Isolated showers...

After weeks and weeks of perfect weather we finally got some rain. Not deterred by a few clouds and some drizzle, we decided to head to Rothenburg, a city that we thought was about an hour and half Southeast of Heidelberg. Just for the record, I did tell B it was a bad idea. For once, I was right.

It turns our that the Autobahn (A6) that takes you to Rothenburg has more zones posted with speed limits than I've ever seen on A5, the highway we normally take to places like Strausbourg and Baden-Baden. After a couple of hours, we arrived in Rothenburg to wind and rain. We walked around a bit and had lunch, but the rain was getting progressively worse. We probably stayed there a couple of hours.
Although Rothenburg is undoubtedly beautiful, it also has all the hallmarks of a Grade A tourist trap. Here are a few of them:

• I won't hazard a guess as to the median age of the majority of visitors, but let's say many of them remember the Hoover administration with fondness
• There was much more English than German being spoken in the streets
• A small stuffed Dolphin in one of the souvenir shops was going for 30 Euros
• Restaurants had blackboards announcing their specials in Japanese and Korean
• The main drag has at least 10 souvenir shops that are essentially identical
• It was raining and the streets were still packed.

What was interesting is that literally 5 minutes out of town on the way back, everything was bone dry and we passed through no significant rain all the way back to Heidelberg. Either we left just as the rain did, or Rothenburg is still under the spell of some Medieval curse. Either way, we won't be going back until the tourist season is over.

Saturday night we went to a Brazilian restaurant in Mannheim, Casa de Palha (House of Straw). The place is simple but the food was great and the owners were very nice. We ordered some delicious "pasteis" as an appetizer. B and Sandra then ordered picanha, which was excellent. I bummed some rice, beans and meat from the girls as I wasn't that hungry.

We were more impressed with Mannheim. This city of about 300,000 residents has a reputation for being more industrial than many nearby cities. We thought it was beautiful. One of its best known landmarks is its gorgeous water tower. We liked it so much, we went back this morning as the SoCal weather had returned. However, less than an hour after arriving, Robert started complaining that he didn't feel well so we skedaddled. I'm looking forward to heading back to take some night shots of the water tower and neighboring fountains.
Finally, on a completely unrelated note, B bought stools for the kitchen soon after we moved here. At the time, I didn't think we needed them. They've turned out to be a huge hit with the kids, who like to watch folks walking by as they eat meals and snacks. I snapped these pictures of them in action the other day.