Nordlingen

Today we farewell Rothenburg ob der Tauber and head to Esslingen am Neckar (it seems it’s all about towns and their rivers!). But on the way we’ll stop at Nordlingen for a walk around and lunch.
Oh.. before I forget. JB… a photo from last night.

So it was up and packed nice and early with breakfast at 8am. Outside it’s wet and cool, about 13C. Summer just keeps on giving over here (giving nothing!). We woke up Hermann (he should really have two n’s) at about 8:45 and before we knew it he had us on the A7 autobahn heading south. The speed on these autobahns always seems to be a mix of a) whatever you like, b) 120kmph, and c) 100kmph – all subject to where and what the road is doing at the time. It wasn’t long before we were doing 140kmph and being smoked by others, so I kicked Hermann into life. He responded very well and felt solid on the road.  Quite impressed with this Golf.  Kath managed to reach over with the heavy camera and snap the speedo.  Doh… 180kmph, and Hermann still had more to give but the road was a tad busy.  As they say… when in Rome.

Tunnels are a compulsory slow down and fair enough.

We arrived at Nordlingen in about 65 mins.

The town of Nordlingen in the Donau-Ries district of Bavaria, Germany, is unlike any other town in the district. In fact, it’s unlike any other town on the whole planet. This pretty little medieval town, with a population of 20,000, is situated entirely inside a massive meteorite crater 25 km across. Trivia: This crater called the Nördlinger Ries, was formed some 14.5 million years ago when a meteor about a mile across slammed into Earth. It was only less than fifty years ago that evidence emerged which established the true origin of this town. I borrowed this photo from the web. You can see how perfectly round the town is.  We parked in the car park at the top of the picture and wandered in.

We got a copy of this map and followed the dotted lines (a self guided tour). Info was supplied on points of interest. It’s all you need. We covered 4.8kms (probably did 6kms all up counting the walk in and out). Good exercise!

We entered the walled city through Baldingertor which dates back to 1367! Funny thing was that as we approached the gate this guy walked past us who looked the image of Baldrick off Blackadder!   🙂  A photo of Baldrick at Baldinger gate would’ve been gold.
Well there’s a theme that might be coming through soon.  Let’s see. Did you know that in Germany pigs are a symbol of luck?  But here in Nordlingen there’s good reason for this.  Apparently, back in the day there was a pig who managed to save the town. Yes true!
The story:  Legend has it that in 1440 a woman went to get her husband a jug of beer (as all good women should do).  Whilst out, she noticed a pig that had lost its way.  The pig told the woman that while it was rubbing its hind-quarters against the wooden gate, the gate opened (it had not been locked properly).  A talking pig!!?  The guards of the said gate initially said they hadn’t locked it properly, but later confessed they had accepted a bribe from Count Hans of Oettingen to leave the gate open.  (Count Hans had plotted to take the town in the night).  Nobody knows if the story is actually true, but records show that in 1440 two gate guards were charged with treason and executed.
Sooo… the pig apparently saved the town!  And now they’re literally everywhere.  You’ll see a few throughout this post. Danella, you’d go nuts here.

It’s a short walk to the middle of town and St Georgkirche (St George’s church) built 1427-1505.  You can see its tower (nicknamed Daniel) from everywhere. We were intending to pay €3ea and climb the 350 steps but with the weather being so ordinary, jeans were being worn, and they sure aint the best tower climbing attire, so that ended that idea.  Here’s Daniel.

And here’s his base.  There was plenty of work being done around the church as you’ll see later.

We wandered around the corner and in behind the Rathaus is the Information centre. This was where we grabbed a self tour map AND spotted a jester on the Rathaus building!

The back corner of the Rathaus.

More pork.

The massive Klosterle was once a Franciscan monastery church.

Now we’re in the hood…

Achtung hunds!

Does anyone have a spirit level?

Derelict buildings always cough up artwork!


Still in the hood.

Ya gotta love the storks in this region.

Coz they’ll be nesting on a high building nearby.

Daniel is everywhere!

Pork alert!

Boootiful.

The massive Hallgebaude (1541-43) once served to store salt and wine as well as a granary.

Attention Lee from Headlines. After recent events, did you really want to see this?  Please Sabrina… no ideas ok!!  🙂

Beautiful buildings in Weinmarkt.

On ya bike.  The pushbikes are a common feature on the streets.  Ridden by all shapes, sizes and ages. There’s quite a variance in both the range of bike users and the styles of bikes.

Building art.

The exquisite door of this residence dates back to 1697.

Closer..

I have to say I’ve seen some impressive knockers over here.

The door above is attached to this house.. Winter’sches Haus (1678), and kept in very tidy condition.

And then a few doors down across the road… a handy man’s dream! (more like a demolition man’s dream!).

But good for art!


Out through the wall we would go.

But first a look to the left – Feilturm. This tower was once used as a prison.

