Chronicles: July 2008

Thursday, July 10, 2008

And What A Busy Weekend It Was....

As if a trip to Paris wasn't enough, I still had one day remaining in the long weekend that I decided to stay in country and utilize the USO for a tour to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. In German it means 'Rothenburg over the Tauber' with the Tauber being a river running beneath the plateau that the town sits. Stereotypically this is what I thought all German towns would look like: Cobble stone streets, half timbered houses, and stone walls and towers all around the city. Unfortunately that isnt true due to years of war and poverty however this town seemed to survive them all and is now one of the more popular toursit attractions in Germany. Legend has it that an imperial force led by Count Tilly seized the city in the 1600's. The town council begged the count not to destroy the city, and in turn the Count offered a way out. If anyone could drink the tankard (just under one gallon) of wine that was sitting before them in one swig he would spare the town. The mayor of Rothenburg took the challenge and was successful! The event is now celebrated every year and every hour during the day by the clock in the main hall re-enacting the event with little dolls.

The Town hall, in the center of Rothenburg

A figure symbolizing the towns mayor drinks his tankart of wine every hour during the day

We started the day with a brief tour by one of the townspeople. He showed us the lesser known parts of the town and also showed the mian attractions that we could visit the rest of the day. At lunch the group split up to see the town for ourselves and it took the rest of the afternoon to play around in the well preserved midieval town. After lunch I hiked up the tower of the town hall to get a great view of the city. Near the top it got awfully cramped as I had to crawl on my hands and knees to get out the door of the top. Once I was out there though I was glad I amde the climb.

The town hall tower, left

A view of the city from the tower

The Church of St. Jacob, with renovation scaffolding

After the tower climb The next big thing in the city was St. Jacob's Church, the largest in the city. It's claim to fame is a drop of Jesus's blood saved in a blood stone that is the centerpiece of a beautifully carved altar in the west part of the church. In the east end was another hand carved altr from the same guy. I liked his work...

One of the hand carved altars, the blood stone is in the center of the cross near the top

The rest of the day was spent wandering through the streets, poking my head into shops thinking about coming back here for Christmas gift shopping as well as trying all the food famously from Rothenburg (of course!) There was another museum I toured that was dedicated to Midieval Crime. It houses alot of the torture devices used and legal conditions back in the day. At last I moved to the outskirts of the Old town and found the wall that nearly surrounds the entire city. Still entact all these years I was able to climb one tower and walk the wall around the perimeter of the city!

The tower at the north side of town and the wall surrounding the city

The Moat!!

Koboldzellersteig and Spittalgasse streets split to form this famous view

FYI: Rothenburg was where 'Chitty Chitty Bang Bang' was filmed in 1968 and the inspiration for the village in Disney's 'Pinnochio'

Joyeux Anniversaire* USA!

*HAPPY BIRTHDAY*

The fourth of July weekend was the first long weekend that didn't sneak up on me so I made plans a couple weeks ago to hit the 'City of Lights' in a guided tour for a couple of days. I knew first off that I wasn't going to see everything but I wanted to get the lay of the land from a guide before I came here by myself.

We got picked up early Saturday morning and made the 5 huor drive to Paris and arrived early in the morning. We got bused around the city getting off in a few places to take pictures until coming to our first long stop at the Eiffel Tower ( Tour Eiffel ). Luckily our tour came with a group rate for climbing the tower and a fixed time that we could enter so we didn't have to wait in the 2+ hour line to get tickets. The rain dampened the day a little but the views from the tower of the city were amazing.

A corner post of the tower, with 1st deck and ground level

After getting about 2 hours to play around on the tower we then went and checked in to our hotel which was outside the heart of the city, which was better because we didn't have to fight any of the crowds or traffic. We got cleaned up and then got bused back into the city for our dinner and evening entertainment which was a guided tour boat through the city via the Seine River. The Seine runs right through the heart of Paris so we got a good look of downtown at sunset and even managed some awesome pictures!

Notre Dame de Paris at Sunset

The next morning we checked out of the hotel and headed for the suburb of Versailles to tour the Chateau de Versailles where Louis XIV reigned. He wanted a place to rule France by absolute personal rule. He chose Versailles and built it up to one of the biggest in the world. The tour went through the majority of the palace My favorite was the was the war room in which several paintings were hung depicting every war France had been in. These paintings line the walls for the entire length of the hall.

Chateau de Versailles

The hall with paintings lining the walls of all French battles

After the Palace tour we only had a few more hours left before we needed to start our journey home. The bus took us back to downtown Paris and I split up from the group to go see the Arc de Triomphe. IN the heart of the city. It was built by Napoleon to welcome home his troops from the wars. Under neath is a memorial from the 'Unknown Soldier from WWI; an eternal flame.

Yes this was taken from the middle of the street, yes I almost got hit

I met back up with the group who had tried to squeeze the few remaining hours hastily looking through the museums. Knowing I would need several hours just for the Louvre I decided not to rush it and save it for next time. After a long lunch we got back on the bus and headed back to Germany. On the way back I was thinking and making specific plans for the next time down. Paris has not seen the last of me!