On the (Romantic) Road Again

After a farewell spin around Rothenburg, our rain-soaked excursion continued along the Romantische Straße back toward Munich.

We made a brief stop in scenic (but not Rothenburg-scenic) Dinkelsbühl, where the rain kept us away from what otherwise looked like an attractive outdoor market. Moving on to Nördlingen, we scaled the 300 ft. "Daniel" tower, where the ongoing windstorm put the stability of the 500-year-old structure to the test.



From the top of the tower -- at least between wind gusts -- we could see along the horizon the remnants of the Nördlingen Ries, a 25km diameter crater formed when a meteor struck the earth some 15 million years ago. The impact is estimated to have had the force of about 1.8 million Hiroshima bombs, making Nördlingen a rather unromantic place for some time.