20,000 Leagues Under The Seas

 I am in Spain to do a food tour with Culinary Backstreets. Culinary Backstreets is a company that does food tours all around the world. This particular food tour is in Galicia (said Ga-lee-thee-a). Galicia is an area in northwest Spain and known for it's seafood, Albarino wine and bagpipes.

Barcelona Baby!!

 My hotel, the Petit Palace Boqueria Garden is a boutique hotel located only a couple of steps away from La Rambla, the most well-known street in Barcelona. La Rambla is a pedestrian street that is very popular with the tourists. There are restaurants, souvenir shops and those people who dress up as statues and do not move hoping for some Euros to be thrown their way. Turn your back on La Rambla and you are in the Gothic Quarter, with many small streets opening into squares. It is like a labyrinth, easy to get lost in. Ask me how I know!

And Finally Nuremberg

 **** Note: Usually my blogs are, at the most, only about a week or two behind. This one is probably my personal best(worst?) blog slacker record. I mean what is a measly three months among friends?

The time has come to leave our ship. We have landed in Nuremberg. We were not only leaving the ship, but we were also leaving our new friends. After gathering our belongings and saying our goodbyes, we were shuttled to our VRBO in a suburb of Nuremberg where we spent a few days. 

Bam, Bam, Bamberg

 Bamberg, a town in Bavaria, is another town cited as one of Germany's most beautiful towns. In Bamberg's case and based on my rather limited knowledge of most of Germany's towns, I would say that Bamberg does live up to it's reputation. It doesn't hurt that the old town of Bamberg has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1993. Bamberg is known for it's medieval streets and buildings.

Do Something Every Day That Scares You!

 Another day, another German Medieval Town. Rothenburg ob der Tauber (hereafter called plain old Rothenburg) is one of Bavaria's top tourist destination. It is one of only three towns in Germany that still have completely intact city walls and many people consider it to be the best-preserved medieval town in Europe. The Nazis called Rothenburg “the most German of German towns” and when the Americans arrived, the order was given not to use artillery during the taking of the town because of it's history and beauty. It also has one of my personally most scariest times on this trip.

Wertheim

 

Traveling the three rivers, many sights are seen.  The rivers have been dammed (they have dams on them) and as a consequence the rivers have been tamed.  Instead of rapids and waterfalls, there are many different water levels.  Nowadays, to navigate these waters, a ship has to go thru an extensive lock system.  I'm not sure of the exact number of locks that we went thru but the number 52 sticks in my brain.  The locks are extremely narrow, and when we are in the locks, there are only a few inches on each side of the ship. For safety reasons, we were told that we should not touch the sides of the locks.

The Man Who Changed The World

 

While Michael and Marina decided to do the Gondola ride overlooking the vineyards and Rudesheim, I opted for the Mainz Walking Tour. Mainz is another ancient Roman city but it is also the birthplace of one of the most important men in our world's history.