Delayed Male Post:

Pardon the bloggus interruptus—I blame the Esposa.

So when we left off we were staying @ Casa Doris in Bessenbach, which was the Lap of Luxury and difficult to leave.  See for yourself:

Beautiful house

Beautiful gardens

Pamela also wanted to include a photo of these ubiquitous little German plumbing items. We failed to photograph them at Doris', but you get the idea...

I think it's a washer and dryer

Early into our stay, we met up with Doris' friends, Adolf and Christine, who gave us a great tour of downtown Frankfurt, including the Dom, main plaza, Opera House, and Goethe's house.  They were gracious hosts and went way out of their way to provide us with copious information about Frankfurt.

The iPad decided on b&w for this one...

Main Plaza

Shopping street decor. I didn't take this!

Opera House

Frankfurt is a financial center—look out, London.

Paulo and Adolfo

Christine and  Doris

"Grey Bus" memorial to the "mentally unfit" who were taken away in them, windows covered, by you-know-who.

Catholics on a wall

And before we left Bessenbach, we visited Michael Pohl's (an amigo grande from Vallarta) brother-in-law Carlos and his esposa Sonja, who teach school there.  Extremely engaging and energetic family:

Pamela, Sonja, Doris, Carlos, and my beer

Carlos and hijos, on Pinche Miguel's BMW 1150 GS

In my dreams

At some point it became necessary to stop mooching, rent a car, and start our journey down the "Romantic Road" that winds down into Bavaria from Würzburg to Füssen, southwest of Munich.  Our car (a Mazda) was too high-tech for us—it had no key (started and stopped by push-button), we couldn't lock the trunk, and found out how to work the GPS and stereo only on our last day.  (You must fire everything up before driving, and only after you "Agree" with the dashboard that 'Distracted driving is dangerous.'  Crypto-fascists.)

No photos of that fkg car.  Next time, we'll rent something simpler.  Maybe a donkey.

Todd & Tracy Walker's goat and donkey, who were rescued from the Napa fires