Rothenburg & Nürnberg

Romantic. Road. Towns.

A few hours Northeast of Basel is the top of Germany's Romantische Straße ("Romantic Road"), a 200-mile road running across Bavaria and passing through "quintessentially German" towns.  At the North end is Rothenburg ob der Tauber, known for its well preserved Medieval old town.  We arrived on Friday night just in time to check in to our hotel and make it to the main square to catch the night watchman's tour (we even had enough time to grab a schneeball (snowball), a local pastry specialty).  The tour was led by a character dressed like a medieval night watchman, who talked about the history of the town and about life back in the 14-16th centuries, all with a bit of humor thrown in.  The town is pretty quiet at night, but we were able to find an establishment open "late" (beyond 9:00pm) to stop in for a drink in a 15th century building (our table was in the old "kitchen"!).

Schneeball !!

We began our Saturday by circumnavigating the town along the ramparts surrounding the city.  It provided good views across the rooftops as well as across the countryside.  After making our way back to our starting point we criss-crossed through narrow alleyways to the city center, which housed several Christmas themed stores.

In the afternoon we made our way to Nürnberg, taking the back roads through the countryside.  The city was largely bombed during the war.  It has a nice and big pedestrian area filled with shops and cafes.  Because the weather was sunny and warm the sidewalk tables were full, and the city itself was buzzing with people.  After a bit of window shopping we headed up to the castle for a nice view overlooking the old town.

Instead of touring the castle we decided to head to the Nürnberg Trial Museum, held in the same building (and courtroom) as the original Nürnberg trials.  There was a lot of interesting history, and because it was late in the day we had the museum almost to ourselves.

On the way out of town on Sunday we stopped by the old Nazi rally grounds, the area Hitler designated for the annual party rallies.  The area is not maintained, but you can still get an impression for how large these rallies were.

Next we headed a bit further south on the Romantic Road to Dinkelsbühl, a town similar to Rothenburg in that it is a well preserved Medieval walled city, although smaller and with a different feel (filled with more colorful half-timber houses - very much like the Alsace).

Amsterdam Marathon

Run. Run. Run.

This past weekend marked the pinnacle of Kate's training - the marathon.  After months of pounding the pavement it was time to travel to Amsterdam for Kate to participate in her eighth marathon.  We arrived early Saturday morning and after checking in to our hotel we went straight to Olympic stadium to pick up the race packet and get answers to the most pressing questions (e.g. where are the bathrooms along the course)!

We kept the rest of the day low key, walking around a few of the different neighborhoods taking in the sights and the many canals.  For dinner Matt made reservations at an Italian restaurant so Kate could do her carbo loading for the race on Sunday.  We were a little nervous because it was pouring down rain and we didn't know how long it would last (forecast said Sunday was supposed to be clear, but one never knows)!

Sunday was race day.  Luckily the race didn't start until 9:30 so we didn't need to wake up super early.  Because the race course goes through the city many of the trams were on reduced or diverted services, so we needed to walk a few blocks to pick up the tram to the start line.  As we waited at the tram stop the number of runners waiting with us grew, and after around 15 minutes we all decided to flag down a taxi and share it with another group of runners (unsure if the tram ever came).  The morning started out a bit chilly and cloudy, but by mid day the weather was the perfect running temp - the sun even made an appearance!  Four hours and fourteen minutes later Kate was crossing the finish line... congratulations!

Before

 

After

As Kate was running around the city Matt was zig-zagging the streets trying to catch Kate at different points along the race.  Not wanting to miss Kate, he ate on the run grabbing a hamburger from a vending machine (a popular option in Amsterdam).  At least one of us was doing something healthy.   

We took the rest of the day easy to recuperate from running 42.2 kms.

On Monday Kate felt remarkably good and we decided to take a walking tour of the city.  It hit all the key highlights (including the red light district) and was very informative.  After the marathon and the walking tour we have a pretty good feeling for the city.  The rest of the day we toured a few of the shopping streets before heading to the airport for an evening flight home. 

Congratulations Kate!  Amsterdam, we'll be back (for NYE)!!