We stopped on Saturday in the interesting old university town of Tuebingen, near Stuttgart. The editor of “German Life” magazine had asked me to take several photographs of the town to support an article in an upcoming issue. I’d been in Tuebingen about a month ago but got shut down by rain. Today, no rain in sight as we drive from Rothenburg under sunny skies and a steadily upward creeping thermometer. It was about 84 and very muggy by the time we got to Tuebingen at 11.
This well-preserved town is worth a visit. The marketplace was humming with activity with a big Farmer’s
Market offering everything from the white asparagus so popular at this time of the year to raspberries, strawberries, flowers and other fruits and vegatables. There were also bread stands, sausages and meats, cheeses and lucky for us, a fellow selling ciabatta with salami and cheese. It ended up being our lunch.
I hurried around town taking photos as the storm clouds built in the west and thunder started to roll. We climbed to the top of the Collegiate Church tower, all 180 steps, for the view and some photos before the light started to fade. A stop at an outdoor restaurant overlooking the marketplace was more to wet the throat with a cold beer than anything, but hungry, I took a chance and ordered a large salad with turkey breast. Note to visitors to Europe – never, ever eat at a place that sits right on the marketplace of any town. The food and service is going to be rotten. So there we were, at our table overlooking the marketplace waiting and waiting for our salad. Those around us were also getting anxious as the sky got darker and darker. Finally we reached the point of no return. The waiter was inside. I dug out the appropriate change and we scurried off through the busy marketsquare, heading for our van which was in a garage a few blocks away. The sandwich was grabbed as the wind started to pick up and the scent of rain filled the air. We just made it to the van as the heavy drops started to fall. Later we heard it hailed in the southern Black Forest and that there were flooded roads and accidents because of the storm.
