Tuesday, June 9 (Day 40)
The day in Schwangau started out overcast and drizzly with mist limiting distance visibility. Our hotel could have been next to Mt. Rushmore for all we knew. We are sure glad we visited the castle yesterday as this fog seems to be socked in for the day. But from what we know of 100+ degree temps happening back in Sacramento we are enjoying it while we can.
Our intent today was to hopscotch up the "Romantic Road" that extends from Füssen in the south to Würzburg in the north, about 176 miles between them. The idea was to see one quaint, olde tyme German town after another, ones which are frozen in a snow globe of times past. For the same reason, Europeans come to America to drive Route 66 - where you "get your kicks" from Chicago to L.A. - to see the real America as they envision it. Of course, things have moved on and except for some small faded remnants here and there Route 66 no longer exists. Much of the America of Route 66 has faded away also.
So on that "up" note, getting back to the Romantic Road, back in the 1950's the German travel industry was trying to spur tourism. The concept they came up with was to have themed routes in the country - for instance a castle road that would have castles along it, a spa road that would have spas and yet another a road to tie together the types of quaint towns outsiders most associated with Germany. The latter brainstorm was to be called the Romantische Strasse - the Romantic Road. Since the route was not a straight line, directional signs would be posted at key points so that tourists would not stray. Our objective today was to only go part way up the road, stopping for the night at Rothenburg ob der Tauber (to differentiate it from other Rothenburgs in Germany). It means "red fortress above the Tauber". We wanted to watch natives in lederhosen and barmaid costumes going about their quaint lives in a quaint, cuckoo clock setting. All buildings ought to look medieval as well.
All dieseled up we headed north. We saw one "Romantisches Strasse" sign on the outskirts of Schwangau. After that, virtually nothing. We set our SatNav to take us to the center of the first town on the list. When we got there it wasn't much. We had a lists of towns along the road from two different Internet sites and there were significant differences between those lists. The car's SatNav could not even find some of the towns. When we broke out our Garmin, it had the same problem. And again, where were those darned directional signs? We were seeing towns both by driving past and driving through, but they were not meeting our vision of romance. In fact, they looked pretty workaday. Were we even anywhere near where we were supposed to be? So we decided to cut to the chase and take the A1 motorway to Dinkelsbühl, further up north. It is supposed to be a real charmer. We were humming along when suddenly barricades channeled all traffic off the motorway onto an exit. Oddly, Norm noticed a semi was entering the same freeway but from an on-ramp ahead of the barricade. What the? We never found that on-ramp. After much wending the SatNav got us back on a different motorway heading north. Okay, we thought, now we're finally cooking. But by this time, our enthusiasm for Dinkelsbühl had dropped a notch.
Unbelievably, the motorway we were now on was also barricaded a few miles on - like last time, we were dumped onto an exit with no signs stating "detour", or detour directional signs along the way, nada. The SatNav kept harping "if possible, make a U-turn" over and over. Our Garmin tried to steer us onto streets that would have amounted to a U-turn, or taken us nowhere. We changed the Garmin to a man's voice to lessen confusion between it and the SatNav when both were jabbering at once. So, no detour direction signs, no Romantic Road signs and two hysterical navigation devices. Besides providing conflicting information, at one point they provided diametrically opposing instructions (see photo). The Garmin seemed the saner of the two so we generally deferred to it. In all this, all we could do was follow a truck ahead that had been similarly detoured since it seemed he was on a mission. We were out in the countryside, then we were passing through small villages (nary a lederhosen or medieval barmaid in sight), then more countryside, when finally we followed the truck onto a road that both navs recognized. And it was here, out of nowhere, that a lone sign appeared telling us we were on the Romantic Road. Why now, when we no longer wanted to have anything to do with it? A check of the map showed that we were now far to the east of the A1 motorway. By the time we escaped to another motorway designated B25 we had given Dinkelsbühl the complete kiss off and decided our sole dose of romance would be in Rothenburg. Route 66 and the Romantic Road - an ocean apart yet each capable of disenchanting those who still believe in the dream.
So here we are in Rothenburg, our hotel immediately outside one the gates to the old town. Instead of horses, now cars and trucks zip through them. If any city's old town should be made at least partially pedestrian-only it's this one. The merchants might squawk but they always squawk about something or other anyway. Vehicles clutter up the landscape when parked and keep pedestrians glued to at times quite narrow sidewalks. Trying to take olde times photos is difficult when sleek Audi's and BMW's horn in. In other respects the old town is very pleasant with a nice mix of shops and eateries. The buildings do have an authentic old tyme look as we viewed them while walking from the main square down many side streets. As an homage to our friends Jack and Gayle, we had dinner at an old town Italian restaurant appropriately named "Pizzeria Roma" - Hawaiian pizza for Pam and Penne Contadina for Norm...plus beers all around.
Proof positive! Two navs telling us to turn both left and right in 600 metres. Navigator Pam suggested splitting the difference and going straight.
The day in Schwangau started out overcast and drizzly with mist limiting distance visibility. Our hotel could have been next to Mt. Rushmore for all we knew. We are sure glad we visited the castle yesterday as this fog seems to be socked in for the day. But from what we know of 100+ degree temps happening back in Sacramento we are enjoying it while we can.
