Rainy Rothenburg and Final Stop: Frankfurt

Ross striking his best Kingly aka "Jarl" pose!

Day 0: Housekeeping!

(Leah speaking) Before Ross and I started on our final long weekend together, I had to take care of one small task: The building I was in was to undergo renovations, so we got kicked out and had to move to a new room in a new building. I'm happy that Ross was here to help, it made it a lot easier and quicker!

When we went to the lodging office for the new room key, they thought I was staying in the old room until the 15th and didn't want to give us a new room. They mustn't have noticed the flyer on the counter that said everything in that building would be for sale on the 12th and 13th! Hard to sleep on a bed two days after it's sold!

We eventually got it all straightened out, packed up, and settled into the new room fairly quickly. It's a nice room, some things are better, some not so much. The biggest thing I'm missing is a small kitchen sink. I cook as much as I can in my room, so doing dishes will be a little more challenging, using the bathroom sink instead, but I still can't complain. I'm not spending 6 months in a tent like some of my friends!!

Once the move was complete we relaxed the rest of the day... then I had one full day of work before we left for my 4 day pass and our final adventure together!



Night 0: Arrival in an time-locked city

(Ross speaking) While Leah was at work I took care of the menial chores - laundry, packing - so we'd be ready to hit the road as soon as she was free. It was an easy 2 1/2 hour drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber: "Red fortress above the Tauber" (Tauber is the river by the city.) We arrived to Hotel Eisenhut around 8, settled in, and grabbed dinner at the hotel restaurant. It was easily one of the best meals of our entire three weeks together! To start we ordered a bowl of chestnut chocolate mint soup... sounds weird, but it was incredible. The chocolate and mint were very subtle. It reminded us of an onion soup base, and Leah has already started to look into how to make it - hurray for me!!!  :-) We had gnocchi and pine nuts and mushroom dumplings for our main dishes, received a pumpkin strudel compliments of the house that was incredibly tasty, and washed it all down with a local wine and dunkel beer.

Once we cleaned our plates (I literally licked mine clean, to Leah's dismay), we grabbed our jackets and did a quick exploration of the market square right outside our hotel. It was cold and rainy, which would be the theme for the entire weekend, unfortunately. The market square it very neat and looks as it did 400 years ago, just like most of the city. It's as if the whole city was frozen in time. Since it was cold, rainy, and late, we quickly headed back to our room, scoring some bonus pillows from a hidden chest en route as those in our room were sub-par in the fluffiness category. With a double down on pillows we quickly dozed off to sleep.

Our massive room key keychain. It doubled as a weapon!

Day 1, morning: Rainy Rothenburg

(Leah speaking) We thought about catching breakfast in the hotel, but since it was only served until 1030, we missed it. We popped into a small cafe just off the market square for a coffee and snack instead. I had an apple strudel with cream and Ross had a delicious herby croissant, which tasted a bit like pizza dough. I think we ate more of each others than what we originally ordered. Yum!

From there we wanted to walk around the city to see the sights; it's a 2.5 mile course, with several informational markers along the way. We headed for the castle gardens, taking note of a few cute shops en route, and then started to follow the path. There were some nice views from the gardens of the valley below, endless ye olde artifacts and architecture, and a playground amusingly placed right next to the Strafturm ("Punishment tower" - watch out, kids!)

From here, the path split, and we weren't quite sure which way to go, so we went left. Left was wrong. We ended up going about an hour out of our way, into a neighboring village. We saw some nice old buildings, living conditions for locals, but it was definitely outside and away from the "old city." It had been gently raining this entire time, which was starting to take its toll on Ross' lightweight jacket, so we turned back towards the old town. We finally caught back up with the designated tour path about 50 yards from where we originally took the wrong turn - I made a joke about that during our detour - and sure enough, we were back on track, albeit a bit wetter and grumpier than before!

