Ansbach

After my morning coffee, I decided to take the train to the nearby city of Ansbach. Ansbach is not a large city, but certainly has more to offer than Rothenburg. Unfortunately, I forgot my watch, an imortant item since I was taking the train, so I walked back home to get it causing me to miss my 12:06 train. I caught the 1:06 instead and, after a change in Steinach, was in Ansbach before 2:00. The cost of a round-trip ticket for a destination 45 minutes away is $20!

My perception when dropping off the rental car and catching the train home, was that the bahnhof, train station, is near the old city of Ansbach, so I set off on foot. I quickly found shops to poke around in, including a book shop with a small selection of English titles of which I chose two. I stopped to visit a catholic church and then continued on through a gate and into the pedestrian zone. I found a number of shops with clothes which either fit or were very close to fitting, so I will have some options when I lose more weight. I didn't find anything I loved though.

Eventually I came to a bridge crossing a busy road. Curious to see where it lead, I was surprised to find a shopping mall directly on the far side of the bridge. Now this shopping mall is much smaller than a mall at home, having maybe 20 shops and another 10 fast food establishments. It had a few stores, again with some clothing choices for me, and better yet, a bookstore where I purchased two more books. Books are still hideously expensive, however I read an average of one every two days, so didn't feel a bit guilty for having bought 4 books on this expedition. I stopped for a bit in another church and took a few pictures before heading back toward the train station. I noticed a branch of my favorite coffee shop in Ansbach! I did stop at one more shop and bought an inexpensive purple t-shirt. Nearly everything I have now is black or white, so I though the addition of purple to my wardrobe would liven things up.

I backtracked and found the train station with no problem, but had nearly a hour's wait, as I had just missed the last train by 3 minutes, so I had some diet coke and a sandwich while I passed the time. A elderly fellow raised his beerglass to me on my way out of the cafe. Now, I am pretty flexible and will consider any nice ages 30-55, a 25 year spread, but the guy with the beer glass was 70 if he was a day. Definitely not my target audience, but I appreciated his greeting. Now that I am home, I notice that I am a bit foot sore. Crawling in bed tonight will feel heavenly. This day away has done a world of good for my spirits!