Afternoon in Rothenburg

I am really getting my walking in everyday. I think I should be able to double anything the FitBit says because everything is either up a hill or down a hill! There is nothing flat in this part of Germany. On top of that, the streets are all cobbled, which is a challenge to walk on. So far, I have remained upright, but I think if I were to stay here for very much longer, that would not be the case. Mike says I should have walking poles, and I told him I do....you.
The temp was about 62 and sunny. Just beautiful. I am in short sleeves and loving it. The hotels we have stayed in so far, do not have A/C, fans or elevators, and when they say you are on the first floor, what they really mean is you are one flight of stairs UP!
We walked around the outside of the wall, starting in the south and ending in the west. Of coarse, we did the shopping and snacking all through the center.
We went over this covered bridge, before we started the trail that goes under it. (Picture further down).














There are grape vineyards on the south-west hillside below the wall.


Landscaping around the town is lovely. They have a lot of green space outside the wall with park benches along the trails.





This is one or the gates into the city. In medieval times there was a curfew. If you did not get in before they closed the gates, you could only get back in through this one-man door, called a "man hole". This was to protect the city from an attack. It would only take a few people to cause a devastating fire. As a side note, the gate keeper could levy a steep fine to any one who came in late. Bet they did not have too many tardy people, and you had better be thin enough to get through the opening.





I think our time table is still off, as we have been eating a lunch/supper daily.
Hotels usually provide a buffet breakfast of breads, cheese, deli meats, yogurt, cereal, fruit and some times hard boiled eggs. We have enjoyed gelato cones and I have had a couple of lattes. Despite all the walking (avg. 5 miles a day) we haven't been overly hungry.