<p>Despite the late night party downstairs, I slept great. Breakfast was the same as the day before only this time I got to sit by the old white lab who refused to move from where he had chosen to spend his morning, which was under my chair. Dad grabbed the car and picked us up in front of the hotel. It was a long drive back to Germany. I finished up a bunch of blogs. We were on the Autobahn so there was little to see. We stopped for a stretch before we crossed over the border. The rest stop/gas station was a big truck stop. Mom and I went in to see if there was any touristy stuff to buy. We found more than we bargined for. Unlike American truck stops, where they pretend that the truckers are not ...ahem....lonely....there was a sex shop. I could have picked up a sexy nurse outfit, some flavored body lotion or a snickers bar and some motor oil. After a stretch we moved on.
We stopped in a town called Obernai which is our last big shoppy town. Mom has been there before and I hear there is a great shop there to pick up all the stuff we regretted not buying earlier. I finally bought a little Alsation pot with a stork flying around on it like the one I are the Munster cheese and potatoes out of. We were dropped off at the store and agreed to meet back up in a half hour. Mom and I speed shopped. We went through the main o e where i really wanted a giant brown pottery vase but resisted. Then we ran through town looking at three other shops. We found the time to take some pictures of my head in funnt stork-related cut-out boards. We raced back to the meeting point just in time to meet dad. Turns out dad had a big time too. He parked, found a church, lit a candle for a safe trip home and bought a soda. And on we drove....
We stopped at another rest stop but this one was not as interesting...just toilets and parking spots. We crossed the border to Germany one more time.
We drove to a cute town in the middle of nowhere called Michelstadt. It looked boring and unassuming from the outside but looks are deceiving. We parked in a big public parking lot and walked to the town. To get to the town we had to walk through the ramparts again. I always love a town with ramparts. It is like a wall keeping out the ugly and in the cute. We shopped the little cobbled streets but found nothing new to buy. We continued on our drive until we got hungry. Mom said she was in the mood for Wurst so we stopped at a little stand on the side of the road. We each ordered a different kind of sausage. Dad and mom both got a local Wurst and I ordered the heisswurst which literally translates to hot dog. It was fantastic. We ate in front of the stand on the side of the road looking up at some old castle ruins. That is what is so great about traveling in this area. Even though we have been driving all day and we stopped randomly just because we were hungry, there is still something cool to look at. Onward we drove to Miltenberg in Germany. Our hotel is the cutest thing in the town. Apparently, it has been an inn since like the thirteen hundreds and al kinds of famous people have stayed there. Dutchees this and king that. Our rooms are totally cool. The P's room was made up of three little rooms. There was the main room with old furniture and sitting tables and chairs and then there was a little sitting room with windows everywhere. My room was really bright with a canopy bed. It looked out to the main little cobbled street.
We settled in then shopped the main street. It was later in the day and a lot of the shops were closing but the shops were mainly weird clothing shops. The clothes were all really wrinkly, baggy sacs. So strange. We made our way to the end of the street where there is a cute square with a fountain in the middle. A wedding couple were there having their pictures taken. Along one side of the square is a big cement block lined with trees and table in the center. We found a free table and ordered some ice creams. The ice cream menu was ginormous with photos of all kinds of crazy concoctions of fruits, creams and flavors. The waiters were coming out from the shop with all of then. They looked just like their pictures. Originally, I was going to order an eischocolate which is hot chocolate with chocolate ice cream in it but then I saw the menu. I ordered a Schwartzwald ice cream sundae. It was cherrys...a million fresh cherries, a scoop of vanilla ice cream, a scoop of chocolate ice cream, whipped cream, chocolate shavings, all topped with a cherry syrup...holy cow was it good. It is all I want to eat from now on! Mom ordered a large eischocolate so I could eat half of hers but I didn't realize that I was getting so much in mine. I manned up and ate half of hers too. Dad got the eiscaffe.
With out new found energy we read all the menus in town to find where we were going to eat that night. We chose a Bavarian place because I was in a schnitzel mood. We went to our hotel rooms, opened one of Charles' wines and set to the daunting task of packing. An hour or two, and a bottle of wine later we were ready for a beer and dinner.
We walked to the restaurant and sat outside. We all ordered giant dunkel beers that tasted fantastic. I got the paprika Schnitzel, mom got the venison Schnitzel and dad got the pork in cream sauce Schnitzel. All three were so so good. We ate heartily.
I felt great with a belly full of a hot meal and cold beer. I didn't take a second to fall asleep. I slep probably the best of the whole trip. Good thing because tomorrow is going to be a looooong day. I don't wanna leave Europe!!!