Saturday, June 27, 2015

The European Trip, Day 21 - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, the name means Red Roofed Fortress on the Tauber river.  One of the best preserved medieval walled towns in Germany, its one of our favorite destinations.

We left Nuremberg after lunch yesterday and made it into town by mid-afternoon.  Drove right through one of the town's main cobblestone roads all the way to the other side where the old wall stopped us.  It was right there that the Hotel Burg was located.  We got settled into an apartment across the street from the hotel in the best lodgings we've had so far.

 view of Rothenburg from the Burggarten



While I worked, Martha and Miles went shopping in the old part of town which was just a couple of long blocks away.  Patrick relaxed in his bedroom (Miles picked the spare bedroom/closet) and was as happy as a pig in mud:



Photo by Miles

At the town center
photo by Martha

During a break from work, I walked over to the nearby wall portion near where the castle used to be; hence the name Burg Hotel since it used to be near the Burg itself.

One of the several gates into the town, very easy to defend of course
against the weapons of the day

The inner gate, note the "face" on 
top of the wall, from there hot boiling
oil would be poured onto invaders
that were trapped between the outer
gate and the inner gate.


After dinner, it was time to stroll about the town for a bit.
This is the Marktplatz and center of town.

From the town center, we wandered over to the spot where almost 20 years ago, Martha and I posed by a very popular spot for this picture:

1996

Then and Now, Day and Night....
2015

The town is quiet and enjoyable to walk about in at night

Of course, the next morning, today, while the boys slept on, we made our way back to the same spot after a bit of breakfast. The weather was solid overcast and gray, with a light rain falling.  Ah, Germany.

Apple Strudel



Martha and I decided then to walk through a portion of the walkway built onto the town's wall, en route to the one of the steps leading up to the wall, we saw eyes watching us:


A very pretty town to walk through, Rothenburg....

Approaching one of the main gates of the town
you can see the steps on the side
leading to the wall ramparts.

Between the inner and outer gates

Same gate as above, but from the outside of the town.

Climbing steps up to the wall ramparts

The town walls and the ramparts



Saint Jakob's Church

The weather is dictating an earlier than planned departure from Rothenburg, next stop: Heidelberg!

3 comments:

SonjaM said...

Rothenburg o.d. Tauber is a medieval gem, and thankfully spared by bombing.

It has a very nice torture museum. (that, for some reason doesn't sound right). Well, it is definitely interesting.

redlegsrides said...

It's a great little town SonjaM, like a window into the past. As to the museum, Ich Verstehen!

It's too bad the boys were museum'ed out by the time we got to Rothenburg though, it would have been (in their minds) torture to make them see the exhibits I think. :)

ToadMama said...

I can see why you enjoyed Rothenburg. More then and now pics. Very cool. There's just something about those medeival cities. I'll have to add this one to my list. We REALLY need to spend a couple of weeks touring Germany.