Day 4: Bussing thru Bavaria

We woke early this morning in Rothenburg and took advantage of the silly sleeping patterns to draft our blog entries in the hope of finally finding some internet!!! We were served a lovely German breakfast served by our host Walther. Muesli with choc chips and coco pops in it, followed by a plate of cheeses and cold meats, crusty rolls and rye bread. Cultural experience of the day number one!!

We went wandering the streets of Rothenburg again but this time they were almost deserted. Great views of streetscape without people. We took advantage of the empty cobblestoned streets and headed out to the quadruple gates and bastion at the far east of town. Here the moat is deep, the gate beautiful and other buildings out there were pretty interesting too. The beautiful Old nag’s mill has been converted into a Youth hostel. Apparently most beautiful YH in Germany and I would believe it too.
While looking beyond the city walls Chris stumbled upon an amphitheatre hidden in behind the gate for performances. Wished there had been something on we could have seen as it was a great performance space.

View from Southern wall looking west

At 10am streets turned into seething stream of tourists (because by this stage, having stayed the night we are actually resident Rothernbergers!!!)

Headed to the Kathe Wolfarht Christmas shop for the most amazing Christmas experience.
4 levels, 10 rooms of decorations. You cannot imagine a decoration that this shop doesn’t have... Upstairs there is a Christmas museum and if that’s not enough there is another shop of equal size across the road. And I thought the Americans went bonkers for Christmas! Google Kathe Wolfarht and you’ll get the idea.

We had a quick morning tea at the bakery and then a couple of postcards and off to bid farewell to Hotel Spitzweg and collect bags for taxi to bus terminal.

And the bus was LATE!!!!! When it arrived it had a bike rack on the back and over 20 cyclists got off (Phew) Watching the driver maneuver the bike rack trailer off the bus was painful and delayed our departure even further but we were finally on the road to Oberammergau.

As we were running late, our very uncommunicative driver had to cut back stops. So in Dinklesbuhl another beautiful walled medieval town we had 20 minutes to bolt down to the Church of St George. Wow!! And then sprinting all the way back to the bus to bolt down a quick lunch on the bench besides the bus. But we were both in heaven. History overload.

Then a very quick stop at Nördlingen. Lutheran cathedral made in grey stone. Spaciousness of gothic cathedrals is overwhelming.

We passed thru Ausburg for a comfort stop and I am impressed by the village square, although the toilets cost 50 Euro cents to get into. The Germans do the MARKETPLATZ idea very well. Then into Munich and we discover that the central bus station (Zentraler Busbahnhof) is NOT at the railway station as we expected. So need to determine how we will get back Munich on Friday.

Some roadworks confusion at Munich delayed even further. Frustration and exhaustion are setting in. On the road again and we arrived at the end of the Munich motorway and stared straight up at enormous mountains. Gives “the mountain climb” Tour de France style a whole new feel. On the way up the mountains a bit of drama. The bus was overtaken by several hooning motorcyclists, one of which cut our driver off and he misjudged the curve, seriously scraping the side of the bus along the mountain. A shocking grinding sound of metal on rock but we just kept going... onto the plateau via Ettal where there appears to be a beautiful castle but we did not stop.

Finally Oberammergau, nearly two hours late. We were just grateful when we got out of the bus that although it was badly damaged, the luggage hold still opened and we could rescue our cases. We felt sorry for the people on the bus who had over another hour to the end of the line at Fussen.

We hailed a cab to Hotel Feldemeier aka Heidi’s House number two. This hotel on the main drag into Oberammergau is a ski chalet. It is a family owned business and we are out the back in house 3. It is newly renovated and just beautiful, so spacious and comfy and finally a heated towel rail in the bathroom to dry some washing! Headed over to the dining room for 4 course dinner included, washed a few necessities and fell into bed.