From Lucerne, Trudy and Sophie headed back up into Germany. They headed to one of Trudy’s favorite towns to relax in: Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is the best preserved medieval town in Germany, and one that managed to avoid getting obliterated by bombing during the wars. (If you ever have the chance to visit, try to go on an evening when the night watchman tour is taking place. Very entertaining and informative!)
The girls arrived just in time to check into the family run hotel before the owner left for the evening. (The hotel is one Trudy has stayed in multiple times–great value just inside the walls of the old city–Hotel zum Breiterle).
They then did some exploring–down through the market square and to the town garden. For dinner, the settled on a German restaurant that faces the town market square. Oddly enough, their server that evening originates from Seattle. They enjoyed delicious food from the region and then headed back to the hotel, where they were kept awake by some other guests of the hotel who were having conversation in the hallway. Thankfully, the other guests did not keep them up too late, and the girls were able to have a good night’s sleep.
The next morning, Trudy and Sophie headed downstairs to enjoy a traditional German breakfast. They checked out of the hotel and were able to leave their luggage with the desk attendant while they went out shopping and exploring (mostly shopping).
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is home to many fantastic shops. The Käthe Wohlfahrt stores carry Christmas all year round (one shop is almost a Christmas museum!) There are also several Steiff stores, as well as Lindt shops. One bakery item from the region is Schneeballen (snowballs)–fried dough in the shape of a snowball and then covered in powdered sugar, caramel, chocolate, or cinnamon sugar.
As the time for the train departure grew closer, Trudy check the Deutsche Bahn app and saw that one of their trains had been cancelled. The girls retrieved their luggage and then headed down to the train station. Thankfully, the arrived during a time when the station had a representative from the Deutsche Bahn (many smaller towns do not have offices or do not have full time employees in the offices). Trudy went inside to work out the train schedule while Sophie stayed outside with the luggage.
Once the train situation was worked out, the girls still had another hour before departure. There was a large grocery store (Kaufland) across the street from the train station, so Trudy walked over to buy some edible souvenirs as well as some bottled water and lunch items.
The girls loaded the bus in plenty of time, however, the bus driver was apparently in training and took longer to get to the next train station than anticipated. The girls (and everyone else on the bus) had to run to catch the S-bahn that had been delayed because of the bus. However, by the time the girls crested the final step, the doors to the train had closed, and the train made its way to its next destination. The girls were now stuck in the small town of Dombuhl. There is not much in Dombuhl. Even the train station was boarded up for renovations, so there were no bathrooms available (or office to speak with a person). Trudy then went to the computer kiosk to find and print a new train schedule to get them to Berlin, and they used Sophie’s international data plan to message their friends in Berlin that they had been delayed.
Thankfully, they both had come prepared with reading material, so they had something to do for 2 hours while they waited for the next train. They soon were on their way again and heading for Berlin.
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