Ansbach

It snowed today. I mean SNOWED, like blizzarded. The day began with what I thought would be a leisurely stroll to the bus stop, but then it started to rain. And by the time the bus pulled up, it was pouring, blustering, thundering and lightening. Blah. Instead of taking the audio tour of Ansbach to learn about their mysterious citizen, Kasper Hauser from the 1700s, I opted for lunch at a little kondetori (pasta with mushroom sauce and a giant glob of butter). That's when it stopped lightening and thundering and started snowing. Well, at that point I realized hanging out at a cafe wasn't a horrible thing, and since I was reading Hemingway, I really didn't mind. When the weather paused for a moment I decided it was a good time to make a run for the castle and do an indoor tour of the residence.... The tour reminded me of a scene from a British period movie where a housekeeper gives a guest a tour of the manor while the owner is away. The tour guide only turned on lights in 8 of the 28 rooms, the rest of the time opening shades to let in the natural (albeit dark and stormy) light. And she couldn't be more annoyed with my foreignness, I've never seen a guide so thrilled to have Germans in her tour group, with them she clearly delighted in telling the history and little tidbits. With me, she pointed to the number that coincided with the room we were standing in on my English information brochure. Why I needed a guide is beyond me, perhaps I had a troublesome glint in my eye that made her think I would track slush on the parquet floors. Oh well the castle residence was beautiful and it belonged to Fredrich the Great's sister.

Nuremberg

Off on a search to learn about Albrecht Durer today. Prior to this I was only familiar with his rhinoceros sketches, but after a visit to the state museum I became aware of his religious, personal, and royal paintings. He was the most famous and most counterfeited artist of his time. Then I wandered to the other side of town to where he used to live. Unfortunately, that museum was a bit disappointing. So I took my friend pocket fuzz out to lunch at my favorite sausage house. Amazing. Then we wandered around town a bit before heading home.

Aurach

The majority of my stay in Germany has been at my mother's home in the village of Aurach. One the quaintest places I've ever had the privilege to visit. The main street has a hair dresser, a butcher, a gasthaus (the food is delicious but the owner speaks only German and if you have questions you must use charades or hope another guest can translate), and a tiny bakery (where I go to pick up coffee and bread each day). The ladies who work at the bakery are 2 of the nicest people in town, and are extremely patient with my limited German. The rest of the town consists of a church, a bank, a pharmacy, and a bunch of stables and farms. I've really taken to hiking through the countryside as there are trails throughout the woods that lead hikers from town to town. Overlooking it all is a giant castle built in the 1300s and currently used for weddings and conferences and maybe yoga retreats (if the pictures on the website are any indication, although google translate mentions nothing about it). All in all, not a bad place to spend a holiday.
Today's discovery while hiking was the town wood pile, or at least where the local wood cutters store everyone's wood. Piles of wood are divided by families and street addresses, as well as by how much has been ordered. Some families have elaborate wood sheds and others, only a tarp. Some have chairs set out as a place to rest after hauling the logs and chopping them down to size.

Heilbronn

Today was a quiet day as we prepared for our journey to Paris tomorrow. Lunch was at a cute gasthaus in heilbronn that served the biggest portions of yummy Italian food, including the most perfect tiramisu I've had since the time I spent in Italy searching for perfect tiramisu and eating it every chance I had.