The RV Week with Phil Kates and Friends (May 15 - 21, 2004)

Monday, May 17 - Day Three: Is this a movie set?

The next morning was a brilliant cool day, with castle turrets right across the highway from our rest stop. (Numerous rest stops in Europe!) We shook the cobwebs from our eyes and bodies, and went for some grocery re-supplies for our excursion through the old city of Rothemburg.

Fascinating - it felt like an authentic set for a medieval film. Every building was perfectly restored and maintained, but it was not just a museum village. That is an historical site/ town where all the people actually live. The latest date of a building I saw was from the 1500's. We walked the old turrets, strolled the moats and town/castle walls, and felt like we were completely in another era. As we got towards the center of town, where more car traffic was, it began to feel closer to modern times. Somehow the 20th century wars had not affected this place much.

We stopped at a great bakery to get some incredible bread for our picnic lunch fixings. And around mid-afternoon we meandered through passageways and a stairwell off the town wall into a garden and vineyard area. With a view of the valley and rolling hills beyond, we had our perfect picnic spot. Heavenly ... and we gorged on cheeses, meats, incredible breads, smoked trout, beverages, sweets, chips, and salsas 'til we could eat no more. The rest of our Rothemburg stay was strolling, shopping, and visiting the main 14th century cathedral in the center/top of town (important frescoes and altar scenes from the early Renaissance in southern Germany were there). On our way through the town hall square we saw Mark Gigliotti (co-principal bassoon); his wife, Holly (contrabassoon); and kids. They were road tripping through to Vienna as well, but in a much faster vehicle! After visiting with them briefly, some ice cream and coffee was grabbed, as Cory led us back through the city to our correct parking lot outside the city walls. What a memory he has! On to Vienna!

Our dilemma at the time was whether to try to stay at a campsite that night perhaps near Salzburg, or Linz, then drive the next day into Vienna or drive straight through to Vienna. Kim and Cory were ready for their Vienna hotel though, so we committed to making Vienna before going to sleep ... so we drove and drove ... and when we crossed the border into Austria, sang another (better) version of "Edelweiss."

At around 11 p.m. our snack approach to driving wore thin - we were ravenous. Soon we stopped at a rest stop past Linz - actually at the side of an exit ramp - and made a full dinner of rice, vegetable bean stew, fresh white asparagus, and salad and bread. While Phil cooked dinner, Kim, Cory, and I launched into a strange blues about a frog and his green skin - that was both funny and bizarre! Fortunately no frog legs for dinner. Cory also taught us a tune he had written - a striking melody in a kind of modern rock style groove - quite complex! Rob taught us a few rounds that he knew from his family past. (Beautiful 3 part rounds - striking!) By the time we finished the dishes and were through with discussions, stories, jokes, games, as well as songs, it was 1 a.m. We tore into Vienna two hours later looking for Kim and Cory's hotel - Hilton on the Danube. It was not an easy place to find as we rumbled and rambled through relatively calm Vienna streets at 3 a.m. We were tired! Finally we found it, got Kim up to her room, and decided to leave the snoozing Cory in his RV bed to stay with us buffoons for the rest of the night. We parked the RV in the hotel lot by the river and fell asleep like rocks.

Don Liuzzi, Principal Timpani