Day 11 Nördlingen, Germany & Donauwörth, Germany 10/24/11

We had left our last day to hang out in Munich, buy gifts, and pack.  Sheila also wanted to visit the  State Archaeological Collection, which has (you guessed it) a dead body on display -- the preserved body of a  sacrifice victim found in a peat bog.  

 www.archaeologie-bayern.de

Alas, this section of the museum was closed, so instead of staying in Munich, we decided we wanted to see more of the Romantic Road, which was how our trip had started.  Now realizing that breakfast at our hotel was more costly than we’d originally thought, we grabbed a quick roll at the train station and bought our last Bavarian ticket.  We chose Nördlingen because it wasn’t too far a train ride and the pictures on the web looked charming.  While not a big tourist town, it was perfect. 

Nordlingen, Germany

Nördlingen is located in the middle of a large meteor crater (15 miles across).  Many of the buildings were constructed with the compressed rock formed by the meteor’s impact (Suevite), including the cathedral’s tower.  Connie pretended not to be embarrassed by Sheila’s close examination of the outside walls of the cathedral.  Although Sheila thought the whole meteor thing was very cool, even she had to admit that this particular suevite was not very attractive.  

Nordlingen, Germany

Nördlingen and Rothenburg are two of only three towns on the Romantic Road still completely encircled by the old city walls.  We later read that Nördlingen was the town shown in “Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory” in the final scenes when the glass elevator is floating over a town.  This is in the Gene Wilder version from our youth.  Both Connie and Sheila prefer the Gene Wilder version, by the way.

The Wall - Nordlingen, Germany

We walked part of the wall and saw apple trees filled with ripe red apples.  Having spent her entire life in central Texas, Connie was enchanted by the sight. (Yes, yes, she had HEARD that apples grow on trees, but it’s a whole different ball game to actually see it).  Just like when she saw real orange trees in Rome. 

Connie's Fascination with an Apple Tree

We visited Saint George’s church where there is still a town crier who every night calls out that all is well.  We shopped and enjoyed taking photos.  Among our cooler purchases was Sheila’s advent calendar where behind every window was a little polished rock and its description (in German of course).  We had pasta at a pizzeria behind the church. There was one set of houses where they seemed a little crooked which was part of their charm.  In many of these towns, local artists make small ceramic replicas of the local buildings.  Some were of very high quality.  We had each gotten one in Rothenburg and did the same here.  They were perfect souvenirs to remember our trip.

St. George's - Nordlingen, Germany

As we walked through town, we noticed that many of the shops had decorated pigs in front.  For example, the pharmacy pig was wearing a white coat with various pockets with medicine emblems.  The jeweler’s pig had diamonds painted on its side.  

Nordlingen, Germany

We stopped at the tourist information office to ask why and were given a pamphlet describing the tale.  As the story goes, once a sentry who was guarding the doors to the wall left them unlocked after taking a bribe from a neighboring enemy.  A pig pushed the door open and someone who saw alerted the town.  The doors were locked and disaster was averted. The guard, however, was hanged.  Thus, pigs are big in Nördlingen.  The town was friendly and quaint and a perfect way to spend our last day.

Nordlingen, Germany

Nördlingen also has a Bavarian Railway Museum and we could see some of the old train cars from the platform at the train station.  As we waited for our train Connie took a photo and an older gentleman, also enamored with the trains, attempted to strike up a conversation but he didn’t speak English. 

We still had plenty of daylight left, so our next stop was to be Donauwörth, another Romantic Road town.  On the way, we saw another castle from the train.  A young man with an I-Pad sitting near us on the train noticed our interest and showed us that it is Shloss Harburg, one of the oldest and largest castle complexes in Southern Germany. 

Shloss Harburg http://www.ireg.de/historische-staetten/i_e-harb.htm

Donauwörth was very modern, but the old town is mostly a little section on and around a tiny island in the middle of the river that runs through town.  The city wall has houses built onto it and people actually live with the back of their homes along the wall walkway.  It was pretty, but it was getting late, so we stayed for only an hour and then caught the train back to Munich.

Donauworth, Germany

Donauworth, Germany

We checked out since we were leaving early, and simply ate in our room so we could begin the multi-hour task of packing.  Needless to say, this was quite an accomplishment, and required years of experience doing jigsaw puzzles and playing Jenga.  Once complete, we slept.