The Little Medieval Town of Rothenburg

Yesterday morning, we caught the train from Prague at 6am (we left the apartment at 5am). We arrived At the station early enough to get breakfast and snag our own compartment. We ate a little bit and then drew the curtains and pretended to sleep on the seats until the train started, so we successfully had the compartment to ourselves the whole trip! Which was great, because we could spread out and sleep for 3.5 hours, instead of sit up, elbow to elbow with other passengers. We took four more trains to get to Rothenburg and all in all, it was a good travel day with no mishaps! We arrived in Rothenburg around one and immediately took to the town -- beautiful and quaint. We checked into our Pension at the family grocery store and took a breather before exploring taking our habitual walking tour of the town (an we needed food, so we got Doner on Caitlin Panis' reccomendation. Warm, cheap and SO FILLING, it was a good choice for a cold day). As we walked, the first thing I noticed was the intracate metal signs hanging next to every store. I want one! Each one is personalized to the nature of the store (flowers decorate some, wine barrels decorate others). Rothenburg is an incredibly well preserved medieval town and it was like walking through one of my favorite books (well, plus tourists). It was also fun to learn about Rothenburg itself, which was a powerful city in its day. After leisurely making a circuit of the town, it started to rain, so we took refuge in a bakery (German pretzels and lattes...yum). Rothenburg is famous for shopping, so we decide to explore the legendary Christmas stores. Oh. My. Gosh. Walking into Kathe Wohlfahrt was like walking into "It's a Small World" at Christmastime. I see where disney gets its inspiration! The store was a never ending collection of ornaments, wood carvings, trees, decorations of all sorts, table cloths, doilies and everything you could think of. It took extraordinary strength for me to spend under $5 in that store (well, and I think my mother would not be happy if I brought home MORE Christmas decorations... We have a ton). We wandered to and fro, looking at all the shops and enjoying the ambience of this small town. It had stopped raining, but the wind was freezing --" is it July? Is this normal?" Kelly and I kept musing as we tried to keep warm. We went back to our room to rest a little while (waking up at 4:30am really takes it out of you) and once we were inside, the rain just poured. We thought it had rained itself out as we walked to our 8pm tour, but alas, it started raining again ten minutes into it. This tour was the "Nightwatchan Tour." A man dressed up as a medieval night watchman of Rothenburg and takes a group on a walking tour of the town while regaling them with stories of the town. It was a fantastic tour even in the rain. The nightwatchman looks like a German Gene Wilder and he had a lovely sense of humor and many interesting facts about the town. He also wore a large black cloak, and hat, while carrying a latern and medieval weapon (all characteristic of a medieval nightwatchman). In olden times, there would have been four nightwatchman who would have paced the walls, made sure every house's door was locked and roused the town if there was a fire. We learned about Rothenburg's power and self-sufficiency in medieval times. They had an incredibly good defense system (also walled in on a cliff) and trade came through from north to south and east to west. Although the neighboring towns constantly picked fights with Rothenburg, the little town always won. Rothenburg wasn't conquered until the 30 year war -- and only because an army of 40,000 needed a place to rest due to rain. Rothenburg fought well, but ultimately failed because they were outnumbered and ran out of gunpowder because one of their own accidentally blew up their supply (and the tower it was in). From that point on, the city was frozen in time due to poverty, which is why it is so well preserved -- they were too poor to modernize. Then, tourists discovered the town in the late 19th century and the town grew prosperous once again, because of tourism. We walked through the rain and passed a pub called "hell" in German. He recommended going there sometime, but tonight it was closed, "Even hell is closed on Sundays." My favorite story was about Rothenburg in WWII. Rothenburg is close to Nurnberg, and a group of Nazi troops took refuge in the town. American forces had orders to bomb Rothenburg, but luckily it was a foggy day and they missed the center. Unfortunately, they also didn't hit their target and orders were issued to bomb the entire town. An American general heard this news (whose name I cannot remember) and although he had never been to Rothenburg personally, his mother had and there was a painting of the town in their home. As a child, he had grown up hearing stories of this beautiful place and the beloved painting. He had the power to stop the order and give Rothenburg the chance to surrender. Luckily the Nazi general was out of town and another man of rank was in charge. This man bravely (he could have been killed for this decision) pulled the troops out of Rothenburg and surrendered the town to allied forces. So, a German and an American saved a beautiful medieval town from being destroyed. After our tour (still raining), we took shelter in a restaurant and had hot soup, tea and apfelkuchen. Our waiter was born in West Covina. . . It was funny. We walked back to our room and had a nice, relaxed rest of the evening. This morning, we woke up, packed and went to our Pension's breakfast (a delicious German Buffet of rolls, cheeses, cold-cuts of meat, and fruit). Then we said goodbye to Rothenberg by walking the medieval walls (still standing). Barely any tourists were on the walls, and it was a lovely way to spend a morning -- gorgeous views too. Now we are on the train to Bacharach. Well, we're on our 3rd train of the five we're taking today. Kelly and I are realllly hoping that it's not raining there. We have a bike ride planned for tomorrow and refuse to be thwarted!
Wiedersehen!