July10

July 10th (torrential downpour into sunshine later in day)
My birthday today. I hope our children remembered that. Because time is on our side, we did not hurry ourselves to leave this morning. It rained extremely hard for about three hours until we arrived at one of the stops along the Romantishe route called Harburg where we walked up to view a beautiful castle from the 1500’s. While walking down, it came down in buckets so we stood under a huge elm tree halfway up the hill beside a church steeple (great spot for lightening strike). Our wait was coincided with the ringing of the church bells at noon. Very enjoyable. After that, we drove to the walled city of Nordlingen and strolled around the well-preserved medieval houses. Interesting to note the vast renovations that are currently underway on some of the very old places, including the massive church. Hate to see their renovation bill. Bought some bratwurst for a barbecue, potato salad dinner.
Arrived in Dinkelsbuhl and found a great campsite with the aid of our newly acquired camping book. Enjoyed our barbecued bratwurst dinner in the sunshine (surprise surprise). Ended my birthday with a couple of drinks with the owner’s daughter whom we helped translate the menu into English and she kindly ignored our tab.
One of the interesting components of the drive today was that we drove through a 2.5 km tunnel – the longest we have ever travelled through. Also, although the rain does not help, the scenery is certainly not as spectacular as driving through the Algau.