Rothenburg ob der Tauber

When we woke up today, it was rainy with some donnert & blitzen (thunder & lightning), which is evidentaly fairly unusual for Europe. This meant that a trip down the Rhine, as we had planned, was probably out of the question. Instead, we decided to shift one of the trips we had planned for next week to today: an excusurion to the old time city of Rothenburg. [Note: Rothenburg is not to be confused with Rothenbergen, where my Aunt and Uncle live; Rothenburg literally means 'Red Castle', while Rothenbergen is literally 'Red Mountains'.]

It was supposed take about an hour and a half to get to Rothenburg from Rothenbergen, but after about 20 minutes into our trip, we decided to take a more roundabout way of getting there instead of taking the direct route on the autobahn. The Deutchers have laid out a more scenic route from Frankfurt to München, dubbed the 'Romantiche Strasse', or Romantic Road, and we our best to follow this road all the way to Rothenburg. It was indeed a very beautiful and scenic route that wound through many small towns and villages, and though we had a few mishaps where we had to consult a map or turn around and go back a few kilometers, we finally made it Rothenburg. One thing discovered on the way there, however: those who have never visited the European countryside may look at an old-style map, where the cities are laid out and represented by circles of pictures of buildings that are fairly close together [example] and think that it is an exaggeration. In reality, traversing the European countryside is much like tracing your finger across that map; once you exit a small village, you can see the next one just across the small valley in front of you, sometimes just a football field away. In Germany, its always the red roofs you can see first, and giant clusters of them, with a church or two rising above the clay-colored mayhem.

The Rothenburg we visited was one of many Rothenburgs in Germany; the specific name of the city therefore is 'Rothenburg ob der Tauber', or 'Rothenburg on the Tauber [River]'. The heyday of the city, and the period much of the historical section of the city recalls, was from 1150 to 1400 A.D.; it was during this time that Rothenburg o.d.T. served as a strategic stop between northern and southern Europe and was one of Germany's biggest cities with a population of about 6,000. It is Deutchland's best preserved medieval walled town, and this is quite apparent to any and all visitors, of which there are many; the town today has about 2.5 million visitors a year, including many from abroad. (It is worth noting that many of these tourists are Japanese, as we can now attest. There were many places where German captions were translated to both English and Japanese.)

Armed only with Rick Steves' guide to Germany, we set out on the town. We enjoyed many of the sights recommended in the guide, including a excursion to the top of the tallest building in the town for a fantastic view of the town and surrounding countryside. We also paid a visit to St. Jakob's cathedral, which, despite charging admittance, was a worthwhile experience. It seemed that every crevice was extravagently decorated, and the stained glass windows and carved wooden altars were exquisite. I couldn't help but think that this was a far cry from the manger and the first crude altars, but the artisans that designed this cathedral were doing as much for the glory of God as anyone worshipping in the first century. These huge cathedrals are just so foreign in these modern times that its difficult for me to understand or connect them with worship.

After enjoying some tasty doner-kebabs, we headed for more historical sites, mostly around the city wall. We saw the old moat, climbed up and walked about a hundred feet along the wall ramparts, and even leaned over an intimidating 25-foot drop to the outside of the city. Jordan, Dad and Cammi reenacted the intro scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail, after which we all tried to avoid getting poisoned by the deadly smells in the herb-garden and old nunnery and convent. We went out the main gate of the city, where we learned that the actual 'red castle' that the city had been named after had once stood right outside the gate but had been destroyed in the 14th century, leaving only a chapel. With the castle gone, we were now offered a beautiful view of part of the city from a good distance, as well as a birds-eye view of a gorgeous valley with a stone bridge.

The medieval crime and punishment museum was our last stop before visiting some shops and heading home. It was an interesting look at justice, law enforcement, torture, and crime in Rothenburg's prime; portions were almost comical (like the hilarious Shame masks that evil-doers were forced to wear), but other parts were a somber look at the awful ways human beings can treat each other, like the thumb screws or the rack. As it was just noted to me, it made one glad that we live in the 21st century.

Now we're headed home for what we anticipate will be an appetizing abendessen couresy of Aunt Ingrid; tomorrow morning we set out bright and early for our 5-hour trip through the Deutch Alps and to Salzburg, Austria.