May 1

~ Wertheim

[Wertheim Castle . . . right off the bat!  (And the blog has finally made it to May!)]

[Followed by Wertheim port.]

[Well, guten tag!]

[Gives you the idea that we were in the basement.  Our window was right on the water line and when I opened our curtain that morning . . . A Peeping Swan!]

[Our guide, an American.  She married a German fellow and has lived in Germany ever since – long enough to have two teenage daughters, who sound very American in their desire to escape the boredom of their “small” town (it is just a little bigger than the greater Alexandria metropolitan area).]

[Beautiful setting]

[So, it appears schwans are a big deal around here.]

[I forgot . . . something about the windows and their placement.]

[Here’s the tourists . . . ]

[Walking down the middle of streets again.]

[And this is a wall . . . ]

[A really neat place to rent . . . and airbnb?]

[Cherry blossoms?]

[Old Town center . . . ]

[With its own “leaning tower”  – Spitzer Tower.]

[See?  Leaning slightly to the right.]

[As with many places along these rivers, floods are just a way of life.  Here our guide shows us photos of the last one from just a few years ago (I even remembered it).]

[Helen and the tree.]

[The Super, Helen, and the tree.]

[The Super and Helen supersede the tree.]

[The Supervisor’s take on the neighborhood, i.e, her photos.]

[Violeta . . . ]

[And the tree.]

[A really fake professional in action . . . ]

[The final 3 from the Super, downtown . . . ]

[Back to me, i.e., my photos.  More high water marks from floods over the centuries.]

[And back to window shopping.]

[Loved their restaurant row – hard to choose!]

[Now THIS is window shopping!]

[What?  We didn’t stop to eat?]

[The PH crest is something from the 16th century.  The Japanese appearing mark below it was something really cool, but I forgot.  Like maybe a Minnesota Twins fan lived here or maybe the builder loved wasabi.  After much searching, I can’t find anything?]

[More flood marks.]

[Love these alley ways.]

[Yes, they probably were made out of real gingerbread.]

[And there’s the castle from the first photo – the major landmark of the city.  But it was a steep climb (something about steep and uneven stairs), so we begged out.  As I recall, Pam and Tom did go up there.]

[Everybody has a clock tower.]

[In most places these were trash cans – probably so here?  But the Super loves ice cream!]

[Finally, outdoor coffee and pastry!]

[It was a little chilly, but the sun was out.]

[And then we saw this . . . ]

[But first things first – John has his outdoor coffee!]

[Then back to the Echo.  Alexandria’s-own Echo Press sponsors a “take your Echo with you” and send a photo of yourself reading it wherever you are.  We sent this one in – Editor Al wasn’t buying it!  😉  ]

[I think we ran out of time before we could take a ride on the little train.]

[Back to the river front.  All aboard!]

[And we’re on our way again . . . ]

[We’re on the Main River on our way to the Rhine River with the next stop at Koblenz.]

[Another vertical vineyard.]

[Didn’t we just eat something?]

[Well, you can still look out the window while you’re eating.]

People travel to faraway places to watch, in fascination, the kind of people they ignore at home.  ~ Dagobert D. Runes  (Great first named if he dropped the “Dag.”)

Up Next:  Koblenz . . . or Homecoming.