After Switzerland, we took the train up to Frankfurt just to pick up a rental car. This time, however, we had no intention of using it as a hotel room, thank goodness! Instead, we decided to ditch the train system again to get to that ever-elusive European “back door” Rick Steves keeps espousing. Before heading off to the nearby Rhein River Valley, we made like the birds and flew south down the Autobahn to the quaint medieval village of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.
With the car camping experience fresh in our minds, we decided to finally redeem one of our hotels.com rewards nights to “splurge” on a pricey room. We hit the jackpot with the King’s Suite in the Villa Mittermeier. Hands down, it was the most luxurious experience we’ve ever had in a hotel with outstanding customer service. Recommend.
We checked into the hotel early, and because of Charity’s mad research skills, we knew our hotel was across the street from the Old Town wall. Sweet. We threw our stuff down in the room, ooh’d and aah’d over the coolness in the room, and made for the wall.
Now, way back in the medieval day, when Munich and Frankfurt were just bumps in the road, Rothenburg was the second-largest city in Germany at a population of 6,000. It was the crossroads of two major trading and pilgrimage routes, so it prospered for hundreds of years. Then, in the 1600’s, a series of unfortunate events including the Thirty Years War and the bubonic Plague left Rothenburg devastated, and it effectively went to “sleep” for a couple of hundred years. During the age of Romanticism in the late 1800’s, artists and travelers stumbled upon the sleepy town, giving birth to its tourism industry which it has enjoyed ever since. So it is with this knowledge that we visited Rothenburg, and we heard from friends who had been that it was the best example of a medieval town.
We did a bunch of wandering right away, following Rick Steves’ trusty self-guided walking tour. There were some really cool sights including the tiny door for curfew breakers and the rampart walk during which you could pretend to be a sentry on patrol OK, maybe that’s just me. Inevitably, I thought of how many times sentries died in RPG sessions. Yeah, morbid.
To be sure, we liked Rothenburg a lot. It truly was a cute German medieval town, one we’re glad we added to our trip… that said, the whole experience could be so much better if they banned motorized vehicles (except for deliveries and shuttles) throughout the town center. Loved the fountains (even through none were fit for drinking), loved the historic buildings, loved the ramparts, heck we even loved the huge, cheesy Christmas store. Hated the traffic in the town. I mean, seriously. The Old Town is super tiny. Walking the ramparts around the whole thing– that’s only 1.5 miles. During the day, the town is overwhelmed with tourists dodging cars on crazy cobblestones in narrow alleys. The cars just detract from the experience.
On Rick’s recommendation and the main reason we wanted to overnight in Rothenburg, we wanted to take the Night Watchman’s tour that night. The English tour runs daily at 8pm, long after the day-trippers have disappeared, leaving the town quiet (well, but for that dang town bell) and relatively empty. We had awesome local cuisine for dinner (brats, kraut, and potatoes) and washed it all down with local beer and wine.
The tour itself was great, and we really enjoyed it. The guy who runs it is a good host, guide, and showman. His effected accent is fun, and he is full of random and historical tidbits about the city. If you’re ever in the area, you should check it out. Pretty cheap at 6 euros (you throw the money in his hat at the end, hehehe).
One story I particularly enjoyed involved the German occupation of Rothenburg near the end of World War II. The soldiers stationed there were ordered to fight to the death, and the Allies bombed the town, destroying large chunks. Knowing they would not give up the town, the Allied General ordered its total destruction. Luckily, the U.S. Assistant Secretary to War John McCloy, called off the general. The reason? McCloy’s mother had visited Rothenburg as a young woman and loved it so much, she brought home a painting of the town, a painting McCloy grew up with in the family home. On the German side, the Officer in Charge decided to commit treason and turned over the city without a fight. To rebuild, Rothenburg put out an SOS to the world. Since the end of WWII, people have been able to buy one meter spaces along the city ramparts, and we saw bricks from private citizens and companies alike spanning the decades. Neat.
So here are just a few of the many pics we snapped in town. Enjoy!
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