So we’re walking along and Kath notes there are toilets ahead. Here are the doors. We stand there for a few minutes waiting for others around us to disappear coz we don’t want to choose the wrong one! Kath makes a charge for door D.  A 50/50 call, and she got it right!  Later I discover that: Gentlemen = Herren, Ladies = Damen. 🙂

Next we came across these 3 hot chicks, but Muzza gets given the cold shoulder once again.

We climbed the steps for a walk along the old city wall at Reimlinger Tor, the oldest of the 5 gates.  It still has parts dating from the 14th century. Trouble is – it is shrouded in cloth and scaffolding and we can’t see a thing.  We also notice that much of the old wall is new wall, but hey.

Butt shot.

We walked around to Deininger Tor which was replaced by a new tower in 1516-19!  It also has scaffolding at it’s base.

Looking back. Note the new roof, the ‘residences’ beneath the wall, some with satellite dishes dating back to the 21st century!

There’s no privacy for folk living by the wall.

Builder’s pic.

Looking down Lopsinger Strasse.

Ok… this building has a serious leaning problem up top.

Even more evident when lined up with others.  I’m talking about the 5th one down.  The white building also has a backward lean.

In a shop window. Several awesome detailed wall hangings (about 300 wide and 100 deep) with every item carefully placed.

Food alert for the Colt. Just a little apple strudel for lunch. Topped off my rather big breakfast. Delicious.  We  were going to eat outside but the rain started so we all moved inside (into the big red building known as Kornschranne – built 1601-02).  It was once used as a warehouse for the corn trade of Nordlingen and the Ries region.

The fountain right outside Kornschranne (which isn’t in this photo).

So he’s saying what?

Kornschranne is the red building on the right.

We’ve looped back to St George’s in the centre of town.

Looks ok up top but down below there’s work going on.

Time to head out of town. Spotting another stork’s nest up atop of this building.

These youngn’s are much older. Mum was flapping her wings. Flight training lesson maybe?

Heading down Baldinger Strasse.

Why not find another pig!

The buggers are everywhere!

Out we go. It’s raining quite steadily and the wind is getting up. Familiar?

We hit the road. And naturally the GPS wants to go the indirect route.

Fortunately it wasn’t long before we linked with the road I expected to be on.  Upon passing through a town called  Aalen, Kath spotted this sign. Aalen’s sister cities.

And I spotted this sign. We’ve driven quite a way in Hermann the diesel drinking VW, and still have half a tank full.  I must compare these prices with the last one I posted.

Random sign.

It was hosing down for large parts of this 1 hour stretch from Nordlingen to Stuttgart, but cleared a bit as we neared Stuttgart.  We’re making good time so we thought we’d head straight to the Mercedes Benz Arena and see if we could do a stadium tour. This stadium is the home of premier football team VfB Stuttgart who are one of the most consistent teams in Germany, having appeared in every season of the Bundesliga (the top division of German football) since its creation in 1963 with the exception of just 2 seasons.  Sadly the last tour of the day was full, and the only other one we were offered was for 10am tomorrow morning, but we already have a fixed appointment. Bummer.

We browsed the fan shop instead and I bought a couple of items.  For the record the stadium holds 60,411 spectators. Trivia: Back in the 30’s it was called Adolf-Hitler-Kampfbahn.

There’s no point going to the Mercedes Museum which is just along the road (it’s closed on Mondays). We’ll do that later. So off to Esslingen we go (where we’ll stay for the next 3 nights).

We get to the hotel and I provide Hermann with some good company in the parking lot.

After checking in we decide that tonight we’ll go for a restaurant feed. Kath hops on the web and finds two recommended places. She snaps their locations and off we go. Location 1 is ummm…. don’t know. Location 2 is ummm somewhere. I follow Kath around and around and around and around. She’s looking here and there. and everywhere. The 5 minute walk turns into a day trip.  All of a sudden she shouts: Here it is!”  A quaint joint. Looks great.  It’s called Weinkeller Einhorn. Inside we find they are booked out.  Arrrggghhh!!  We seek to reserve for tomorrow.  Hold on he says (not in those words). Can we wait 3 mins? Yes we can.  I have to say that this joint served up the best steak I’ve had for yonks. It was a fillet steak (generous size) scalloped with mustard and pepper (so yes it packed a punch) with fried /roasted potatoes. Awesome. Kath had a rump steak with herb butter and roasted potatoes (more like pan fried I think).  I washed it down with a Zwiefalter Kloster-Special beer served in a stone jug (which is actually a stone mug/handle). 🙂  Kath had a red wine. All of this was €48.  Happy to pay for a good steak. Sorry JB & K Colt no pictures.  A bit awkward this time.
Then it was back to base to finish & post the blog. Kath has already hit the sack (for those wondering  she’s not snoring…………………yet!).
Guten nacht!