Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of Rick Steves favorite German cities, was pretty even on a cold winter day!  In which I forgot my hat. And Todd let me borrow his, which then he didn't have one.  Ain't he the greatest!? 

In typical Bailey fashion, we didn't get there until almost 11 (and it's only about an hour and a half away).  Rothenburg is on the edge of western Bavaria, near the border with Baden-Württemberg.  It's a walled city, and although it was founded in 1170, people had settled here several hundreds of years prior to that.  It's full of half timber buildings and the wall that surrounds the city is walkable with some great views.

 We went immediately to the Marktplatz and were greeted with the fun little Meistertrunk display which happens on the top of the hour.  (Well timed for once, Baileys!)  I love the story behind this guy who drinks his wine every hour.  Travelsignposts.com tells the story well:  "The setting is the Thirty Years’ War and after some bitter fighting, the Catholic imperial troops under Count Tilly had just taken control of Protestant Rothenburg. The town folk of Rothenburg did not give in easily and Count Tilly was enraged by their violent resistance. He gave orders for the town to be plundered and destroyed and for four of the town Councillors to be executed. Pleas for mercy fell on deaf ears and the Mayor was ordered to fetch the hangman.  Meanwhile, the count was offered the finest of Franconian wine served in a huge tankard which holds 3.25 liters. In jest, he promised to spare the town if one of its Councillors could down a full tankard of wine in one go. A former mayor, Bürgermeister Nusch took up the challenge and amazed Tilly by draining the tankard in ten minutes. Tilly kept his promise to spare the town, the folks of Rothenburg were jubilant and Mayor Nusch was said to have slept for the next three days."  So every hour, on the top of the hour, we all get to relive Mayor Nusch, drinking his 3.25 liters!

A treat that is popular in Rothenburg is something known as the Schneeball (Or snowball, in English).  Rick Steves wasn't a fan of this, but we all certainly liked it.  It's a round, very dry, kind of hard crunchy pastry that is covered in your choice of topping.  The traditional ones are covered in powdered sugar (hence the name schneeball), but you can get them covered in chocolate, nuts, or even with a bit of filling (I chose one with a vanilla filling).  They were pretty good, but it literally took us all day to eat them!  VERY messy too.  NOT for eating in the car or around hungry pigeons.

Natalie, Grant and I ate our schneeballs on the steps of the town hall!

Next we walked around the town, enjoying the architecture of the half timbered wood frame homes and buildings.   

  

We walked over to the Burggarten (or the Castle Garden) on the west side of Rothenburg.  This is looking southeast toward the southern section of Rothenburg.  You can see the Kobolzeller Church just behind the tree in the center.  There are some amazing views from up here, but it was very windy and cold, so we didn't spend too much time here (I will say it again- this is another town that will be so much fun to visit when it gets warmer!)

There's a small church (which wasn't open) called the Chapel of St. Blaise located in the Castle Gardens, with a memorial stone out front dedicated to the first mass murder of the Jews in Rothenburg in 1298.  They were burned to death by a group of angry residents.  There was an earthquake here in 1356, and while every other building in Staufer Castle (which had been located here) was destroyed, this building was renovated and turned into a church.  So basically it's a castle garden without a castle!

At the Burgator (or Castle Gate) entrance to the gate on the west side of the town, near the Burggarten.

 Walking back down the Herngasse toward the Marktplatz. I just love these buildings!

I had read some good things about the Deutches Weihnachtmuseum (basically a museum about this history of Christmas ornaments!) so we decided to swing in to get out of the cold for a bit.

Todd loves any kind of insanely creepy doll head Christmas ornament. Quite frankly, I'm surprised he didn't buy this.

And of course, we had to have a late lunch and play a game of Spot It! The inscription on the wall behind Natalie talks of Mayor Heinrich Toppler who was mayor between 1373 and 1408. I translated it to say (literally word for word): "Him the common man so nicely that when he him 30 or 40 citizens accompanied by the church came."   Toppler was a common man (as in he was not of the nobility) but he was wealthy and many considered him the "King of Rothenburg."

A Crime and Punishment museum right after lunch?  OK!  We got there right when it opened, as it's only open for a few hours in the afternoon on Saturday's in the winter.  I like to go to places like this with my kids and tell them I'm going to use these weird devices on them if they act up!

Sorry Todd.  You can't go any farther.  You're too tall for 1576.

Hey look!  It's a real Iron Maiden!  Yikes!  Hashtag not the band.

Please excuse me for being in the background of this picture.  Grant was just a wee bit short!  

Colorful buildings of Rothenberg. 

Todd in front of the most famous building in Rothenburg, the Plönlein.  The website Tourismus.rothenburg.de, says, "A narrow half-timbered building with a small fountain in front, it is framed by the Kobolzeller tower and the higher Siebers Tower, with lovingly restored townhouses to the right and left, creating a charmingly picturesque effect.The word “Plönlein” derives from the Latin “planum” meaning “flat square. 

In order to get back to our car, which was on the north side of the town, we decided to walk along the fortified medieval wall.  This is the view of the Kobolzeller Tower.  

Heading south along the wall (we went the wrong way!!)  You can literally look into the windows of people's homes or into their backyards.

 I spotted a couple of cuties along the medieval wall!  

On our way back, we had to get off of the wall at one point since we went the wrong way.  But thankfully we did because we spotted this really neat covered bridge! 

 

We finally made our way back to the wall near the Rödertor.  We also got to climb (for a small fee) Röder Tower which provided great views of Rothenburg.  I highly recommend climbing this tower, since there is a super friendly guy who takes the fee at the top (SUPER chatty, loves kids and does this as a volunteer job) and a great display about the bombing of Rothenburg during WWII.  While about 40% of the city was destroyed, the US Assistant Secretary of Defense wanted to spare Rothenburg, so he (through passed-down orders to the soldiers) cut a deal with the local military leader (who ignored orders from Hitler himself to defense the city at all cost!) and the city was mostly spared.  Job well done on preserving history, guys!  The city was quickly repaired using donations from all over the world.  Little plaques along the wall show all of the donatees and where they were from.

 Looking more north from the Röder Tower, you can really see the wall here!  Not long after as we got to our car, it started raining!  Until next time, Rothenberg!