A different landscape today.  No river to follow, just the autobahn from Wiesbaden through Hessen and into Bavaria, to meet our dear friends for lunch.  The sun was shining, the sky was blue – we were looking forward to seeing them.

 

 

 

Lunch had been planned in the biergarten, but just before we arrived, the heavens opened and we had to make a run from car to a table inside the Schluchthof.  Though it would have been lovely to have enjoyed lunch in the fresh air, it didn’t matter – we were in good company, the food was delicious and of course, there were plenty of stories to share.  By the time we’d finished lunch, the sun had come out again and we spent a bonus half hour sitting in the garden before we had to start the next part of our journey.

How we wish we could do this more often – how lovely it would be to simply ring them one morning and say “see you later”.  But never mind – it was great to spend time with them this lunchtime and we are lucky that we were able to do that.

 

 

From there, it was a fairly short drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This is a real tourist hub and more than anywhere else we’ve been so far, we’ve heard English spoken – with accents from all parts of the world.  It was pretty busy this afternoon but as the time wore on, the numbers of visitors decreased and right now, I can hear only a few voices outside our window.

 

 

We’re here just two nights, to give my hero a day off driving and to make the most of being here in this beautiful old town.  We’ll walk around it properly tomorrow, so for now, we settled for a short walk around the market place and a look inside Kathe Wohlfahrt’s Christmas Shop.

 

 

This evening, making our way back to the hotel from dinner, we came across the Nightwatchman, starting his evening tour.  Looking remarkably like a young Eric Idle, his tour sounded fun – perhaps tomorrow evening, we’ll go with him.

 

 

But for now, we have journals to write, books to read and blogs to update.  The view from our window at the Eisenhut hotel is of exactly that – the iron helmet hangs over a quiet street.  We’re hoping for a quiet night too and hope you’ll join us for a walk around Rothenburg tomorrow? 

Got your comfy shoes ready?