Today was always going to be an interesting day. We were attempting to navigate half of the romantic road in one day on public transportation in the winter! Not a small feat. I had been forwarned that public transportation was tricky along the romantic road and we knew we were being a bit adventurous in our plans. We wanted to get from Augsburg to Rothenburg ob der Tauber with at least a stop in Dinkelsbühl (which someone had recommended to us on the trip). 
We left Augsburg early and took the train to Nördlingen (we changed at Danausworth but only saw the station there). We had an hour walk around Nördlingen which was a nice little walled town before boarding the bus for Dinkelsbühl. There were only 2 buses that day so it was important we caught it. The local buses are very slow and stop in every single little town on the way but it's actually quite a good way to see the real Germany. 
Dinkelsbühl was awesome, a tiny little town surrounded by an ancient wall (and a frozen river!) with the cutest German houses and churches and townhall (Rathaus). It was like walking straight into a medieval city. I'm really pleased we made the effort to see it, there are far fewer tourists than the more popular Rothenburg and everyone was so nice, I even had a guy stop and ask if I needed help because he knew the information centre was closed. So friendly! At Dinkelsbühl we also visited the 3D museum which is a collection of crazy 3D illusions and holigrams and even a hommage to the good old viewmaster! A very wacky place and definitely something a bit different.
In the afternoon we left Dinkelsbühl to attempt our most complicated route of the day; multiple buses to get to Rothenburg for the night. We started out ok, waiting at the Dinkelsbühl bus station talking to some old German guy who didn't speak any English but who was determined to have a conversation with me. I managed to convey where we were from, where we were going and agreed with him that it was indeed cold. Beyond that I'm not sure of anything he said.
On the first bus the driver spoke some English and we told him the stop we wanted and another women on the bus was going there too and was going to let us know and then the old guy piped up and started to chatting to the driver in German about us and I'm pretty sure it went something like "these crazy kiwis are trying to get to Rothenburg and I don't think they know what they're doing".. or something along those lines because once we got to our stop (in Mooseweise, Feuchtwangen - yes really that is what is was called and you pronounce it moose-vise fuct-wang-in, well kinda with a german accent), anyway so once we got there the driver jumps out and says he is sure there is no direct bus to Rothenburg from there and he goes and talks to this van driver. Anyway long story short he tells us (remember this is all in very broken english) that the van will take us to another town where we can get a bus to Rothenburg. We were a little apprehensive especially since the driver looked like that stoner boss off That 70s Show, but there was another girl in what essentially looked like a taxi van and everyone in Germany had been so nice so far we figured it'd be alright.
We jumped in and ended up in some dinky little place in the middle of nowhere. He points us to a bus stop and leaves us there! I was just about to start freaking out about being in a tiny town in the middle of rural Germany with no idea where we were and no-one around to help when a bus pulls up with Rothenburg on the front. Yay! hehe It really turned out to be an adventurous day.
We arrived at Rothenburg ob der Tauber (full name I'll just call it Rothenburg) early evening and we walked into the old town to find our accommodation, a cosy four storey Pension with comfy beds and an old granny who didn't seem happy about us ringing the bell so late.Rothenburg is gorgeous, especially at night. Christmas lights galore, gorgeous buildings, old stone walls, cobblestone higgeldy streets and lit up shop windows with the most incredible array of Christmas things. It really was a Christmas paradise. We found a small restaurant serving traditional Bavarian food, I had noodles stuffed with meatloaf and served with egg and potato salad. It was delicious. We spent the rest of the night wondering through the town. There weren't too many others out because it was freezing which really enhanced our night walk.
We got to see the Rathaus clock show which depicts a drinking contest between a Catholic Colonel and the Protestant Mayor over the fate of the town. The Mayor drinking 1 1/2 litres of beer in one go is said to have saved the town from destruction. A cool story though the clock show was a little boring.. the window opens, the mayor drinks, the colonel watches and the window closes... all to the chime of a clock. 
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