Our intent today was to hopscotch up the "Romantic Road" that extends from Füssen in the south to Würzburg in the north, about 176 miles between them. The idea was to see one quaint, olde tyme German town after another, ones which are frozen in a snow globe of times past. For the same reason, Europeans come to America to drive Route 66 - where you "get your kicks" from Chicago to L.A. - to see the real America as they envision it. Of course, things have moved on and except for some small faded remnants here and there Route 66 no longer exists. Much of the America of Route 66 has faded away also.
So on that "up" note, getting back to the Romantic Road, back in the 1950's the German travel industry was trying to spur tourism. The concept they came up with was to have themed routes in the country - for instance a castle road that would have castles along it, a spa road that would have spas and yet another a road to tie together the types of quaint towns outsiders most associated with Germany. The latter brainstorm was to be called the Romantische Strasse - the Romantic Road. Since the route was not a straight line, directional signs would be posted at key points so that tourists would not stray. Our objective today was to only go part way up the road, stopping for the night at Rothenburg ob der Tauber (to differentiate it from other Rothenburgs in Germany). It means "red fortress above the Tauber". We wanted to watch natives in lederhosen and barmaid costumes going about their quaint lives in a quaint, cuckoo clock setting. All buildings ought to look medieval as well.
All dieseled up we headed north. We saw one "Romantisches Strasse" sign on the outskirts of Schwangau. After that, virtually nothing. We set our SatNav to take us to the center of the first town on the list. When we got there it wasn't much. We had a lists of towns along the road from two different Internet sites and there were significant differences between those lists. The car's SatNav could not even find some of the towns. When we broke out our Garmin, it had the same problem. And again, where were those darned directional signs? We were seeing towns both by driving past and driving through, but they were not meeting our vision of romance. In fact, they looked pretty workaday. Were we even anywhere near where we were supposed to be? So we decided to cut to the chase and take the A1 motorway to Dinkelsbühl, further up north. It is supposed to be a real charmer. We were humming along when suddenly barricades channeled all traffic off the motorway onto an exit. Oddly, Norm noticed a semi was entering the same freeway but from an on-ramp ahead of the barricade. What the? We never found that on-ramp. After much wending the SatNav got us back on a different motorway heading north. Okay, we thought, now we're finally cooking. But by this time, our enthusiasm for Dinkelsbühl had dropped a notch.
Unbelievably, the motorway we were now on was also barricaded a few miles on - like last time, we were dumped onto an exit with no signs stating "detour", or detour directional signs along the way, nada. The SatNav kept harping "if possible, make a U-turn" over and over. Our Garmin tried to steer us onto streets that would have amounted to a U-turn, or taken us nowhere. We changed the Garmin to a man's voice to lessen confusion between it and the SatNav when both were jabbering at once. So, no detour direction signs, no Romantic Road signs and two hysterical navigation devices. Besides providing conflicting information, at one point they provided diametrically opposing instructions (see photo). The Garmin seemed the saner of the two so we generally deferred to it. In all this, all we could do was follow a truck ahead that had been similarly detoured since it seemed he was on a mission. We were out in the countryside, then we were passing through small villages (nary a lederhosen or medieval barmaid in sight), then more countryside, when finally we followed the truck onto a road that both navs recognized. And it was here, out of nowhere, that a lone sign appeared telling us we were on the Romantic Road. Why now, when we no longer wanted to have anything to do with it? A check of the map showed that we were now far to the east of the A1 motorway. By the time we escaped to another motorway designated B25 we had given Dinkelsbühl the complete kiss off and decided our sole dose of romance would be in Rothenburg. Route 66 and the Romantic Road - an ocean apart yet each capable of disenchanting those who still believe in the dream.
So here we are in Rothenburg, our hotel immediately outside one the gates to the old town. Instead of horses, now cars and trucks zip through them. If any city's old town should be made at least partially pedestrian-only it's this one. The merchants might squawk but they always squawk about something or other anyway. Vehicles clutter up the landscape when parked and keep pedestrians glued to at times quite narrow sidewalks. Trying to take olde times photos is difficult when sleek Audi's and BMW's horn in. In other respects the old town is very pleasant with a nice mix of shops and eateries. The buildings do have an authentic old tyme look as we viewed them while walking from the main square down many side streets. As an homage to our friends Jack and Gayle, we had dinner at an old town Italian restaurant appropriately named "Pizzeria Roma" - Hawaiian pizza for Pam and Penne Contadina for Norm...plus beers all around.
Proof positive! Two navs telling us to turn both left and right in 600 metres. Navigator Pam suggested splitting the difference and going straight.
Pam's photo op outside our hotel:
There is more than one gate into the old town. Our hotel is next to this one, the Galgen Gate.
Looking back at the Galgen Gate.
More quaint town photos:
Jean's favorite shoe store - for Finn Comforts.
We liked this tin in one of the shop windows:
This is a former tavern at one time excusively used by City councilors. At one point, we saw the windows on either side of the red faced clock opened to reveal carved human figures. It didn't appear that they did anything. Then the windows closed. Perhaps the figures represented two of those councilors?
At St. George's Fountain, if you move the long trays beneath the spigots the water comes to you - swing them away and it falls into the fountain's pool. Figure at the top of the pedestal is St. George slaying a dragon. St. George gets around for someone who never existed.
No pizzeria has ever had such classy quarters.
What a picture to have staring at us while we eat our dinner:
This vehicle really comes to life when there's snow on the ground.
Pam found some photo ops that she couldn't resist:
View from one edge of old town showing a bridge over the Tauber River.
We took another walk into the old town, this time at night. The Town Hall on Market Square was beautifully lit up.
View from our hotel room:
Hotel lobby:
No comments:
Post a Comment