The cheapest places to stay are often around the railway station as most of you would know. They’re cheap because they are often in poor shape, they are 1-2 star, there is the noise of people coming and going, and anyone sleeping rough is seen to be a person to fear.

Well, not in Germany where we’ve been. They are in 5 star shape but 3 star, our experience is that Germans are not loudly expressive and there was the odd man sleeping rough who created no fear. In Wurzburg the station was always clean and the best croissants in town. Like the rest of the cities there was little use of noisy cleaning equipment, instead the owner of the store would pick up things like cigarette butts themselves.

The Bus Bahnhof was next to the Train Bahnhof so that is where we are heading for today. While waiting for our bus we met a Cameroon person who was on his way to join his wife and child. 

He was very quiet and attentive until we got on the bus. As he sat up the back we could here his now fast and highly expressive French as he was obviously not happy. At the same time an older woman fell up the bus stairs with money in one hand and mobile in the other while talking with the driver in a quiet voice. The German reputation for leaving on time was dwindling as women seem to be giving them a bad name. We were five minutes late again. 

We had arrived in Tauberbischofsheim and found the information office after a delightful pharmacist nearly took us there. She was a little quick in her explanations and we left with a patchwork map in our heads. We did find the path though but were lucky to find our way to another town fifteen kms away, as the signs weren’t clear. We were back in hilly territory and it was a tough afternoon with the backpack not working well with my back so we’ll try the old way again another time.

After giving the full rain attire a good workout today, we are assured that part works really well for us. A roller coaster ride today when directions didn’t seem to be right, but we got there because of our compass more than the signs. A little wet but still no evidence of real rain in Germany, I’ll keep you posted. We  arrived in Lauda but even the compass didn’t save us so the first car I have asked to stop did so.

I was going to say an elderly man got out, smiled and walked with us to a point where we could not go wrong with the directions. I called him an elderly man but he was younger than me, and I haven’t seen myself fitting that title yet, but one day…

A walk around this striking town was relaxing after the walk and I took some photos. One was similar to Berlin where people have gardens and maybe a shed and no house and I’m still unsure how they work. I took a photo of a street of them.