Where's Bertie? He's in a free motorhome Stellplatz, located in a corner of the vast Festplatz car park in Weißenburg. Electricity and water are available for a fee.
Weather: Some cloud around, but mainly sunny. Hot.
Views from our morning run along another German river. I don't think I'll ever tire of these riverside paths.
The Park4Night App lists two possible overnight locations close to the centre of Weißenburg. One has a poor rating (albeit only from two people), the other has a mediocre rating (from one person). We went for the option that sounded nicest - the one closest to the town.
We had no problem slotting Bertie into a space there, but as we did so a car stopped in front of us and a woman approached. This car park wasn't suitable for a Bertie-sized vehicle, she said. We'd be far better in a different car park, in the next street across. Directions were given. Then she said "I'll go that way. Follow me.".
Our take on the conversation possibly wasn't entirely accurate, as neither of us speaks German and we only managed to pick out a few words, but Mick dutifully steered Bertie out of his space and followed.
She did, of course, lead us to the Stellplatz which we'd chosen against, but she was absolutely right: the parking here is far more suitable. Granted, it's not an attractive place to be parked, but to my unpicky eyes, there's nowt wrong with it*. As a bonus, someone had left 5kWh of electricity on a meter (how? The price here is 50c per kWh. How did someone manage to put that many extra coins in? This is not unusual, but still bamboozles me.)
The extra walk into the old town from here was only a few minutes, and even before we passed through the town gate, we had the impression this was going to be a pleasant place for a stroll:
What a fine example of an old town wall!
By the time we'd made our way across town to the Tourist Information Office, we felt like we'd walked into a film set - a feeling only spoilt by the number of parked cars. I fear that I've failed to capture the nature of the place in these snaps:
The clutter in the square is because it's being set up for the town festival, which starts tomorrow.
We came away from the Tourist Office empty handed, as the chap manning the desk couldn't find any information in English, but after a glut of town tours recently, we were happy to just wander, marvelling at the variety and well-keptness of the old buildings. Even the little side alleys were as attractive as the main streets.
It didn't take us long to cover all of the main streets, but the day was still young. It was also hot. German towns tend to have a plentiful supply of ice cream parlours. We decided to make like a local and go for sundaes.
Rejecting the menu at the first option we saw, we were just making our way to another place we'd already eyed-up earlier, when I got side-tracked by a bakery:
The cakes are displayed unsliced and when I asked for some of the blackcurrant one, I didn't expect to be given such a massive piece. When I was two thirds through, I felt like I still had two servings to go. I soldiered on and managed to finish it.
Needless to say, we didn't have an ice-cream chaser!
On another day, we might have walked off some of the cake indulgence by heading over to the castle that sits 2km distant, in an elevated position above the valley. Not today, though, as my legs are feeling in need of a rest. Instead, I've finally finished a book I've been reading for over a week (downside of a Kindle: it's not obvious how big a book is just by picking it up!).
When debating whether this merited 'fountain of the day' status, Mick opined that all of the fountains we've seen in the last week have had such a scant flow of water that they're more statues than fountains.
(*Except the doughnut marks in the middle of the big empty expanse of the main car park. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a boy-racer magnet of a place as dark falls.)
Weather: Some cloud around, but mainly sunny. Hot.
The Park4Night App lists two possible overnight locations close to the centre of Weißenburg. One has a poor rating (albeit only from two people), the other has a mediocre rating (from one person). We went for the option that sounded nicest - the one closest to the town.
We had no problem slotting Bertie into a space there, but as we did so a car stopped in front of us and a woman approached. This car park wasn't suitable for a Bertie-sized vehicle, she said. We'd be far better in a different car park, in the next street across. Directions were given. Then she said "I'll go that way. Follow me.".
Our take on the conversation possibly wasn't entirely accurate, as neither of us speaks German and we only managed to pick out a few words, but Mick dutifully steered Bertie out of his space and followed.
She did, of course, lead us to the Stellplatz which we'd chosen against, but she was absolutely right: the parking here is far more suitable. Granted, it's not an attractive place to be parked, but to my unpicky eyes, there's nowt wrong with it*. As a bonus, someone had left 5kWh of electricity on a meter (how? The price here is 50c per kWh. How did someone manage to put that many extra coins in? This is not unusual, but still bamboozles me.)
The extra walk into the old town from here was only a few minutes, and even before we passed through the town gate, we had the impression this was going to be a pleasant place for a stroll:
By the time we'd made our way across town to the Tourist Information Office, we felt like we'd walked into a film set - a feeling only spoilt by the number of parked cars. I fear that I've failed to capture the nature of the place in these snaps:
We came away from the Tourist Office empty handed, as the chap manning the desk couldn't find any information in English, but after a glut of town tours recently, we were happy to just wander, marvelling at the variety and well-keptness of the old buildings. Even the little side alleys were as attractive as the main streets.
It didn't take us long to cover all of the main streets, but the day was still young. It was also hot. German towns tend to have a plentiful supply of ice cream parlours. We decided to make like a local and go for sundaes.
Rejecting the menu at the first option we saw, we were just making our way to another place we'd already eyed-up earlier, when I got side-tracked by a bakery:
Needless to say, we didn't have an ice-cream chaser!
On another day, we might have walked off some of the cake indulgence by heading over to the castle that sits 2km distant, in an elevated position above the valley. Not today, though, as my legs are feeling in need of a rest. Instead, I've finally finished a book I've been reading for over a week (downside of a Kindle: it's not obvious how big a book is just by picking it up!).
(*Except the doughnut marks in the middle of the big empty expanse of the main car park. Let's hope it doesn't turn into a boy-racer magnet of a place as dark falls.)
Bonus snap: We've seen a lot of artwork in a lot of churches. This stood out today for being so out of the ordinary line of religious art:
Everything does look much more colourful than our drab towns and cities. Did your "guide" only speak German - I thought nearly everybody there speaks at least some English?
ReplyDeleteIf our 'guide' had a second language it wasn't English! We had a similar encounter in a car park the day before, where a another non-English speaking woman advised us that we could park cheaper in the car park next door. The common thing in both cases is that they both went to efforts to get their message across even though we could only understand the occasional word.
DeleteThis year those two encounters feel like the exception, as just about everyone else we've had occasion to talk to has had at least a few words of English. I seem to recall, however, that further south last year, when we were mainly in much smaller, non-touristy places, fewer people spoke English.