Munich was fun... large and busy. Trying to drive in these large cities is nothing short of scary. Lots of one ways, trams or electric trains - Do Not Enter streets, mopeds, bicylclists, pedestrians and poor signage. Often the signs you do see are telling you what roads are up ahead; not what road you're on... and then there are the street signal lights. Not large and up in the air, put on short posts on the sides of each lane. On a double lane street ( 2 going each way), if you're in the right lane you have one light, but if you're in the left lane to turn left you have a different light. We've had some close calls, but luckily no accidents or tickets. There is a shortage of parking. When you can find it.. park! Even if you have to walk several blocks (which are triple the size of city blocks in the states). Munich has a lovely large market (probably similar to Pike Place market in Seattle) that is open every day but Sunday. In every old city there is a new part of town and the old historic part is in the city center. We took Rick Steves' advice and went on a walking tour. These young kids are very well versed in the history of the city (ours was also a college educated history major). His name is Iain and he brought along Bjorn, his 6 month old pup for the journey. Gratefully, he spoke English, although very British and Scottish. He was a walking encyclopedia, with a great gift of gab and sense of humor. My challenge was trying to understand what he was saying because he spoke so quickly and had a strong accent. It was a 2.5 hour tour that hit the highlights. Soon we were packed up and ready to roll. Planning to go to Rothenberg (a "must see" in our guide book) we were heading North on the autobahn. Unfortunately we came into construction on the highway and were soon at a stop. Rick Steves' wrote about the Romantic Road, a slower route but with phomenial scenery, and were told we could find it by reading the brown signs. So we detoured into Augsburg, a large more modern city, and got lost for 2 hours. We stopped at EuropeCar ... not much help but we got a map of Germany. We finally got some tips from a local hotelier, but his suggested route was not possible due to closed streets and construction in the city. Lyle was so patient and we finally got onto the road after several detours. Later we decided all the frustration and loss of time was well worth it. We rolled into Rothenberg around 8 PM and found a cute old hotel in the historic walled off part of the village... cobblestone streets and all. Had dinner on an outside Veranda under the trees, and had a reasonably quiet nights sleep. Although it had cooled to the 80's yesterday... today will be back in the 90's. We are off to run and explore.
