Bad Griesbach, Nuremburg, Bamberg, Rothenburg, Wurzburg, Skadi!!

Well, it's Friday.  We finally got on the Skadi on Wednesday evening, after quite a long day.  We left Bad Griesbach by bus -- bags outside your door by 7 am, breakfast and on the bus by 8:30 -- and went to Rothenburg.  That's a beautifully maintained walled, medieval city.  We had an hour tour there, then some free time and lunch -- sausage and kraut again -- then went back to the bus for the ride to Nuremburg. 


Street of Rothenburg

One small building detail



the old forge, taken from the Rothenburg wall

Ray and I and 6 other couples were put up in the Meridien Hotel, a really great hotel.  Some others went to the nh hotel, down the street from us and still others, notably the couple we've been spending quite a bit of time with, Lynn and Mark, went to the Moevenpick hotel at the airport.  Yuck.  Lynn is having a particularly bad time with the bus rides since she gets motion sickness.  She has patches that she wears that seem to help, and she's making the best of it.  There are a number of very unhappy campers on this trip.  Anyway, Nuremburg's walled area is also beautifully preserved and we toured it with a very good guide.  The weather has turned decidedly cooler and wetter since we left Bad Greisbach.  Jeans and raincoats are the outfit of choice.  We stayed two nights in Nuremburg and had time to shop their extensive pedestrian area. We got caught in a torrential downpour, but ducked into a coffee shop and had a glass of chardonnay.  Next morning, Thursday, bags outside the door at 7 a.m.we left Nuremburg for Bamberg and Wurzburg.  Bamburg was thoroughly charming, easily walkable and we were on our own for lunch.  We didn't get a chance to taste their smoked beer, unfortunately.

Neptune Fountain, Bamburg

Shop window in Bamburg

Bamburg town wall

We had planned to have a sit down lunch, but the rudeness of a waiter sent us out into the street to a truck selling -- once again -- wurst.  This time, bratwurst that was surprisingly good, while we walked and shopped a little more.  Then on to Wurzburg and a whirlwind tour of the castle there, with a brief visit to the gardens,

Wurzburg Palace

Ray in the Wurzburg garden

Wurzburg garden nymph

before reboarding the bus to meet the Skadi in Frankfurt.  We cruised to Koblenz.  There we took a tram ride up to Ehrenbreitstein Fortress with Lynn and Mark and walked around up there, trying to make sense of all the signs in German.  Mark and Lynn left us at a colossal statue on The German Corner (where the Mosel and Rhine meet) and Ray and I walked into town.  Nice town.  We left Koblenz at 4 a.m. (while we were snugly asleep in our cabin.  Today, we're in Cologne.  This city has been almost totally rebuilt since it was almost totally demolished in WWII, but they've rebuilt in the old style, so it still has some charm.  But, it's a big, bustling city with another large pedestrian shopping area.  We're doing a pub crawl this evening, so we'll get to taste the local specialty, Kolsch (with an umlaut over the o) bier.