The V E R Y P R E C I S E S P E A K E R

Nuremberg-I should go there and spend more time there. I only had an overnight stay scheduled there. The free internet was not all that great as the computer kept locking up, shutting down and was just generally slow. However, trying to get done the little bit I did manage to post from there was sort of fun. This hostel was NOT a YHA and the non YHA hostels (This one is called Lette 'im Sleep and my room "number" was Vive la Trance) certainly seem to attract a much different kind of traveling person. I did have an all female dorm room so this was not at all like the first half of my London experience. The computer was in the common room which was right next to the self-catering kitchen. While I was typing away a group of Iranian business men, suits and all, were have a very lively discussion and a Japanese gentleman was preparing a really, really good smelling dinner. A few other folks were coming and going and eventually an English language speaker was addressing the Iranian men. What was odd was the way the guy was speaking. He enunciated each word as if it was the only word he was going to say. At first I thought he was only doing this to be clear as he spoke to the ESL people in the room and in fact, as he explained to them (I'm just eavesdropping on this whole thing but I kinda can't help it. The guy is RIGHT THERE), he was a linguist. He was just making conversation, asking them where they were from and what brought them to Nuremberg. Stuff like that but always in that very precise diction. Eventually, they left and that left me and the linguist. He doesn't just speak that way to ESL people.

I left Nuremberg behind with only the little bit of history I gleaned from a former resident who happened to be at the hostel (Yes, it was the linguist!) and traveled on to Rothenburg (Please pronounce this as RRRotenburg). Here's a great Medieval town. They were doing tourism before anybody knew what it was but it's not all the kitch. See, they were very near a major trade crossroads way back and managed to pull a kind of Wall Drug Emporium thing and got folks to come in off the major highway to spend their visitor galleons or whatever. Good times went bad including the 30 Year's War and the place sort of just froze in time until the late 1800s but even then they recognized that it was the 'old' that was 'new'. I did a couple walking tours, climbed the tower, visited the Christmas store (the store is free. The museum costs.) I did the Historical Vaults and the Medieval Crime Museum. I also walked most of the old city wall. During one of the tours, I got to chatting with a family from Missouri. At the end of the tour they invited me to join them for dinner. We went Italian in Germany! It was great. It was nice to be able to have a conversation and the P_______s were (and still are) really nice and fun folks. They invited me along to a the English Language puppet show. For me, the highlights were two of the musical numbers 'Ma nama na' and 'Caberet'! We also did the Night Watchman Tour together the following evening and then went straight to Hell! (Hell is the name of a bar right around the corner from where the tour ended).

Yep, I'd recommend Rothenburg to anyone touring the corner of the world and I'd recommend the P___________s from Missouri as traveling companions as well. Thanks, you guys!

After Rothenburg and after four-count 'em-four trains later, I arrived in Fussen (put two little dots on the u, will ya). I didn't get to visit the tourist info center when I arrived even though I made a bee line to it when I got off the train. It's Saturday or rather Samstag and they closed early. Bummer, cuz they're not open tomorrow at all. Well, I'm not totally lost without the TI. I still have my Rick Steve's Guide and the only thing I really wanted to see here is the big castle which is open tomorrow although it doesn't look like much else is and to tell you the truth, that's a good thing because Fussen (put two little dots on the u, will ya) has a certain charm of its own. It's not really that Old World Charm. It's more like Sun Valley Idaho Charm if you know what I mean. Very boutique-y. AND the mountains are RIGHT THERE! Is my geography correct and I'm seeing my first Alp? Woo Hoo!