11 March: Neckar Valley Drive

It was an unseasonably warm, sunny day, so we put the top down on the SLK for the first time since I picked it up in November and went for a drive north along the Neckar River. I went about 200 kph on the Autobahn, which is about as fast as one can comfortably go in a convertible (the wind noise made conversation rather difficult). We passed Bad Wimpfen and Burg Guttenberg and then came upon Burg Hornberg (pictured above left), which I’ve been meaning to visit for some time now. We didn’t have time to stop today, but we admired its terraced vineyards and peaked towers from the valley floor. From there we left the river andheaded to the picturesque town of Mosbach, where we stopped for a short stroll around the pretty market square. We admired the 17^th-century Palm’sches Haus (above right), with its intricate half-timbered walls, and walked through the shopping district, which was crowded with other Sunday strollers. John drove on the way back and I navigated us on country roads through an endless series of small villages, all the way back to Stuttgart.