October 3, 2008
Written November 1
Dear Friends and Families,
When we originally thought of the general area we wanted to visit, there were several scenic villages and charming hotels we saw on the internet. Unfortunately, so did a lot of people before us. This was a holiday weekend in Germany and hotels in tourist destinations were at a premium. We settled for a large conference center hotel in Donauwörth and both the hotel and the town were pleasant surprises.
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The Parkhotel sits in a park (surprise) on a bluff above town. We had a good size room with a nice view. Sometimes the view was clear and colorful and sometimes the colors and the skies were more muted. |
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After settling in, we got back in the car and drove to town. Donauwörth was pretty quiet because it is a working town, not a tourist destination, and we were visiting on a holiday. |
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| We did stumble across the town museum, Hintermeierhaus, an old fisherman's house. Reflecting the blue collar nature of the place, the attractions centered on crafts which employed Donauwörth over the ages. There were impressive displays of old locks, whose manufacture led to the local machine industry. We knew we had become too local when we got excited over an old work bench because it looked just like an antique we had just put in our barn garage. |
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Further into town, we walked around the square in the newly restored island call "Ried", surrounded by the Wörnitz river. It was called a "river" but it was a pretty modest trickle of water. Nevertheless, the place had a bit of charm. It may never displace Rothenburg ob der Tauber in the tour books, but one could do worse. |
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Church, Castle, and Square. We've done it all today. Now, back to the hotel for a nice meal looking out over city lights almost as good as Paris. Almost.
John and Marianne.
Official town website (Only "Tourism" is in English)