Ready to Relax in Rothenburg- Really!
Of course we were up bright and early for the bus. It was hard to leave Bacharach, but I was excited to see Rothenburg. The drive was about 3 1/2 hours with a rest stop somewhere along the line (I bought toothpaste, Pringles and lots of chocolate- you know, the essentials).
Kudos to Little Ricky (my nickname for our bus driver, Richard). He did a marvelous job of squeezing our big bus into some really little places without making it seem difficult. At one point Dimitri had to get out to help navigate thru a small tunnel at the entrance of the town.
Rothenburg is a tiny, storybook village hidden behind medieval walls and defense towers (Klingentorturm). This charming place was heavily damaged by bombing during WW2 and was, in fact, due to be completely destroyed when allied forces came in to drive out Hitler's Army. Fortunately, an American general, with personal ties to the village, was able to get permission to stop the destruction and found another way to get the Nazis out.
The community still had to find a way to rebuild their heavily damaged town and they had no money. They ended up putting ads in newspapers all around the world, telling people about their town and offering to personalize a plaque and display it for anybody offering a certain dollar amount. Money poured in and Rothenburg was able to rebuild, keeping the beauty and charm that made it so appealing. You can walk the walls around the village and see all of the donation plaques- including one from The Rickster himself. These days tourism keeps it alive. It's VERY touristy, but don't let that stop you from going there or wanting to go there. Some places are touristy for a good reason. Rothenburg is on my list of places to revisit. The Rickster wouldn't steer you wrong- and neither would I!
The only negative thing to say about our stay at the Goldener Hirsch Hotel is that we only stayed one night. In my personal opinion, I think the 21 BOE tour should become the 22 day BOE tour with an unscheduled 2nd day in Rothenburg. There was so much more I wanted to do there- and such a lovely hotel needs a few hours just to be enjoyed instead of merely a pit stop. I would have loved a day to just laze- sleep in and wake up and just stare at my pretty room, sit in the main square and just people watch and explore the shops and then wander the town walls in the evening before the sun sets- then I'd spend the night in Hell- the local bar!
My room was gorgeous. At all of our hotels so far, each room has been unique. All of the hotels are full of character.
By the way, as soon as I saw the pool table I was excited. I challenged Dimitri to an after supper game of pool. He quickly accepted the challenge and said something sweet- about kicking my butt. That's just talkin' smack! Challenge on!
My room was gorgeous. At all of our hotels so far, each room has been unique. All of the hotels are full of character.
By the way, as soon as I saw the pool table I was excited. I challenged Dimitri to an after supper game of pool. He quickly accepted the challenge and said something sweet- about kicking my butt. That's just talkin' smack! Challenge on!
Home Happy Home~ The Goldener Hirsch
Dimitri gave us a tour of the town and explained where everything was located and how to get back to our hotel. After refreshing our memories as to our itinerary, he made sure we all knew how to get to where we were going and then turned us loose on Rothenburg.
My first stop was the Backerei for lunch. I had to try the local dessert specialty- sneeballen. You can get different flavors- I had one coated in powdered sugar. It was ok- a bit plain for me. Then I had a pretzel and a bottle of water. I learned from some tourmates later that a drink was required in order to be allowed to sit inside to eat!
After lunch I found a quaint little art shop, hoping to find an inexpensive bit of art from Germany (and I did). What I didn't expect to find were three drawings, obviously done by a young child named Jacob (Yok-ob). The shop owned explained to me that Jacob is her grandson, who is 8 years old. He wants to be an artist, AND he wants to earn money for ice cream. So he drew three pictures, two of one of Rothenburg's towers and another of a horse. He was asking 1 Euro for each drawing (with the Euro sign drawn adorably backwards) and he even had a little envelope under his work with his name on it for people to put money in for him. How could I pass up this incredible opportunity to invest in a new young artist? How could I deny Jacob his ice cream? I couldn't. SO I bought one of his drawings and put my Euro in his envelope. Then I told Joe, Julie and Dimitri, who I found across the street having a snack. Julie promptly said she needed to buy a Jacob original too. I think Jacob was probably a very happy little boy when his grandma told him the news.
I was excited to visit the Crime and Punishment Museum. It was fun to see the shame masks and other weird things- but scary to think they were really used!
St Jakobskirche is a Lutheran Church that was built between 1311 and 1484. It was consecrated in 1485 by the Bishop of Würzburg. It contains the beautiful and famous Holy Blood wooden altarpiece, carved by Tilman Riemenschneider between 1500-1505.
Der Meistertrunk~ The Master Draught
Me in the main square. On the hour the two side windows (on either side of the clock) open up to show the "wicked Catholic", Count Tilly, (who wanted to pillage and plunder the town), and the beloved Protestant Burgermeister Nusch drinking his 3 1/4 liters of Franconian wine. According to legend, Tilly promised to spare the town if Nusch could drink it all in one go. The Burgermeister drank the ale in less than ten minutes, saved the town- and then slept for the next three days! Of course, this is legend- it's never been proved. True or not, it's a great story!
Relishing Ravishing Rothenburg
Birthday Bash Brings Bright Delight
Dimitri took us to a group dinner at a local restaurant. He also ended up being my dinner date, as we were the last two to sit and it was a table for two. We had a delicious meal of salad, schnitzel (breaded chicken), REAL potato salad (tastes nothing like I've had in the U.S. It was cold potatoes in a very mild sauce- quite good. We had wine to drink and ice cream for dessert. One of our tour mates, Chris, had snuck her birthday by everybody the day before. Dimitri found out and had a special dessert delivered to her table, topped with a sparkler, while we all sang Happy Birthday.
Wandering Watchman Was Wonderful
The Night Watchman was a person I was very excited to meet. Having seen him on The Rickster's travelogue, I knew his tour was a must see event! Sure enough, before 8PM a big crowd showed up to take his tour of the quaint little town. He is known (by day) as Hans-Georg Baumgartner. He has been Rothenburg's Night Watchman for 25 years now after answering an ad in the newspaper. And while history might mark the job of the Night Watchman as quite lowly, this tour was popular, informative, interesting and absolutely hilarious!
Goofy Guide Gives Guff
True to his word, Dimitri met me for a couple of games of pool. Once again, he showed NO MERCY and kicked my bootie.
Gute nacht!
(goot ah knockt/good night)
(goot ah knockt/good night)