I am now on the Romantic Road. The tour has just left Wurzburg. We had stopped at the train station there for 15 minutes. But it was quite meaningless because one just could not see anything in 15 minutes, especially when the sights were not really around the station. I only had the time to walk around the square in front of the station and rush to the toilet. So I hardly have any impression on Wurzburg.
But it is comfortable to travel on a bus. I don't need to worry about train schedules and so on. I can even take a nap if I like. This is quite relaxing.
* * *
We have just stopped at a place called Weikersheim for about 20 minutes. There was a castle in the town which looked beautiful enough despite the rain. There were couples in wedding suits taking pictures in the castle. So I have learnt that people do the same thing all over the world. Having seen the castle, everyone seemed much more satisfied when they returned to the coach.
The shower has stopped and there is sunshine again. The weather is odd.
* * *
I am now in my hotel room in Rothenburg. It is 7:18 pm. I have just had some sausages on the street. But I plan to go out to the McDonald's later to have something more to eat and to see the Town Hall Tower strike the hour, which I think should worth a look. Isn't it great that there is practically a McDonald's everywhere? I don't need to worry about not knowing how to order in there. They are almost the same everywhere.
I arrived in Rothenburg at 12:40 pm. Then I tried to locate this hotel "Gasthof Butz" using the free tourist map. What is poor about the map is that not every street is labelled. So sometimes I did not even know where I was. With the direction of the tourist office, I finally found the hotel, which is very centrally located. There came another problem. I did not know how to enter the hotel. Going in from the entrance, I was in a dining hall. Going through the backyard, still people sat and ate there. There did not appear to be any reception area for me to check in. It turned out that the so-called reception was at the centre of the dining room, somewhere very unnoticeable. OK. I got to my room but then could not open the door with the great big key. With my rucksack on me, I sweated profusely. I ran downstairs to ask for help. The attendant listened to me in disbelief. He opened the door for me using the same key with just one "click", as easy as that. But I am always stupid with keys.
Rothenburg is beautiful. This weekend is a festival called "Reichsstadt Festtage", i.e. Imperial City Festival. A lot of local people were dressed in traditional clothes. They paraded on the streets, sang and shouted, and played historic scenes. The atmosphere was festive. The weather was odd. There was rain, then there was sunshine, then rain, then sunshine. Sometimes there were rain and sunshine at the same time. The people, mainly men, were in such a good spirit that they sang and shouted with drums and flutes in the heavy rain. They stood in the rain drinking black beers from barrels. Their spirit made me feel very cheerful. I felt so good that I even considered buying some souvenirs. But finally I did not buy any. I took many pictures. I hope the pictures will look good.
The one bad thing that happened was that I dropped my camera so hard that it bounced several times on the ground. The self-photo button was stuck inside the machine and all functions, including zooming and the most important photo-taking, failed. I was so sorry that I did not know what to do. I did not think that it was sensible to buy a camera here because it would be expensive and the choices would be limited. But it would be such a loss if I could not take any picture of these beautiful sights. In despair, I used my ball-pen to pick up the self-photo button. Magically, all the functions came back. I am grateful even if it is possible that the camera might have been damaged inside and the pictures ruined.
I walked through/around the town from north to south and east to west. It was a small place. Once I had got the idea, it was not necessary to use the map. Just as I said, the place was beautiful. So I've visited two very beautiful places so far, Heidelberg and Rothenburg.
As I have to check out the hotel before 10:30 am tomorrow and the town is so small, I went to the station to check the train schedule with a view to leaving early tomorrow. I cannot bring everything with me walking around waiting for the Europabus to depart at around 2 pm, can I? To my surprise, the station was closed, in broad daylight! The notices said that the station was only open in early morning and early afternoon. I could not even have a look at the timetable. So I went to the tourist office. It gave me the timetable on a nice printout. But when I said "thank you" and turned to leave, I was demanded to pay DM 2 for that sheet of paper. It was not even a reservation.
So I am leaving at 9:55 am tomorrow. It seems to be the first morning that I will not need to hurry off. I am going to enjoy the breakfast leisurely.
I did not really enjoy the tour on the Romantic Road. For most of the time, we were on highways. Otherwise, we just drove through the towns. One really could not see much that way. It will therefore be better for me to take a direct train to Munich tomorrow. I will arrive there before 1 pm, which is much, much earlier than if I take the bus, which will then be 8 pm. This way, I will have more time to spend on Munich, instead of sitting in a bus on highways.
It is strange that I don't like what others like so much, such as the cruise on the Rhine and the tour on the Romantic Road.
* * *
I went out at around 8 pm to see the Town Hall Tower strike the hour. It was funny that anyone would consider it interesting because there were just two dummies making limited movement, i.e. raising a mug or a bottle to the mouth.
After eating at the McDonald's, I had a little stroll. The streets were unbelievably full of people. It seemed that everyone was there. I took it that in a quiet town like this, people, especially tourists, really did not have many other activities at night. The streets were a little dark because there were not many street lamps. Yet I felt absolutely safe. Children were shouting and running on the streets. Local people, still in their costumes, sat together on the streets around a fire (!) drinking. It felt quiet, despite the kids' noises, and peaceful. It seemed that we were back to the middle age. The night was chilly but it was just the right feel.
I then returned to the hotel. While I was taking off my lenses, I heard loud boom-boom noises which sounded like gun shots. Not until I saw the smoke in the sky did I realize that it was a fireworks display. I practically ran to the street, carrying nothing with me. It was amazing to see the fireworks in so close a distance and under so dark a sky. The shooting was thunderous and the colours and patterns indescribably beautiful. It was such a surprise, such an unexpected treat to me. I was so happy. And I hugged myself (it was cold at night).
This day and this night in Rothenburg will make a very good memory.
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