Hi gang,
As many of you know, I love to stretch my travel dollars and this hotel is quite the bargain. For $60 per night, I’ve got a very comfortable bed (slept 8 hours last night and no jet lag!), a huge hearty breakfast, free loaner bikes and just a few steps off the town square of one of the prettiest medieval cities in Europe. Can’t beat it! (That’s how I can afford to spend 67 days over here!).
So today I got up bright and early and took a walk around the entire city along the covered ramparts of the wall (included a pic so you can see what I mean). Great views along the way looking down over the city.
I then headed over to St Jacobs church (dedicated to the apostle St James). This is one of the church’s on the pilgrimage route to St James grave in Santiago de Compostela in Spain (also know as “The Way of St James”). I only included one pic of this amazing wood carving some say is the best in Germany. It’s part of the Altar of the Holy Blood since they claim it holds a drop of Jesus’s real blood. The carving shows the Last Supper with Jesus giving Judas (who’s holding a bag of cash) a piece of bread marking him as the traitor while John lays his head in Christ’s lap. Check out the detail of the curly locks of the apostles’ hair and beards, the folds of their garments and the expression on Jesus’ face. OK, that’s all for my bible lesson today! Lol
I then walked back to the town square and came across this group of young German girls singing and playing guitar. Right when I get there they start singing in English that John Denver song “Almost heaven, West Virginia…”. That’s the cool unexpected stuff you run across while traveling!
I then took a short afternoon siesta (I picked that trick up from my Spain trip!) and headed out on one of their loaner bikes. I found this really cool wooded bike trail (pic included) that took me outside the city walls into the country side looking back toward the town (pic). It was so peaceful and picturesque out there. No tourists and only a few bikers. Ran across an Alpaca Farm and lots of cute houses.
Then for my evening entertainment, I went on the Night Watchman’s Tour. This guy was all dressed in garb (pic) and was a hoot. He explained how back in the old days, the biggest fear was the town burning down in the middle of the night from other villages trying to plunder so the night watchmen would roam the city all night with their weapon and a candle lit lamp. There must have been 100 people on this tour following him around the city at night while he told tales of days gone by in Rothenburg. Too cool!
The weather here has been just perfect so far with highs about 72 and no humidity. Hope it stays that way! Have a great night all!
Jeff
The Wandering Italian 