CHAPTER 13. ROMANTIC ROAD, GERMANY CONT.

Leaving Ottobeuren we go north thru Mendelheim, Krumbac, and have lunch at Gunzburg. The land is rolling and green, with all kinds of crops, and with forested hill tops. Traffic is fairly heavy with many trucks on the secondary roads. We stop at the Traube Hotel in Donauworth; the room has couch, TV, table, refrigerator, and plenty of space.

On the way out of Donauworth we see the Holy Cross Church which is light and with decorated ceilings, similar to Ottobeuren, but smaller. We visit St. George’s in Nordlingen, and have a good lunch in Dinkelsbuhl, a pretty and clean town with old houses and many flower boxes.

Then we arrive at Rothenburg, the highlight of the “Romantic (Roman) Road” we have been following. We get a nice light large room at the Glocke Hotel and, after a rest, walk around the tourist filled town. With two hostels, there are many young people here. The town is very scenic with clean fresh painted old houses and flowers in boxes and pots. We walk to the garden area and look down on the valley of the Tauber River.

We stay two nights in Rothenburg because there is so much to see, and also the food is excellent in the hotel restaurant! It is sunny and warm, pleasant in the morning, but we seek shade in the heat of the afternoon. We visit St. Jacob’s to see the excellent carved wood high altars, and stop in the the Christmas Shop to buy tree decorations and presents. We look at some rampart towers and go between two towers on the elevated covered wall walkway. Rothenburg is a very pleasant place to visit and is one of the oldest towns on the Romantic Road. Here one can experience and enjoy it’s 16th century atmosphere of paved streets, fountains, old houses and towers, and fancy ironwork signs, all inside of it’s protective ramparts.