Get Your Kicks On The Romantic Road

I had never heard of the Romantic Road until a month or so ago, when my business partner, and all-around German guy, Gene Ulm (his last name is the name of a German city not a long way from where I'm writing this. . .alas, Gene, we're not going to Ulm, but I've seen signs for it. . ."Ulm 85 km") said something to the effect of, "well, you are going to drive some of the Romantic Road, aren't you?"

"Yes," I quickly responded, worried that if The Iron Tourist says he doesn't know what the Romantic Road, he'd have to change his moniker to "The Potassium Tourist" or some other soft metal that can be cut with a knife.  After other pleasant chit-chat, Gene moved on, and I immediately Googled "Romantic Road."  

Turns out it's a cool road route running from Wurzburg to Munich.  Huge chunks of it was the Roman Road that connected lots of towns in Germany.  Until, you know, after Russell Crowe and "Gladiator" when the Visigoths and Swabians kicked the Romans out.  

The "Romantic Road" was dreamed up by Mad Men working for the German Tourism Board in 1950, when, for some reason, the country was hungry for tourism dollars.  It was catchier than "Come see our ruins from the bombs we deserved because of the World War and Holocaust we started."

So, after a long, snowy/rainy walk to Uni Cafe for breakfast and back, we loaded up the car and headed to several stops on the Romantic Road on our way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, known by the cool kids as "Rothenburg od Tauber" and by the even cooler kids as "Rothenburg." 

(Yes, Uni Cafe is everything you think it is based on the name.  Yes, the breakfast is generally good.  Yes, it has a bunch of snotty hipster Europeans hanging out, drinking coffee, and using the WiFi.  Yes, the Apple Strudel was the most disappointing I've had in Germany.  But, it was fine.)

Our first stop was in Wertheim, a cool small town less than 30 minutes from Wurzburg.  The route to get there was a mix between the Romantic Road and the Autobahn.  Our first stop was at the Spitzer Turm, a pointed tower just off the Romantic Road.  

Spitzer turm (insert Eliot Spitzer 

joke as you so choose).

The rock base was built around 1180, while the top was added around 1450.  It also served as a place for drunkards and quarrelsome women (insert your own joke about your own wife here, I'm too smart to do that about my wife).

We then walked through the narrow streets to the Fritz Frischmuth bakery, which has been owned by the same family for 13 generations.  Yes, 13!  That's more than 300 years.  Same family.  Whoa.

We saw any number of amazing half timbered houses.  Alas, between the rain and eating my pretzel from the bakery (Carol and Julia each had an apple snack and a cafe latte), I didn't take any pictures of them, but here are two I found on line.

So you get the idea.  Very cool.  We tried to go to the Burg Wertheim (Castle), but there appeared no easy way to get there.  We could see it high on the hill, it was a shell of its former self.