Helpful airport info man pointed us to the trains but no humans were working there to help us know what to do. We returned to the nice man who then pointed us to a bigger tourist into place 300m farther fewer we obtained a train schedule that might get us to Schwäbisch Hall. But we missed the first train (subway?) and took a second one that was not on our list but seemed to go to the intermediate place where we can get the next train. Here we are on the subway.
We enjoyed the passing views of Stuttgart including homes, businesses (Mercedes, Bosch, etc.), and s big soccer stadium.
At the intermediate stop we had 50 minutes to kill so Andy bought a Coke to get us some change if it the public rest room (note to self; must have 50 cent coin in pocket at all times). Then we found our way to the right track (track 7, not 9 3/4) and stood on the sunny end watching trains of all sorts go by. In the sun the temperature was perfect but in the shade it felt a bit cool to us.
We found our train right on time and plopped in an empty car by a window. Our pass entitled us to seats in a first class car but we did not know if this train has one or how far we'd have to walk to find it so we did not bother.
We enjoyed passing views of the countryside north of Dtuttgart including small towns, farms, orchards, grape, lots of forests and fields, and the occasional old castle or church. After an hour we landed at the Schwäbisch Hall Hessental train station and moved a bit too slow to catch the bus which we weren't very sure if anyhow.
After a short taxi ride, we were delivered to the from door of our hotel at noon just as the bells of St. Michael's rang out. What an awesome welcome!
It was really a "planes, trains, and automobiles' sort of morning!
We checked into our hotel using a combination of bad German and tired English then climbed a twisty. Uneven interesting old staircase and walked to the end of a long winding hall to find our room.
It is a room with a spectacular view of the Markt platz in the center of the old town.
After a long hot shower, we wandered out to see the square which includes St Michael's church, the city hall and lots of old half timbered buildings that have survived thanks to Schwäbisch Hall not really getting bombed in the two world wars.
I made this panoramic photo from the top of St Michael's (50!) front steps.
Our hotel is on the far right with the tan umbrella's out front. St. Michael's is lovely and dominates the innerstadt.
We lunched outside under an umbrella belatedly noticing we did not pack hats (how do both a bald guy with melanoma and also his wife fail to think of a hat?). The waitress spoke no English and we were too tired to think of German but we managed to have a nice lunch of schnitzel (pork?), boiled potatoes, and white asparagus (Spargel) which is white and much larger and more mild than the green sort common at home. Yes, Mana, I really ate my veggies).
We enjoyed watching the rehearsal of a play on the steps of the church. It might be Don Juan...?
Then we took an interesting taxi ride (the female cabbie had lived in the YS and been a truck driver; she had the weirdest mixture accent, part German and part Texas drawl) to a bike shop we'd scoped out online. We might have walked but we were so tired and no one seemed to have a street map showing more than the very inner old city part.
We spent several hours at MHW Bikes figuring out bikes that would suffice without blowing the budget or melting the Amex card. We were helped by a very patient man named Tobias. I could write a book about our afternoon in the bike shop but only our cycling friends would enjoy it (perhaps a separate post later?). We were nearly tired to passing out but still had to bike back to the hotel without a map. Tobias said, "turn right out of the shop, then left after the Mölkerei, then just follow the road and it is all down hill." It seemed much more complex than that (round abouts, construction areas, etc.), but we found our way and it really was all down hill. We returned just as the church bell marked 8pm. It wasn't quite dark yet but the Markt Platz became lovelier with the dusk and the moonrise.
The city hall on the right).
We had dinner in the hotel restaurant and studied both the German and English versions of the menu.
Andy had a nice chicken and ham dish with pasta (note the destination appropriate hoodie)
and I had ox in a wine sauce with exquisite potatoes, carrots, and more Spargel. Spargel seems to be a local specialty.
We stumbled back to the room and Andy was asleep before his head hit the pillow. I enjoyed the evening view first.
This is, no doubt, vastly more than you ever wanted to know about our first day in Germany.
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