Once we made it back on to the right path, we found an entrance to the city wall. Lucky for us, the wall is covered, so we were able to hide from the rain for a while. The wall gave us great views of the entire city. Ross had the goal of walking the entire wall, and we did just that! Occasional stops for photos of landmarks and a smooch or two in the towers along the way made it enjoyable. Less enjoyable, for Ross at least, are the low overhead clearances, which forced him to crouch the whole time, except for once... which resulted in a bump to the noggin and some creative use of the English language - ouch!

 

Along the way, we decided that the wall holds the power of a magical force-field that protects all the contents inside the wall from aging. If you look out from the wall, you see the modern world - gas stations, bus stops, car dealerships. If you look the other way, you're transported back about half a millennium. Even though the wall itself is very old, there are noticeable newer additions. Small blocks engraved with names, home locations, dates, some of the most worn mysteriously had "1m", "2m", up to "5m" engraved under their names. (We figured they were people and companies that had donated to help preserve the wall, but the 1m/2m stuff was a mystery. later, the Night Watchman told us that it was how many meters of wall they had funded. Eventually they stopped annotating how much one had donated and just put names. He also said it would cost a minimum of 1200 Euro for a block... doesn't seem too outrageous, but no, we didn't donate. Maybe next time! ;-) We did see two or three blocks from Wisconsinites though - fun!)

We finally ran out of covered wall to walk on, so it was back into the city for us. It wasn't long before we saw a random looking door, which happened to be unlocked, so of course we went to see where it lead - side quest! It was the entrance to the Spital Bastion, a multi-level fortified gate. It had a few old cannons in it, a horse-drawn carriage frame, and what appeared to be the aftermath of a New Year's Eve party. Ross is convinced that with a space heater and some plush carpet, this would make a great home, and wants to move here. We quickly moved along before that idea got a foothold...

Our time with the wall and random fortresses was done, so we ended up back in the city. We were both damp and cold, so we found a cafe for some gluhwein and our first schneeballen ("snowball" - a doughy fried treat covered in powdered sugar, or cinnamon and sugar, coated with chocolate, or injected with some sweet sugary filling. AKA a big ball of diabeetus.) We heard they would be life changing. They're a tasty treat for sure, could be life ending, but let's not go as far as life changing!! We were smart to get the small sized ones, which were just the right size. Once they were all gobbled up, and we were sufficiently warmed by the gluhwein, back outside we went.

Schneeballen and Gluhwein

We took a few photos at the famous Plonlein, walked by a ye olde bar built into the city wall that Ross wanted to check out (closed - bummer!) then decided a pitstop in the warmth of our hotel was calling our name, so we headed in that direction. Before we got there, we decided to check out the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop next door... she seems to be a pretty big deal in the Christmas arena. (Funny enough I got an ornament that says "Rothenburg" from her shop in the Ramstein mall, but didn't see the same ornament in the Rothenburg shop.) We didn't buy any ornaments from the shop, so we went to the hotel to dry off and warm up and dry off for a quick minute.



Day 1, evening: Rothenburg at night

(Ross speaking) After I complained about my cold feet enough, Leah used her hair dryer on my shoes. Have you ever hair dried shoes? Imagine all the wonderful smells of the things you've stepped in for the past few years, coupled with the general aroma of wet feet, come back to life. BARF! On the plus side, they felt all warm, dry, and amazing, and I was ready for part two of our rainy Rothenburg adventure!

  

The only thing left on our schedule for the day was the Night Watchman's tour at 8pm and "to hell" after that. We had about 3 hours to kill before our tour started, so we browsed some local shops, eyeballed a few trinkets, swords, steins, and junk but nothing caught our eye. Then we went into a small dirndl & lederhosen shop. It's no secret that I'm a fan of a good dirndl, so there was no way we were passing on the  opportunity to see my Leah in one :-) There was a nice old man working, helpful in a ye olde sorta-speaks-English kinda way, showing us the ins and outs of dirndl wear etiquette.

I tried on a few hats (meh) and Leah tried on a couple outfits. She's pretty tiny, so she was able to fit into small adult sizes and large children's sizes... though the neckline on the adult sizes was... um... much more to my liking ;-) Then add to your mental image a necklace, matching the color perfectly, with a cute pretzel charm on it... SOLD! Take all of our money!!!! Leah looks fantastic; come have a look, you'll find us at the Estabrook beer garden all summer!

