June 25th - Rothenburg

This morning we headed out to explore the town.  We first headed to the Criminal  Museum.

We saw this jail wagon and instantly thought of Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and the evil guy who abducted the children.

This place was filled with all kinds of torture equipment.

There were masks that you had to wear for humiliation depending on what your "crime" was.  Like talking to much, gossiping etc.

Thought of our friend Wing when we saw these Rosary Beads.  If you were caught sleeping in church you had to wear these.

They had chastity belts too.

The town has several  towers along the wall.

We walked the top of the wall that surrounds the city while it was raining.  

There are some great  sights to see from on top of the walls.  If you are tall make sure you watch your head there are some very hard and low spots.

If I were a child that lived in this town, I think I would be up on the wall all the time playing.

We also visited a lot of their shops.  This man is very talented at burning designs on wood.

Rothenburg is a very touristy town but it has so much character.  Every were you turn you can't help but want to take a picture.

The view from the gardens where the castle once stood are amazing.  

Of course Amanda had some fun with the knights.

 We visited St. Jacob's Church also called St. James Church on some maps.

You have to pay 2 Euros to be able to enter where you can see the alters carved by the famous wood carver Tielman Riemanschneider.  Who is known as the Michelangelo of wood carving.  I think it is worth the price.

 

Tonight we had dinner at Gasthof Goldener Greifen a restaurant that we looked up in Rick Steves' Germany guide,  which serves traditional German food.  Depending who you asked it was great to not so great for the same dish. The restaurant we ate at last night we found was also recommended by him.

On a recommendation from other American diners that were sitting close by.  Elaine, Fred and Roger all ordered the pork shoulder.  Amanda and I had soup.  The guys also ordered some doublebach beer, which I think is the best they have had so far.

After dinner we headed just across the street to the main square, where we waited for the Night Watchman tour.  There were 250 music (band & choir) students and chaperons from Kansas in the crowd.  We couldn't believe how many people showed up to do the tour.  It was a great tour, both informative and amusing.

A fact that we found very interesting is that the only reason the town was not destroyed during WWII is because a military person that had the power to stop the bombing had remembered a painting in his home that his mother had brought back with her from her visit in 1912 and had loved the town so much that  he also loved the town was able to contact a German Major that was left in charge for just a short time, and he urged him to surrender the city and the Major knowing that they were losing and that the war would soon be over went out and agreed to vacate the city, so because of that the city was not totally destroyed but only 40%.