Travelling the Romantic Road

Finally, a day to sleep in! We enjoyed one more hot breakfast at the Holiday Inn. I’m not sure, but that might have been one of the best meals my dad tasted. He really enjoyed it. After storing our luggage and checking out of the hotel, we ventured to the Marienplatz in the center of Munich to watch the “Glochenspiel” on the top of the tower. The plaza filled with people in a matter of ten minutes. As I went to get money from the ATM, a friendly German befriend my parents and shared his Munich pride with them. He explained to them that by walking the streets of Munich you could easily tell where the American bombs fell in 1942. The destroyed homes were built 5 meters back from the street in order to provide wider streets. The surviving houses sit at the edge of the street.

At 11:00 a.m. sharp, the bells began to ring and the figures in the glockenspiel gave a 15 minute performance that was worth the wait.

Our next adventure was to the site of the 1972 Olympic Games. When at the Olympic Park, we went to the top of the Olympic Tower which is 291.28 meters high. By doing this, I was able to prove to my dad that you can see the mountains from Munich. Every other church tower that we had been, we had seen nothing but a hazy skyline. Also at the top of the tower, was the world’s highest (in altitude) Rock n’ Roll museum in the world.

Heading back to the hotel, we arrived at a station in which we had to switch trains. As we were trying to get off the train, the door that we were standing at wouldn’t open. Meanwhile, people were getting on the train from the other side, so my mom and I made our way to another door. As the train moved out, my mom and I noticed that my dad was not with us. We were both very nervously looking into the windows of the train to see if my dad was still on there. As the train pulled out of the station, my mom and I realized that we were on one side of the train and that my dad was on the other side. That was the only time that we “almost” lost each other the entire trip.

We retrieved our luggage from the Holiday Inn and took a four-hour train ride to Rothenburg, a medieval walled city in the north of Bavaria on the Romantic Road. Our hotel was above a bakery, called Café Uhl, within the walled city. This city is Germany’s best-preserved walled city with some buildings more than 1000 years old. Our room was on the 4th floor and had a window that looked out at the street right next to the Siebers Tower, which is from 1835!

After a quick dinner, we met Hans in the Market Square for the Night Watchman’s Tour. We loved this tour of the city at dusk! He shared life in the city as it was in the 1300’s. A night watchman’s job was to protect the town at night, warning the citizens of fire or unwelcome guests. It was a tour filled with seriousness and laughter and would be recommended to all who visit this true German town.