See you at Estabrook!

With dirndl acquired and stowed safely at the hotel, we now had just a few hours to occupy before our 8pm Night Watchman's tour. We detoured through a random side alley populated by a mini Christmas market, complete with locals huddled around fires sipping gluhwein. We proceeded to a local pub, one of my requirements for each destination, and sipped a few beverages - it was quiet! This whole city still shuts down on sunset, a relic of the old days when only heretics and criminals would be found on the streets during dark hours.

(Leah speaking) After drinks it was time for dinner. Lucky for us (usually....) many restaurants display their menus out front so you know what's available inside. We picked a place right on the market square, a stone's throw from where our tour would start. The menu had a solid number of veggie options... or so we thought! After the waitress eliminated half of the options as "sold out" (yeah, right!) we ordered what remained: french onion and tomato soups for starters, a potato and salad entree, and an omelet with fries. Let's leave it here: you win some, you lose some, and with this meal, we lost. The tomato soup was warm marinara sauce, the potato entree was hash browns with ketchup, and the onion soup seemed to come straight from George Webb's. A yang to the yin of last night's dinner, our sustenance was sound and functional, but little more than that.

Back into the marketplace just before our scheduled tour, the rain had subsided, if only for a moment. In such a small square, we wandered and searched, but were unable to find the night watchman... until he chose to appear, seemingly out of nowhere, into the middle of the marketplace. He had a mini "apprentice" watchman with him, donning a mini cloak, poleaxe, and lantern - just like his dad! He was super serious, no playing around (perhaps because he didn't understand English, which this particular tour was in) ... seemed ready to teach all of us tourist a real lesson about the duties of a Rothenberg citizen! Eventually, his mom scooped him up and carried him away, so the elder night watchman could start his duties...

    

On our small tour, on any given random day, we represented five continents (no South America or Antarctica - the penguins couldn't make the flight. See what I did there? Penguins can't fly...add it to your dad joke repertoire. You're welcome!) After the brief introductions, we started our tour into the past.

The market clock rang out at 8pm, with an animatronic display of the invading General Tilly, who -intrigued by local folklore and stories of the town council who could hold their drink- offered to spare the town upon such a display. The current Mayor Nusch had no choice but to try... he drank 3 1/4 liters (nearly a gallon!) of Franconian wine in October 1631. What a lush! What a stud! “The Master Draught” - cheers to the warrior who can save an entire city without a single weapon! The stunt worked and Rothenburg is still here today. Cheers to that!

The tour was supposed to be a walking tour around the city. Unfortunately, we only walked a total of 100 yards to stand under an overhang because it rained the entire time. We still learned about some history of Rothenburg and the Night Watchman, so it was neat. But too bad we didn't go anywhere. We did get a tip to check out the City Hall tower the next day, so bonus for us. Ross and I were willing to brave a little more rain for the night and head to Zur Holl (to Hell) for a drink and snack.

Zur Holl is the oldest building in Rothenburg, dating back to the year 900! We ordered beer, wine and two soups: Horseradish and Chestnut. Both so good! I have more inspiration for soup making when I get home. I think Ross liked the Chestnut better, but I loved both. Can't wait to try to make them in a few months! Ross wandered the little place to check it out a bit as we warmed up from a rainy evening.

As the Night Watchman pointed out, there is no night life in Rothenburg. That fact was clearly brought to our attention when at 10pm, we were the last patrons at Zur Holl and they were clearly closing up the place. Our waiter was very kind and said we could take our time. He had plenty of things to do. We didn't take too long, paid our bill and headed out. We ran up the alley next to the bar which led right to our hotel. Time to get dry! We needed to buy another parking pass for the next day so we went to the front desk. This guy didn't speak as much english, so I think he missed the fact that we wanted it for tomorrow after 9am, when you had to pay for parking. He kept telling us we were fine since between 6pm and 9am parking was free. We gave up and went to bed.

