Bolger Family Travels: We Had Rothenburg Nearly To Ourselves

After lugging the bags up the narrow, winding staircase(s) -- the plural was for Julia, who had two staircases, we battle-planned the evening. I had a work Zoom call, so they went off to explore. It was windy, cold, but Carol and Julia loved it. The next day I learned they had covered a lot of ground as dusk was falling.

We walked to the other end of town to get our 24 hour rapid COVID test. Two days in a row of testing. We had appointments, and it went quickly. Getting the results in 15 minutes is quite nice. "Schnelltests" are good for 24 hours, but they are also free, so it's not a big issue, other than planning and securing a location/time slot.

For those of you who have never watched Hogan's Heroes, "schnell" does not have to do with olfactory (h/t to M*A*S*H* there), but means quick/quickly/fast in German. "Macht schnell" means "make fast" or hurry up! Hogan's Heroes was very good, and MASH remains the greatest TV show in my estimation. (Editor: Now you are wandering aimlessly. Are you going to talk about the Bob Newhart Show next? Or just "Newhart." Writer: His two shows had some creative names, natch.)

After the test, we had some time to kill before dinner, so we went to the most famous spot in all of Rothenburg, and arguably in any small German town, Plonlein.

Plonlein selfie the next day.

Plonlein selfie that night.

It was weird. The streets should have been packed with Christmas market merrymakers. Instead it was quiet, most lights were out, and only a handful of people went hither and yon. The positive side -- well, there was no positive side, as the markets would have been spectacular in Rothenburg.

It's a bummer for us, but it's a huge economic hammer to the people of Rothenburg as well as the people who rent and run the Christmas market stalls. I remember the feeling of joy and happiness emanating from the people at the 2019 markets.

(Editor's note: Nice job cross-promoting your blogs. Writer: Hey, I make no money off this, so I should at least get the dopamine high from more clicks! And from helping people I might add, as many people ask for my blogs as they plan their own trips.)

Anyhow, as I write this, it is Friday morning and we leave Ludswigsburg to drive to Strasbourg, France, where the markets are open. So hopefully the "Sort of Christmas Markets" portion of this trip turns into the "Actual Christmas Markets" trip. Fingers crossed, because if France suddenly closes their markets, we would press the eject button on this trip!

Now, back to our story. . .

We showed up at the restaurant an hour before our reservations, hoping to get a seat at the bar, have a drink, and get out of the windy cold. They have no bar, and our table was not available. The person greeting us told us to go walk around for thirty minutes and come back at 7pm, at which point they could seat us.

Look, it's a neat town to walk about, and in the summer it would be amazing. We enjoyed it in the winter, but also froze as we trudged up hills and down hills, past store window displays that are quite beautiful. Thanks COVID!

(Sorry. A lot of people have suffered greatly because of COVID, whether death, severe sickness, economic loss, being a child kept from friends and classmates, and more. In the big scheme of things, it helps to keep a sense of perspective. No, we didn't like the lockdown, and yes, Carol and I each got break-through cases in August, but our symptoms were no worse than a summer cold, and no one we were with in days prior tested positive.)

Once we got back to the restaurant, we were immediately seated. The food was the best we've had in Germany -- Carol and I enjoyed our lamb chops, and Julia's goose was cooked just right. (Editor's note: I see what you did there!) After a leisurely dinner, we headed back up the hill to our cozy apartment, spent some time reading, and called it a night. Remember, it was only our second night on the trip, so there was still some jet lag)