The daily diary of a wandering restaurateur
February 14 - Dinkelsbuhl and Rothenburg
Having gotten a good feel for Rothenburg, we decided to head down the Romantic Road to the town of Dinkelsbuhl. We had heard that it was on the list of the top medieval walled towns and since it was only about 45 minutes away and we did, after all, have a Mercedes that had seen far too little time on the road ...
Well, once you have seen the best, the rest pale in comparison. Dinkelsbuhl was a pleasant enough place but lacked the intimacy of Rothenburg. Part of this may have been because the streets seemed wider. We did, however, find some good shopping (half price on everything!) and we found a wonderful place for lunch.
People have always held more of an attraction to us than places ... and so we connected with Annaliese Friese, the 75-year old proprietor of a lovely little shop just off the town hall plaza. We went to her shop for the first time yesterday as the result of a recommendation in Rick Steves' guidebook and hit it off with Annaliese immediately. Perhaps it was because her English was excellent, perhaps because she was taken with Margene's hat ... perhaps just that she was a sypathetic soul.
Whatever the reason, we invited her to join us for dinner tonight. She took us to a little restaurant out in the country that was filled with locals (I doubt that a tourist could have even found the place!) The food was quite good and very reasonably priced ... but spending time with her was the highlight. Her family has been in Rothenburg for generations and her stories of working in an underground munitions factory during World War II (at the age of 14) were fascinating. In the end, it is always about the people!
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© 2004 Restaurant Doctor