Day 69: Nürnberg to Bad Berka

Disclaimer: All voyages in this blog are being taken safely in the comfort of our imaginations - based on our plans and intentions for travel in 2020. What is reality after all? 

Today's drive was almost due north from Nürnberg to Bad Berka, though we made a small deviation to the town of Hof, on the banks of the Saale and close to the Czech border, to see another statue:

We're none the wiser, though wonder if it might have been a fountain in better days.  As we drove through Hof:

and past the St Marien church:

We noticed a Vietnamese pho restaurant:

with, oddly, a sign in English (even if mis-spelt):

We parked and went in, and found a menu in German, but still recognisable:

A very authentic pho bo tai each:

After lunch, as we passed from Bavaria into Thuringia, we made another deviation through the Naturpark Thüringer Schiefergebirge/Obere Saale, with a brief pause and stretch in the small town of Ziegenruck:

There seemed to be industrial monuments here, perhaps to hydroelectricity generation:

Then it was through Rudolstadt, where we'll return for the Festival this weekend, with its Schloss Heidecksburg above the town:

and on to Bad Berka, where we have stayed before. Again, our apartment is on the ground floor of this half-timbered building:

It has good spaces - a large lounge that leads onto a small courtyard:

a small kitchen:

and two bedrooms. This is ours, with windows onto the dead-end street:

and this is the second bedroom for Garry and his brother Lawrie, when they arrive tomorrow:

Of course, a shared bathroom, with a walk-in shower:

We bough provisions for our week here, and then walked the short distance over the Ilm, into the centre of Bad Berka:

Our favourite restaurant in town is the Restaurant Altes Brauhaus, on the banks of the Mühlgraben branch of the Ilm:

with an outdoor seating area:

The inside upstairs has been renovated a little since last we were here:

Dinner remains the same:

We've a day or more before the Rudolstadt Festival starts, so once Garry and Lawrie arrive, we might go to Weimar or Erfurt with them to have a look there first.