Auf Wiedersehen Germany

It was back to work on my last day in Germany. I spent most of the day working on blogs and catching up on work email. I did take a little mid day break to walk around Frankfurt. It was nice to get a little fresh air!

I tried to find the next in the series of my "merde" books...no luck. But, I did find a great place to find all the other English speaking people in Germany. This side of the bookstore was all imports.

And this store was a humoungous shoe store. The Germans seem to love foot fashion. There were smaller version of this all over the place.

And finally, here a shot of my room/office at The Turm. This hotel was really nice and the staff was great!

Baden Baden

Ok, felt a little bad yesterday...but today...UGH! I felt like crap! But again, drug myself up and out of the room and the fresh air helped. I bought my ticket to Baden Baden and I was off!

I arrived at the train station and again, no helpful little tourist sign. I was lost and feeling so bad I considered packing it in and heading back to Frankfurt. My flight had been cancelled that day (due to Ike) and I still needed to go to the airport to chat with Air France about how I was going to get back to Houston.

I sucked it up and started wandering around. I finally found a map of the city and a bus map. My sleepy brain finally figured out how to get to the center of town. I used this photo throughout the day to check the bus routes...it was like a little interactive map that I scrolled all around!

I didn't realize this place was so posh. It was FANCY! There were lots of high end shops and of course the bath houses/spas.

This was a sweet little pair of pigeons. He kept grooming her...how sweet.

And this lady typified the people there. This lady was in a full fur coat and it was maybe 75 degrees! Silly lady!

The pic of this little one captured just how I felt!!! :) This is what I would have looked like trying to bike!

Another little funny site. Check out that metal ball at this playground. Umm, wonder how many kids are injured on that thing each year?!

My stay was pretty short and I would love to return and get a better view from the top of the hills! Here's my inner dork coming out. This is me "napping" on my way home. :)

I grabbed sushi to take back to the hotel and check out the cure little package for the soy sauce. :)

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

I woke up to non-stop coverage of Hurricane Ike...talked to my family to make sure everything was going ok and headed out for the day.
I wasn't quite sure what to expect from Rothenburg...but people seemed to always have a twinkle in their eye when they talked about it...especially at Christmas time. I woke up feeling a little sick with a terrible sore throat, but wasn't going to let that stop me from running around Germany. I had to take 3 trains to make it to the town and it all went off without a hitch. The last train was a tiny little 2 car shuttle that looked like it was straight out of Disney World and this was the scenery out of the window.
Once I arrived, I had no clue where to go and there was no helpful tourist office. I did see a sign with a person walking, so though ok, what the heck...that must be the way. Luckily, it was. :) There was a beautiful medieval gate that served as entry to the walled town.
I started by scaling the stairs and walking the perimeter, check out the view!
Once the walkway ended, I went down the stairs and walked along a road that opened to an incredible valley. There was one point when I went through this archway and said "whoa" out loud to myself. It was absolutely, perfect.
I walked the town and stopped for a coffee to warm up then took a tour through the Kathe Wolfahrt store. This is the penacle of all Christmas stores. It's crazy! There is a museum dedicated to Christmas and room and rooms of ornaments, decorations, etc. And if all of that's not enough there is another store of hers right across the street!
The chilly air and my cold were really getting to me by this time, so I made my way through a few more streets then back up to the wall to find my way back to the main entrance.
I strolled the wall, enjoying the gorgeous view. Check it out...an actual non-self portrait...I have legs!!!
And on the way to the train passed this beautiful cemetary. Wow.
I made it to the train and picked up a book at one of the stations. It was an absolute hoot! It's called "A Year in the Merde"...about an Englishman's first year in Paris. On the way home, I read and took in the beautiful sunset...what a day. :)

Köln

Jumped on the train from Koblenz to Cologne (or as the Germans say Köln). When you get off the train the entire landscape is consumed by the enormous Cologne Cathedral.
I followed the big red T for the tourist office and got a map of the city and a schedule for the bus tour. With my tiny bit of time here, this seemed like the best way to get a lay of the land. I had about 30 minutes to kill before the tour, so I walked over to the Cathedral. I lit one more candle here for the impending Hurricane Ike about to hit Houston. And just took in the massive beauty. Then I went over to one of the tourist stores and picked up my ornament. All of the people working there were Chinese and I almost couldn’t resist the temptation to say “xiexie” (thanks in Chinese). :)
We then toured all around the city by bus and saw the new and old of Cologne. There were medieval gates, many old churches, but also modern elements like the cable cars that cross the river. Would be a great way to get a good panoramic view.

We returned to the cathedral after our trip. This is a replica of one of the spires at the top...just to give you a sense of how enormous it is!!

After the tour, I walked through one of the big shopping streets and went over to the Hard Rock Café to get a pin for my friend Linda, who collects them around the world. Then crossed over to the river to head to the Lindt chocolate museum. Unfortunately, there was a private party, so I didn’t get to do the tour…but I did run through the gift shop with tons of chocolaty treats.
After a long, fun day, took the train back to Frankfurt! Another fun day planned tomorrow to Rothenburg!