a longing and south Germany

The canal of Nordlingen

It was time to get out of the house again and this time – out of the country! We both had a longing to go do a road trip across southern Germany and to Alsace. Strasbourg has long been one of my favorite French cities, so much better than the overrated Paris. In Paris one finds all sorts of things to hate about France, but in Alsace – and I imagine in the other French regions – one finds all sorts of things to fall in love with the culture. France should hold some sort of special place in my heart – I see all these American and British expats here who have Czech blood and have been pulled back to their motherlands that their parents fled during Communism. I have mostly French blood, with my ancestors having left during the Wars of Religion and other periods, but haven’t really had any sort of feeling of longing to get back; no sense of connection. That, I have for Louisiana a bit, but still, it’s not home. Home really is wherever my sweet wife is and that’s all the longing I need.

So, with our new style of stopping at various villages and towns, in this blog chapter I’ll bring to you the various places we hit in Germany on the way to Strasbourg. Next week all about Strasbourg itself. Then the villages of Alsace and finally, about our return trip. We’re talking lots of pictures of really ridiculously cute looking places, folks, so buckle your safety belts, grab a beer – it is Germany, after all – and enjoy the ride.

Amberg

the main town gates

Amberg has the looks of an altogether new town with some sort of weird old town vibe to it. There’s a wall and some towers, but otherwise everything looks fresh and modern, like some sort of weird corporation-built suburb of Dallas. There are surprisingly a lot of towns like this in Germany. I’ll readily admit that if you’re in the Upper Palatinate, then you should definitely visit Regensburg first. But if you’ve been there already, Amberg isn’t a bad visit, though it’s certainly a small place by comparison.

Amberg has a history stretching back to the 11th century and was the site of a huge battle between France and Austria during the French Revolution. Fast forward to the modern era and it was notable as the home for the U.S. Army at Pond Barracks. The barracks closed after the end of the Cold War and transitioned to social housing.

the town hall

Remaining from the old days are the town hall and the Gothic church on the main market square, the walls and tower fortifications, and a fortified bridge that guarded water access into the city. Nearby is Walhalla, an exciting place that we missed. It was built by Bavarian King Ludwig, grandfather of the more famous Ludwig II, as a dedication to the heroes of Germany, starting with a bust of Arminius who defeated the Romans at the Battle of Teutoburg Forest in 9 AD. There is also a Franciscan monastery on a nearby hill which was emptied out after being struck by the Bubonic Plague, and so it goes.


Nordlingen

looking at one of the gates

I’ve seen on various tourist sites that Nordlingen rivals Rothenburg on the cuteness and fairy-tale factor. Both of these are a lie. Rothenburg is far superior in both of those forms – closer rivals are Regensburg, Bamberg, Tubingen, and Schwabisch Hall. Nordlingen also has the stench of a brand new corporation-town, besides its huge towers and wall. The place lacks the real cobblestone streets that the other towns have, and just seems too… new, despite having recently celebrated its 1100th-year anniversary. How they managed that, I can’t tell.

That’s not to say that there are no cute parts of Nordlingen. But where Rothernburg is overrun by tourists, Nordlingen seems quite incapable of having them. As we walked around, there was a total lack of shops, cafes, and restaurants, and it came off as a very quaint and sleepy town, which is great for maybe older folks and those who are just tired of the tourist scene. In the pedestrian areas, as my wife and I were wandering around starving for a sausage, all we could find were about 100 ice cream shops. So, if you’re really into ice cream and city walls, add this town onto your agenda.

the town wall and a tower

There is a huge and impressive church with a 90-meter steeple in the city center, St. Georg’s Church. The town is also said to have one of the larger Christmas markets in the area. And of geological note, it was built near the site of a recent huge meteor impact from some 14 million or so years ago. For that reason, most of the stone in the houses of Nordlingen have traces of diamonds in them. Those must be some expensive houses!


Tubingen

This must have been the most exciting town on our German route and is indeed, a hard town in all to beat for its beauty. It’s a university town in Baden-Wurttemburg on the lazy Neckar River, which is filled with Stocherkahne boats – like punts with high-backed seats – that wander up and down the length of the city with people relaxing between the beautiful weeping willows that line the shores. One side of the town is situated on a steep cliff, filled with narrow allies winding between half-timbered houses. There’s an island in the center of the town which is a park stuffed with trees and trails, and finally a flat side where the train station, a large pond, and much of the housing are situated. On the old town side, there’s a castle that overlooks all the student activities that go on through the bustling little town.

Tubingen has been settled since the 12th millennium BC and was the site of a Roman fort in AD 85. The town itself came into being with the settling of the Alamanni tribe in the 6th century. The name first appears in 1191, though the castle of Hohentubingen goes back to 1078. The town is filled with historical places and was the home to many famous Germans – Freidrich Holderlin, Hegel, Friedrich Schelling, Johannes Kepler, Hermann Hesse, and let’s not forget, Alois Alzheimer. The old town survived WWII because of the lack of heavy industry and armaments and many of those people’s houses can still be seen and visited. 

a Stocherkahne boat