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Continued in Oldenburg - the evening of 16.3.60

Sitting on a bunk bed in a cool (unheated) youth hostel, having just finished a very
pleasant, leisurely meal in a nearby Gastätte (small restaurant - beer hall).

Anyway - back to Rothenburg. It was a lovely sunny day, and we strolled down the
narrow streets, saw the Rathaus (city hall), went into one of the churches (which had two
beautiful wood carved altar pieces - about 1500, in the German renaissance), stopped by the
walls to look out over the river and valley. Then at dusk we found a small wood paneled
gastette, had dinner by candlelight.

The next morning we took off about 8AM on our bikes, rode along the Tauber to
Creglingen. This was a particularly beautiful stretch, with the river in the base of a
valley, clutivated hills rising on both sides, little villages every couple of miles, etc. We
stopped about 9:30 on the bank to eat breakfast (a sandwich, 2 eggs, slice of meat, piece of
raisin cake given us by Frau Krauter, orange and water), watched a flock of ducks
swim by (the river was about 20-30 ft wide, moved very slow and glassy smooth).
About this time the sun broke through the morning fog and it was quite peaceful
and lovely; and on the hills behind us farmers followed their horses, or walked about
spreading fertilizer, farming much as they have for centuries before.

In Creglingen we caught a train for Wurzburg - a little old one with ancient cars
with wood seats, almost empty of people so that the conductor had time to drop by
and chat with us, find out where we were from, etc. He said we were the first bike
travelers of the season, and most people say it's too early in the year; but so far our
luck has been pretty good - almost all sunny weather, only cold since Hannover.
We had only a couple of hours to ride around in Würzburg - too bad because it is
a very interesting old city - university and former bishop's seat. We spent most of our
time at the Marienburg castle, on a high bluff, with a fine view of the town and its
many church steeples. Then on the train again, on to Hannover for the night in
the youth hostel.

Up yesterday morning and right off to the railroad station to go to Hamburg. [We're?]
trying mostly in these few days to cover mileage in moving northward, so sightseeing
took a second seat in the large cities especially. In Hamburg I had time to wander
around for the afternoon, but chose instead to write a letter, take a shower, wash a
few clothes, etc, sort of a day off from traveling. The hostel there is very large
(400 beds) and new, on a hill above the harbor. This is a fine location, for the
Hamburg harbor is huge, much larger than any other I've ever seen, and bustles
with activity, day and night. The great dock cranes are as thick as TV antennae
on Los Angeles rooftops, and there are ships of all sizes loading, unloading or moving
on. The city itself is sort of sooty, industrial, with a sort of smoky haze even under blue
skies. This seems to be true of most north German cities. (Hannover, Bremen,
Oldenburg too), in sharp contrast to Stuttgart or München in the south.

Well, we're rising early in the morning for a long day of biking - hope to make
over 100 km., which is far more than we've done on any previously. The time we save
now will come in very handy going up the Rhine or wandering in Holland, so it's worth
the effort. Hope everybody's well and happy, and I'm eager to get to Amsterdam
and the "mail box".

Love,
George

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