The old part of Zur Holl
Day 2: Schneeballen and Torture

(Leah speaking) I was out of bed earlier than planned the next morning since I had to make sure we had a parking pass in the car window by 9am. Check. Can I get back into bed?? We had a few things on our agenda for today before heading to Frankfurt in the afternoon, so I guess it was a good thing we were up a little earlier than the day before. Our first stop was St. James church. It was built between 1311 and 1484. They are most well known for having the Holy Blood Alter piece which was carved out of wood from 1500-1505. It was very intricate and impressive! It was also the only church we went into during our entire trip where we didn't stumble into another event going on.

Holy Blood Alter piece

We were running low on Euro, so we went on the hunt for an ATM. We found a bank, but none of the ATMs would take either of our cards. Fail. A few blocks later, a second bank wanted to give us money. Yay! Time to spend it. We headed straight for a shop we saw the other day. It had some spice mixes I was eyeballing from the window and tasty looking food we wanted to try. Ross led us to it today and it was open. The wraps we had were so good! They did have a bunch of spice blends, pickled foods in jars, and premixed ingredients for breads, but all we purchased was brunch.

The "Maiden" wrap. Yum!

We also wanted to try some more schneeballen to compare from our first taste. We took the recommendation from the Night Watchman and went to one of the nearby shops. We had another powdered sugar one, as that's the original flavor, and a new one with a chocolate peanut butter coating. It held the ball together better and was Ross' favorite. I wasn't quite sold on either of them. The ones from the day before were both better in my opinion.

MORE Schneeballen

We finished our coffees and schneeballen, stopped in a neat wine shop for a second and then headed over to City Hall to climb the tower. We were told that you don't pay until you get to the top because some people don't make it all the way! It's true it was steep, but not as bad as I imagined. Though definitely worth it! You could see the entire city from up there. We had a 5 minute time limit up on the top, so we had to make our photos quick! It's very small up top, so I imagine the time limit is to keep crowds from forming. We got in and out in just about our allotted time. Back down we went.

The City Hall tower from the ground

 

There was one museum we wanted to check out, but it didn't open until 1pm, so we went to one more Schneeballen shop for a final taste test. In this one, there was a gentleman making them. It was neat to see the process. Looks super easy! Roll out dough. Cut dough with special wheeled tool. Place in big metal scoop. Fry dough. The downfall to this place was there were no mini sizes. All baseball size. Ugh. We had to get two. One powdered sugar one to compare and a new flavor. We picked caramel injected, chocolate covered. Another sugar coma. I think I need to check my blood sugar. Overall, I still liked the first place best. Ross liked the covered ones.

Now that we were sufficiently stuffed, it was time to head to the Medieval Criminal Museum. This place was filled with old ways torturing people, information about law and the justice system throughout the ages, and a few random artifacts. It was much bigger than anticipated. I was getting tired and losing interest about half way through. We carried on and made it through.

Time Out for Ross and Cheeky!

We were both ready for a little rest, but it was time to drive to Frankfurt. We plugged in the address to our next hotel, got some gas, and then I soon dozed off for a portion of the drive. Thanks Ross for driving in the dark and rain while I slept!

Once again we were arriving at our next location in the dark and rain. I woke from my slumber and helped guide Ross to our hotel. There was supposedly a few free parking spots at the hotel, but it was not clear where those spots were. The hotel was on a fairly busy road and no reserved parking spots were evident. We drove around to the next street over and wound up in a cul de sac. Ross told me to wait there with the car while he asked about parking. To my surprise he appeared out of nowhere a few minutes later. We had ended up right behind the hotel and 10 feet from our parking space! What luck! We were soon checking into our room with ease. Another rainy night left us unwilling to do much exploring. We were happy to have Green Thai restaurant right across the street from our hotel. Such good food! With extra full bellies we made it an early night and surfed through all the German TV stations. The only one we could handle watching was a music channel that actually played videos. Song of the day goes to Ed Sheeran's "Perfect". We heard three different versions of the song. Not a bad way to end the day.

