We had a lovely day, starting with a yummy breakfast at the hotel. It is included in the room and involves everything: eggs (scrambled or boiled) to sausage (Wurst), bacon, deli meats and cheeses, cereals, fruit juices, fruit, vegetables, and breads, with all the possible toppings you can imagine. We are both especially fond of Laugen bread, which is sort of like pretzel bread but in the form of a huge roll.
We had been awakened very early but the sounds of vendors setting up in the Marktplatz just outside our window for the Saturday market. The Marktplatz is analogous to a town square and in this place every Saturday is a fresh farmers' sort of market with veggies, fruits, butcher, fishmonger, flowers and plants, bakeries, and cheese sellers. It's rather grand and was so even on this rainy cold morning (mid 40s Fahrenheit this morning!).
First we took a leisurely walk around the church to find its hours and to read and admire the inscriptions and artwork on its exterior. Then, we walked all through the market. The array of goods was impressive. Most vendors had a variety of goods within a theme (vegetables? Fruit? Cheese?) but one vendor had only Spargel. Spargel is a sort of white asparagus very popular here.
After walking all over the market we both bought a piece of bread (a roll of some sort) for later. Note: If you see something that looks like a cinnamon roll, it probably isn't. It probably is a poppyseed roll. It took us a while to figure it out as we did not know the German word for poppy and the vendor did not know the English word. Amelia settled on a Laugen croissant. Yummy!
Andy then negotiated for a 100 gram slice of cheese. He managed to get free tastes of two types, then chose one. We have no idea now what it was called but he liked it.
After the market, and pretty well soaked, we went to the room where Andy amused himself on the computer while Amelia took a short nap. Insomnia the night before had turned her into a zombie. When she's this tired, if she gets sleepy, it's best to let her sleep, so he did.
After that, we went to see the inside of the church which we knew would be open by then. It was astounding. Seriously awesome. The church is about 850 years old. It was, of course, originally a Catholic church, for about 350 years, and then became a Lutheran church during the Reformation period. It has all sorts of decorations, monuments, art work, and, of course, some graves which seem to be built into the walls (or perhaps those are just the monuments to the dearly departed?). It has a soaring ceiling and the style is mostly Gothic due to a rebuilding in between 1427 and 1526.
We wandered around the church, reading inscriptions, and admiring artwork and carving and such, and then, the organist started rehearsing. Seriously, a visit to an old church doesn't get any better than this! It was such a blessing to listen to him playing that magnificent instrument. We were moved. It was as if God said,"OK, I know you don't feel so great today, and the weather is crappy, but here, take a few minutes to feel the peace of this beautiful music in my beautiful house." Amelia posted some short videos of the organ music (well, the sound of it, anyhow) on her Facebook timeline. Maybe she can figure out a way to link to them here eventually.
After the church visit, we had a short walk around town since the rain was finally beginning to end. Nothing particularly attractive called us for lunch (most places are closed on Sunday here) so we walked back to the hotel for a late lunch. In fact, we were so late we had to order from the short menu rather than the full menu. Not that we care at all about that. All the food is fantastic in this hotel. We filled up and then decided it was time to brave the elements and ride the bikes.
Now, you have to picture this. It's been raining for almost 24 hours, and the temperature by mid afternoon had only managed to get to the upper 50s Fahrenheit, but we were determined. In this case, determination was rewarded. We biked off in the same direction as Friday (over the river and then roughly north on the bike paths), but this time we tried some side paths just to see where the went. The weather turned out rather nice, really! It was cool but not too cool when pedaling hard. And the sun came out some.
We took one side path to a little town called Linderhof.
Unfortunately, every path and road out of Linderhof was a step uphill. We tried one, and after pedaling in the lowest gear for ever, it had a curve and then more uphill, steeper, was revealed. So, we gave up (Amelia not being that strong of a climber) and biked back down and tried another route. This one also led to a big hill. So, we negotiated a plan. Andrew was to bike over the hill and return to the crossroads just outside Linderhof in half an hour or so. Amelia was to bike back to the crossroads, stopping to take photographs as much as she wants.
The bonus of the crossroads is it has a nice bench if anyone has to sit and wait on anyone else. Plus, people watching. Yes, you can do some serious people watching on a German bike path. You can also do some serious bicycle watching as the types of bicycles range widely here.
So, Andy climbed the hill and then the hill beyond that, and Amelia photographed houses, and signs, and flowers, and such and took a leisurely ride back to the crossroads.
Then we biked farther north on the main more-or-less-beside-the-river path, and took a detour over the bridge and into Untermünkheim by road (not bike path). Our goal was to find the church attached to the tall clock tower we could see from the bike path. It is pointed and has shiny tiles unlike any others we have seen. We managed to find it and take a few photos, and have a short conversation in broken German with a woman out for a stroll with two small children in a stroller and a dog on a leash. One of the children was learning to blow bubbles, which was pretty amusing.
After than we biked back toward Schwäbisch Hall, but took at least one side road and climbed a hill. Even Amelia made it to the top of this one. It ended up in a little village with not much more than a few houses.
We biked back to the hotel, taking a slight short cut on a road (rather than a bike path) which seemed pretty safe on a Sunday evening since Germans are typically not out and about on Sunday very much and traffic was light. In Germany, most businesses are closed on Sunday with the exception of a few cafes and small restaurants specializing in convenience. Presumably, gas stations are also open and convenience stores, but we haven't been near either of those to know that for a fact.
After a shower and tidying up, we ate yet another spectacular meal in the hotel restaurant.
After supper we had a long chat with the hotel manager in Deutschglish. Her English isn't so good and our German isn't so good but we managed. She is the owner of the hotel guard dog, Ivan. She gave us some valuable information about places to bike to with museums and how to find the local swimming pool.
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