Rothenburg

The town is beautiful – it was destroyed in many parts during WWII and when they rebuilt it, they did so in the original medieval style.  The buildings are all timber with red rooves.  The town square is bordered by the Rathaus (Town Hall), which houses three mayors and several councillors.  The Gothic part was built about 1375, and the Renaissance wing between 1572 and 1578 to replace one struck by lightning and burnt down in 1501.  The north side of the square is bordered by the Ratstrinkstube (Councillor’s Drinking Room), the meeting place for those who controlled the government of the town.  It has an astronomical clock, dating from 1683, with a window on either side – when the hour strikes the windows open and the Meistertrunk (Master-Drink) appears in each to acknowledge the crowd.

Rothenburg has a population of around 12,000 and have about 2.5 million visitors every year. There are many stalls around Rothenburg selling Christmas decorations and gluwein.   We visit a very popular Christmas shop, which costs you Euro 1 to walk in the door – but it is amazing. (You get the money back with a purchase!)

After returning to our hotel to don more clothes (!) – it is constantly snowing – sometimes the odd flake, other times quite heavy, always very beautiful – we join a walking tour for 4 euro each. 

Martin takes us through the township pointing out important features – the “Rote Burg” (Red Castle), which stood outside the city boundaries is now just a few ruins.  The “Baker’s Baptism”, a timber cage that was used as a torture device for the local baker if he did not bake his bread to the correct consistency– he would be placed into the cage which was then submersed into water until no bubbles came to the surface – if he survived that they would let him go!

We were back in the room by 4pm where everybody promptly fell asleep! It’s 1am and the girls are still fast asleep!!