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'