Time Traveling

Another travel day – this time it was a travel day through time!

First things first – we checked out of our AirBnB and drove just a few miles to Nymphenburg Palace, another of, yep, you guessed it, Ludwig’s! This time it was where he was born – so cool! We saw a very small portion of the building itself but what we saw was nothing short of gorgeous. If you’re keeping score, we’ve seen his burial place, fantasy castle, only completed castle, childhood home…and now, the actual room where he was born! I feel like we’re buds with him now! Seriously, it’s been really interesting to follow one king around to lots of places to learn all about him. Now to find out what happened to him in the end…maybe next trip!

We made one more Bavarian stop in Munich on our way out of town – at the BMW Welt. You can’t very well take a mechanic to Munich and not stop there! The complex itself is gorgeous. It’s located right adjacent to the Munich Olympic park and the architectural styles are similar – ultra modern and lots of glass and metal. The entrance to the Welt is like a car showroom x 10,000 then you get to the museum. It’s a really well done timeline of BMW and its connection to and development of the auto and airplane industries. They lost me at the engine displays a few times but otherwise it was fantastic. Our mechanic was very happy!

We got on the road north at that point and found the traffic – boo. As a result, by the time we rolled into Rothenburg we had just enough time to check in and freshen up before we had to head out for dinner and our evening activities.

Dinner was tasty pork and spaetzle at a very cute restaurant in the village, and the night’s entertainment was Rothenburg’s most famous tourist attraction – the Night Watchman’s Tour. We got to the town square about fifteen minutes before the tour was to begin and there were people EVERYWHERE. For a tiny, sleepy town, this place was bustling. All for the tour! The Watchman showed up and the crowd gathered and we followed him through the town for an hour as he shared insight into its history – including the way an American General saved this beautiful town at the end of World War II (hint: his mom loved it!).

Another major attraction in Rothenburg is the wall walk…you can walk under the eaves of the town wall for about two miles around the city. We climbed up the ancient staircase near our hotel and set out. The wall provides, as you would imagine, a gorgeous view of the town – including, as we found out, the local Volksfes. We found a wall exit and found the party!

Let me tell you, these people know how to have a good time! We could see the Ferris wheel from our tour but thought it was pretty far away and didn’t plan to investigate. After walking a while on the wall we discovered that we were actually pretty close to the fun. The setup was basically a fair as we are used to it, but on a smaller scale. Except, of course, for the beer hall.

By the time we walked there after the tour, it was about 10:00…and these Germans were partying like it was 2:00am! Lots of table dancing (and falling) and other sloppy debauchery. Made for great people watching! We got some sweet treats and took ourselves on a tour of the grounds before we finally trekked back to our hotel around 12:30am. Party animals! 🙂