main street, go in a shop and turn in the wrong direction, when you come out, then you are lost without a map. Brane really should have given out maps. Finally, some of us in the back turned to the organist S, who was in the back, too, and asked if he had her number. (That's another thing; Brane should have given everyone his.) He realized he did, but it went straight to voice mail. Time continued to pass and we all kept wondering how she could be found. I wondered, whether she was in the Catholic church.
Suddenly, the organist's phone rang. We all got quiet.The things we heard from his end were quite positive. When he hung up, he told us it was the post office. When she got lost, she found it and went in for help. The wonderful thing was that she managed to go in before it was due to close at 2. She got the man there to send S a map showing exactly where she was and he also told him on the phone. Soon, we heard that Brane had her. The pastor and other man returned-no idea how they'd found Brane or her- and said she was fine, mostly embarrassed. We did not embarrass her further by cheering or anything.
(Later, some of us did tell her how glad we were that we had her back safely and we were impressed by her presence of mind to ask for help in the post office. Some said, they would have been too panic-stricken to think that clearly. She told me, that she had gone in the Catholic church and noticed that instead of Mary on the left side, they had a statue of St. Michael, the Archangel. Then, the man who helped her in the post office was named Michael. We both agreed that that had been a sign and how cool was that?!)
When we got on the road at 2:30, it was 16C (60.8F) and incredibly dreary. By 2:42, it was also foggy. Charlie wisely stopped at a rest area at 3:28. This time, instead of using our 1 Euro credit on chocolate, we used it to buy a 2,74 Euro bottle of Mezzo Mix, which we had not yet seen on this trip. We are fans of this drink and really lament the Coke place at Epcot removing it a while back.
We were back on the road at 3:50. At 4:22, we were parked near the hotel in Nürnberg (Nuremberg). Unfortunately, due to the time, we did not have time to take our hand luggage up to the rooms and had to drag it around sightseeing. It was misty and damp and just not walking around weather.
We put on our whispers and followed Brane as he led the group to the downtown, several blocks away. Charlie just couldn't get us closer than that. We passed the train station on our way to the pedestrian old town. Once in the old town, it was quite crowded with people. I managed to get this shot of the old granary, as we hurried by.
When we reached the NH Hotel at 5:50, the luggage was still sitting in the lobby. Brane was not happy about this. My husband grabbed ours and hauled them up to 209, which was as far down the hallway as possible from the elevators.
NH is not a brand we were familiar with and we were impressed by how modern the room looked. The wall between the shower and the room itself, as well as the bathroom door, turned out to be frosted glass.
We were given a basket of delicious bread and a good salad to start.
We went back to the room about 9. I looked out the window on a rainy street and saw our bus parked across the street.
No comments:
Post a Comment