Zurich, GERMANY- Rothenburg, Mainz

Hi Guys

Well we headed to Zurich after Lucerne and it was a bit of a let down being in a big city and the short amount of time that we spent there I don't think we did it justice. We stayed a bit out of the city and caught the train, very close to our hotel, into the old part of Zurich which only took us about 10 mins. After getting our bearings with the help of locals we set out to see the sites. Well, we came across the most refreshing and amazing scene where all the locals(oldies- well not that old because there were plenty there our age) get together for an afternoon of dancing, wine and lots of music and fun. We had to stop and have a beer and even got asked for a dance by one of the 'younger' more agile male variety - even though he couldn't speak English he understood that it would be a little difficult to do the cha cha in hiking sandals and joggers. Mez even made comment that it was like a scene from the movie Cocoon.

From there we walked and walked and looked at the city but were more than happy to get the train back to where we came from and have some dinner and go to bed. Last nights dinner in Switzerland was, only because of the area that we were in and the limited choice was, Mexican- two dishes and wine set us back $140- Switzerland a very beautiful country but so so so expensive.

This could have been Mez tripping the light fantastic but for her hiking sandals

Some of the sights of Zurich

Mez on her way across to the dance - you can see the anticipation in her eyes!!!

After leaving Zurich we were off to Germany to a small medieval town called Rothenburg. Along the way we were prepared and stopped off like true travellers and made our lunch on the side of the road.

Ann's lunch stop cafe

We arrived in Rothenburg in the arvo and managed to find the little hotel within the walls of this medieval town. We unloaded the car and went for a walk of about 100m and instantly wanted to stay more than one night. After negotiations we sorted out an extended stay in a very quaint town.

Town Hall in main square just around corner from hotel

Pics of the town on our early morning walk- thanks Deb for the tip to see this place without the day crowds it was beautiful.

The afternoon we decided to stay longer

After doing the little shops over we were told that we happened to be in town for the local wine festival of the region and it was on for 2 more nights so of course we had to go.
We found a seat at a table of locals about our vintage, if not a touch older, and with very limited English on their part and no German on ours we were able to communicate and had a great night drinking the local wine and listening to the somewhat boring local musos. We had a good time.
Next day was all about walking the town early before the TOURISTS(not us) get there, shopping for things and seeing the beautiful countryside.

The wine festival 

View from the attic room 

View from the street below our hotel room- love the way they use all the space in the roof for rooms we should learn from them.

Our hotel  and restaurant in the middle of town just around the corner from the main square.

View of the countryside just outside the town walls on our early morning walk

                                                         Mez on the walk that you can do of the town wall that kept the enemy from invading the town-very rickety with original cobble stones and her elbow is resting in one of the canon placements.

One of the tower entrances to the town

Legend has it that the Mayor way back had to scull so many litres of wine to save the city from destruction and so in the town square when the clock strikes the hour between 11 and 2 each day the windows on either side of the clock open to show the characters depicting this reenactment. ( The locals at the wine festival tell us it is all a bit of a fairy tale but who are we to doubt legend)

Had to put this pic in as it is a hotel named after my family from Maitland 

Another thing we did was to climb to the very top of the town hall tower- what a mistake, it was hundreds of steep steps in a very small stairwell and when we got to the top it was so scary that we had a 2 second look and thought oh my god how are we going to get back down- my silly idea

Thanks Deb for your advise to go to Rothenburg it was a must see on an adventure through Europe.

Mainz
Mianz was a totally different Germany than Rothenburg but none the less an interesting working class town. We pulled up to our hotel on a main road and it looked rather run down but we were very lucky to have been given one of the four rooms in the hotel with a balcony and a great view of the Rhine River. We went for a  walk into old town and along the Rhine. This river is amazing how many working boats use it every minute of the day and night.

Pic of the Rhine from hotel with one of the many boats that use it every day

Sunrise of the river

View of the area from the hotel balcony

local bar stop on the river where they import sand and sunlounges, umbrellas and even the beach volleyball court

every town has it churches this is one of many

lovely bridge over river that we walked for our exercise and to explore the area

While at Mainz we took a day trip to Darmstadt to see the area that some of my ancestors came from. Again another working class town with a character all of its own.

After Mainz we spent one night in Dinslaked a small town a little over halfway between Mainz and Amsterdam where we are spending 4 nights.
Amsterdam is amazing will fill you in soon.

Hope you are all happy
love Ann