Day 3: One Full Day in Frankfurt

Saturday was our only full day in Frankfurt. Breakfast was actually included with our stay, so Ross went downstairs to grab some food for us to eat in the room. Fueled up, we were ready to explore a small part of Frankfurt. We started with a walk to a flea market. Lots of junk, shiny trinkets, and treasures. Ross found a coin for his dad, but that was all we purchased. We then passed over the iron bridge that has become Frankfurt's love lock bridge. Just like in Paris and other cities, couples place their locks with names written or engraved on them wherever they can find a spot on the bridge. We've decided to find a bridge in West Allis and start the trend there!

      

Nearby was a more modern shopping area. We wandered around there, checking out souvenir shops, hopping in and out of the rain. There were a couple of street performers that looked like statues and one random dude in between the two just talking to himself.

The small crowds of people lead us to an actual mall. Since we didn't have much else going on we went in to check it out. It was 4 floors and looked bigger than it actually was. We ended up on an escalator that took us all the way to the 4th floor. The only thing to see was a VR view of their new food court. Any use of VR is a good thing! The 3rd floor was one big store that looked like a Best Buy, so we skipped it, probably to Ross' dismay. With multiple stores on level 2, we decided to check it out. Now, I normally have to mentally prepare to go shopping, especially for clothes. We poked our head into Kult. I was ready to turn around, when I saw something that caught my eye. A light jacket similar to one I found on Pinterest. So...I wandered over. Ross found a hook to pull one down from a high display. We probably got yelled at in German saying there were more with in reach and don't pull things down. The nice lady immedately took Ross' new toy away. I wasn't 100% sold on the jacket, but there was a hooded sweatshirt version. I tried that on. Got yelled at again by a different lady. Pretty sure this time I was supposed to use a dressing room. Not sold on that sweatshirt either. But wait - there was one more jacket similar to the first. We grabbed it and wandered near the dressing room. Tried that one on without going to the dressing room. It's a jacket. I don't need a room for that. Didn't get yelled at! I hemmed and hawed about whether or not I wanted to spend the money while Ross was playing the part of an obliging boyfriend, holding my purse and jacket, while I tried to make a decision. Needless to say, I walked out with a new light jacket. I wore it later that night, so I already started getting use out of it.

A quick walk through the rest of the mall and we were headed out in search of a snack. It took a bit of wandering, but we eventually stumbled upon The Burgermeister. From what we could tell, there were three vegetarian burgers available. Sold! In we went. The guy at the counter didn't speak English, but the point method worked just fine. We ended up with two burgers: a falafel burger and a "patty" made entirely of spinach, plus some fries. We also had to try apple wine since that area of Frankfurt is famous for it. Tasted like cider to me. I'll take it!

       

We couldn't decide on what else to do, so back to the hotel it was. I tried on my dirndl so we could get some photos for the blog, watched a few more music videos and looked online for restaurants that might strike our fancy for dinner. Nothing called out to us, so another round of Green Thai it was! This time we got it to go. Before we left, we opened the bottle of wine we got from Paris. It had to sit for at least 30 minutes before drinking. Perfect while we went to fetch our dinner. Another delicious meal, our last dinner together! We were happy to reminisce about our last three weeks together. While sad that it has to come to an end, it also meant I was at my half way point! Three months to go! An earlier than normal morning was in front of us, so it was time to get rested.

Day 4: Time to Head Home?

Sunday morning we packed everything up, had some hotel breakfast and made it to the airport with plenty of time for Ross to check in. When I flew through Frankfurt, two hours was just barely enough time to make it to my gate. We gave him 3 to be safe. Of course that meant Ross made it through everything in 45 minutes. Doh! I made it back to Ramstein quickly and decided to make use of my last hours with the car. I went to the Commissary to restock my food supply. While there, Ross was keeping me updated on his travel progress. It sounded like he might get delayed, but I was waiting to hear more. I unloaded all my groceries (except two 6-packs of sparkling water), and was getting recombobulated in my room after Ross' departure. About 30 minutes before I was going to drop the rental car off I get a message: "Flight has been canceled and rescheduled for the 9th (two days from now)...come get me" WHAT?! The rest of that the story will be in our next post.

Our Opel Mokka. What a great car! 

Where's my water Hertz?!