Day 45: Rest day in Esslingen

Today is the first of 2 rest days. After a leisurely breakfast with my mother, I walk "into town". My parents' house is in a district towards Schurwald, "on the mountain". The phrase was also explained to me in Frankfurt.

I walk to the marketplace, where today is actually market day (like every Wednesday and Saturday). Look at the half-timbered houses around it, look at the castle. Sit down in the town church of St. Dionys. A group with a city guide happens to come, so I can hear what she is saying. Under Emperor Friedrich II it was given to the cathedral chapter of Speyer, I never remembered it. It's probably also in the chronicles of Speyer somewhere, where I was just a few days ago... In any case, the people of Speyer rebuilt it in this form, and somehow it then came back into the ownership of the Free and Imperial City of Esslingen.

The town is full of half-timbered houses and houses the oldest known row of half-timbered houses in Germany, built in 1328-1331. Anyone who can be enthusiastic about something like this is in the right place in Esslingen. Likewise, if you like medieval markets. In Advent, there's really something going on here... What else is there? The oldest sparkling wine cellar in Germany (Kessler), where market visitors treat themselves to a glass before going home. The castle (hopefully more tomorrow), narrow streets, the old town hall, little Venice and and and

I'll be home before it rains, I'll be fed up and I'll take my bike for later. It has carried me reliably for more than 2,600 km and deserves care. The last one was in Hanover, so it was high time.