Bavaria

Munich

Munich is the host of Oktoberfest, which is held every year during the end of September and beginning of October. This is a harvest festival, and it has lots of rides, food, and most of all lots of large beer tents on a huge site in the city of Munich.
There are also many other things to see, typical of any large city. One of the larger attractions in Munich is the Deutsches Museum, a large museum showcasing mostly science and technology. This museum alone could occupy a couple of days of your time.

The Medieval Crime and Punishment museum is an interesting place to visit. It's full of old instruments of torture and other related things. There are also other museums and things to do that could easily occupy a couple of days. Here's a couple of views of the city:

Here's part of the wall, seen from one of the wall's towers, and a view of a gate through the wall at the castle gardens. Most of the wall has a walkway at the top which you can follow around the town, and you can also hike down into the Tauber (river) valley to see a Double Bridge that was built in 1330, the 14th century fortified mayor's house, an old church and the river itself.

There's a market square in the center of town next to the town hall. The town hall has a tower you can climb. Here's a couple of views from the top, looking down onto the rooftops and to one of the town's many fountains. Going up the tower requires climbing up an old, creaky wooden staircase. You typically can't go places like this in the US, they've been closed for your "protection" by America's legal attitudes. Europeans don't have the freedom to sue that we do, and as a result don't feel the need to close everything up to protect themselves against lawsuits, or because the stairs are uneven or too steep, or because it doesn't have a fire escape, or because it isn't handicapped accessible. That's right, if you fall and hurt yourself it's your fault not the property owner's fault. You also don't see an enclosure to prevent people from falling or jumping, this is because there is none. Just a railing. It's a much nicer experience not to have to peek out through metal bars that are typical in the US, for example at the top of the Empire State building. So, paradoxically, in many ways they have more "freedom" than we do.

The Romantic Road (which passes through Rothenburg) follows a north-south route going through many other scenic, historic towns. South of Rothenburg there are more walled cities, Dinkelsbühl then Nordlingen.

You'll notice that these towns have well defined boundaries. Inside the town the houses are very close together. Outside the town there's absolutely no buildings. Even farmers usually live in the town. You'll often see tractors parked in the smaller towns, giving away where the farmers live. Between the towns there's nothing to slow you down. No intersecting roads, driveways, etc. And no reason for miles upon end of slow speed limits like where I live. This is common in Europe (some areas more-so than others). Comparing it with our suburban sprawl, I can definitely see advantages. Despite a high population, there's lots of unspoiled land and room for expansion. No hours per week wasted mowing a huge lawn that I never use for anything. And this is one reason why Europe's public transportation (buses, trains, etc.) work so much better than ours - there's enough people concentrated near the stops to support frequent service.

Churches

Further south, near Memmingen, is the Ottobeuren church. This church, shown here, is an excellent example of the baroque style.

A short distance north of Ulm is the freshly renovated, glistening white abbey church at Neresheim, sitting on a hillside above the town.

Another church, the Wies church northeast of Füssen (location of Neuschwanstein castle), is smaller but even more ornate than this.

Finally, don't forget the similar church at Zweifalten, not far southwest of here.

Continuing south, we finally reach the German Alps and the Austrian border