We arrived at the train station in Rothenburg, and bearing our backpacks, went confidently striding off in what turned out to be the wrong direction (my misreading of the map). The cell phone we borrowed from Andy’s parents came in handy (which I believe is the German word for “cell phone”) for the first, but not last time. We regrouped and eventually came upon a medeival city gate with tiny cars shooting in and out and alarming rates of speed, and knew we must be there.
We stayed at Gasthaus zur Goldenen Rose, which was one of the nicest places we stayed as well as one of the cheapest. The kind proprietor, upon learning of our directional difficulties, gave me a town map, and showed us how to get in through the alley and back yard after hours, and off we went.
We had wiener schnitzel for dinner, and in the restaurant first saw a guy who we were to see at several of our destinations over the next couple of days. It was the Rick Steves effect. Anywhere we went which was recommended by Rick Steves, we saw American tourists toting around his book, and if you were following his recommendations you’d probably see the same ones more than which. We were able to break free of the Effect by going to Berchtesgaden a couple of days later, instead of into Austria like Rick wants you to.
We took the Night Watchman’s Tour of the town, which was extremely entertaining. You can see most of the info from the tour here if you want (same site I linked to at Historicity. We tripped over cobblestones on the charming streets, watched wooden figures pop out of the clock above the town square, re-enacting a fictional event in which the town’s mayor persuaded a would-be invader to go away by drinking 3 liters of wine at one gulp. Much is inexplicable about that particular story.
The next day, we figured out the particulars of the Romantic Road bus we were going to take (by asking someone in English), then walked along the town wall for a bit and took some more pictures. Then we boarded the bus for Fussen.