Rothenburg

Martin, Eva, Emma, Verena, and Eve came over and ate breakfast with us this morning (the German's have an actual non-cumbersome verb that means "to eat breakfast" and I am rather jealous). Afterwards, Ingrid, Verena, Eve, and I all went to Rothenburg (technically "Rothenburg ob der Tauber") for the day. I'd been to Rothenburg before, but it's one of those places that you just have to go to if you are in the area. Rothenburg is equally famous for the medieval mayor who drank 3.25 liters of wine in a single go (and then slept for three days) to stop an invasion during the Thirty-Years War as it is for Käthe Wohlfahrt's two world-famous Christmas stores.

Mostly due to a lull in population growth towards the end of the 17th century and conservative allied bombardment during the Second World War, Rothenburg has been able to preserve or restore almost all of its inner-city area to its 17th century state. In fact, this entire area is still surrounded by the original city walls. If one so desires (which I did), they can take a long walk along the top of the wall, all the way around the city center. I of course took tons of photos.

Another unique feature of Rothenburg is its old Town-hall. This building (which I of course took pictures of) sits on a square adjacent to the town's famous clockworks that display a mechanical reenactment of Mayor Nusch drinking his wine to the encouragement of the catholic armored-monk, Count Tilly. The town-hall building is unique in that is has this wonderfully high tower that visitors are able to climb up and enjoy the view from for only two Euros (not a bad deal if you don't have vertigo issues or get blown over then side by the wind). I also found it interesting that the windows on the tower are slanted in such a fashion that they actually reflect the spire staircase within (look at the photos, you will see what I mean).

After we left Rothenburg (but not before going through its Criminal Museum; nothing like learning about all the ways you could get convicted/tortured/killed in medieval Germany) the four of us had dinner at Üttingen's everlasting pizzeria. Every time I'm here I feel like someone knew owns the place, and yet it is always a pizzeria.

So with that said, "Can we climb back down now?".