Gangelt-Rothenburg o.t.b-Fischen

Today began our exciting holiday trip to Bavaria. Even though looking back I don’t think I would use the word exciting to describe day one! It would be more like want to rip my hair out frustrating. We left our house at 5:30 am dead set on beating all of the other winter travelers. All went well until about 8:30 and the dreaded rest stop, it all went down hill from there. We stopped at a rest stop to get coffee and when we stopped our GPS said it was only about an hour and a half to Rothenberg we were making good time should get there by 10:30. Well we get back on the autobahn and get stuck in traffic, traffic and some more traffic. I really can’t remember being in this bad of traffic before, it was like traffic jams but there was no cause so it never ended. After it turned to 12:30 we decided maybe we should get off of the autobahn. We had already extended our trip by at least two hours just sitting in traffic and the GPS said we still had an hour at least to go! So we ended up driving through towns on the Romantic road, which was nice and probably got us there quicker then staying on the autobahn. Oh and had I mentioned that it rained the whole trip, didn’t let up at all. From the time we left Gangelt to the time we arrived in Fischen....rain!
So finally after seven hours (which normally would have been only 4) we arrive in Rothenberg. We stop to get some lunch at Burger King because we are all exhausted and starving (did I mention that Marita and Christian were with us...probably not). After that we ventured into town to go see the famed Christmas store. We crowd through the store which is packed but we did make out with a few things. I got a winter smoker, they are really cute you put incense in them. Mine is a little egg with snow on it and a bird nest on its head. And we got a Christmas ornament made of glass with a dog bone and a heart. So after we finished wandering around it is about 3:00 and we decide we should head to Fischen because we weren’t sure if the traffic would be bad or not.
The trip to Fischen was actually nice because there wasn’t traffic jams although the rain was coming down heavier then before. We made it there in about two and a half hours. So now we are in our room which is huge! It has two bedrooms, a living room and a kitchen! We are getting ready to go and get some food! I will be glad to get to sleep it has been a long day. I know Luke will be glad to sleep too he was such a trooper driving the whole way and not being grumpy at all!
We went to eat at an Italian restaurant here in Fischen, we knew it would be good because Marita and Christian always talk about it every time they come back from visiting here. I had spaghetti carbonara which was pretty good, wasn’t the best I have ever had but it was above average. We wanted Tiramisu but unfortunately they were out of it! Luke got another animal, a swan this time. When we first got here like the first time we went out to eat with Marita and Christian we went to Il Genios in Birgden and Luke ordered a calzone and when he got it it was in the shape of a fish! It was so funny and no one has ever had anything like it since, we have ordered calzones but never gotten a fish. Then last night Lukes food came out wrapped in a tin foil swan, so it must just be something about Luke and animals and Italian food! So after dinner we walked around the town (which is beautiful BTW). We walked to the train station to check times for Munich, walked to where Marita and Christian got married, walked to an ice skating rink. Then we got home and al went to bed because we were so tired from the long day. Although the day was frustrating with the driving and everything it turned out to be a pretty good day.

The pictures with the snow and mountains are from our hotel room in Fishcen. The rest are from Rothenburg.