The very tall pole is decorated with silhouettes of Cham tradespeople at their work Cham maypole

Our train from Augsburg was an old-fashioned train with an aisle down one side and a lot of six-person compartments on the other side, because it was on the Czech Republic railroad system which would later take us to Prague.

We rode with a man and an old lady and a nun to Regensburg and then in Schwandorf a bunch of college kids got on and asked if it was OK to cram into our compartment and we said Sure but would they help us get the suitcases down and they said yes. They were going to Prague with their art history teacher. We told them we'd see them in Prague on Wednesday. A nest platform has been built on a roof peak and the stork is standing in the nest. Historic Cham stork

We got off in Cham and Bob wrestled the suitcases down the stairs and up the stairs and we walked and walked and lost our way but eventually got helped out to the Hotel Randsbergerhof.

Cham is in the northwest corner of the Bavarian Wald (Forest) which is a popular outdoor destination; most visitors come by car.

After we settled in, we found our way to the visitor information center. The street we walked on seemed to have one garage after another, and then some construction work. We went into the tourist office where the girl was talking to her boyfriend. We learned that both museums are closed on Tuesday, and there More elaborate than homemade little free libraries, this is a large metal and glass case with five full shelves of books, but the principle of freely take and return books is still the same Offentlicher Bucherschrank is a bus that has one stop in town and eventually gets to the RR station. We were beginning to think that Cham had little charm.

But then it all happened - Bam! Bam! Bam! Bam! four experiences of serendipity in a row!!!!

The first was Bob spotted a stork in a stork nest feeding the babies and took a picture and then we found a display that told all about the storks who have been coming since the early 18th century. Serendipity number 1.

Then we rounded the corner into the long Marketplatz and Wow! There was a huge tall May pole with The elaborate pulpit is made from two colors of marble, grey and taupe, richly decorated with carvings and gilt Pulpit in parish church lots of symbolism, which we discovered is left up all year. Serendipity number 2.

The third surprse was a rollicking sculpture with water pouring and spouting all over the place, a wonderful fountain (oh, by the way we forgot to mention the nifty modern water fountain along the road from the bahnhof to the hotel.) Serendiptiy number 3.

And the last piece of serendipity was the little free library erected by the Cham Public Library in a nice glassed-in cabinet in the market plaza, north of the fountain, with lots of books to borrow, take, or leave. In German it was called an Offentlicher Budherschrank. Serendipity No. 4. The statue is painted bronze; the soldier wears a black cap, black jacket with gold insignia, black boots, and white breeches, and is sitting on the stone wall.  Bob sits next to him, looking up Old soldier sculpture

On our second day in Cham, we found a beautiful church to explore. It was the so-called Pfarrkirche St Jakob, or parish church, which was a full-up Roman Catholic church in the high baroque style, started in 1210 but many times restored, with most of the exterior dating to the 18th century, and the interior to the late 19th century. The ceiling painting was terrific, as were the gilt curlicues all over the place.

Walking around a town center, even for one or two days, teaches us something about the rhythms of life there. Buildings are being restored, the mail is delivered (everywhere we visited) by sturdy women on bicycles, and ice cream is for sale in many places. Unhurried, friendly, unexciting -- it feels like we had traveled back to an earlier, calmer time (no pun intended).