Rothenburg, Germany

This weekend we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.  Ob der Tauber means "above the river Tauber".  It's the oldest walled city in Germany and it's in Bavaria, only about 30 miles from us.  Bavaria is one of the regions in Germany...it's in the Southeast part of the country and it's also where Ansbach/Katterbach is located.  It's such a great place to live, just picture New England with little German villages scattered across huge tracts of farmland with nothing between each village.
 
A brief history of Rothenburg ob der Tauber:
Rothenburg was established around 970 AD by the East Franconian Earl Reinger.  In 1137, Konrad III became King of Germany and held court here.  The first wall around the town was completed in 1204, but just as they were completed, the town became too big for them and a 2nd fortification was initiated.  In 1356 an earthquake destroyed the entire fortifications apart from a few remains.  1945 - 40% of the city is destroyed by a bombing raid.  The city escapes total destruction thanks to the energetic intervention of a US General.  In the ensuing years, it was rebuilt in the old style.
 
We turned in our Ford Focus last week and rented a Cooper Mini instead...it was pretty fun to zoom around in and easily kept up on the autobahn.

The Galgentor gate, on the east side of Rothenburg, where we arrived.

Our first view of Rothenburg as we came in through the gate.

A little cafe on Galgengasse where we ate lunch.  Collin had Sausage and Potato soup and he loved it!  Malisa and I had our usual hefenweisens and bread/cheese and Hawaii toast.

After lunch we took a stroll toward the center of town, to the marktplatz. 

 

 Some sites we saw along the way, check out the weird little motorcycle with the wraparound windshield. 

This is the Town Hall in the Marktplatz. 

The impressive facades of the former meat and dance hall on the left, behind St. George's fountain and the Jagstheim house in the middle.  Far right is the Town Hall again. 

More views from the Marktplatz. 

St. George's fountain. (The Dragonslayer).

There were a lot of horse-drawn carriages all around Rothenburg. 

The old grammar school had sun dials on the staircase.

Flowers and flower boxes were omnipresent throughout Rothenburg.

Collin loved running along the cobblestone and old streets!

An old garden that we discovered by accident. 

More homes decorated with roses. 

Collin found some rocks decorated with ants.  Luckily, he wasn't able to pull them off.

We stopped for ice cream and coffee after our walk.  We initially had meant only to get ice cream for Collin and we tried to order in German; chocolate ice cream and applejuice for Collin and 2 Bailey's on ice and two coffees for us.  We ended up getting 2 coffees and 2 large ice creams dishes that had Bailey's poured on them.  It wasn't exactly what we had in mind, but it was really good!

After our break, we resumed our walk through town.  Here's the liquor store.  They sold Absinthe here (The Green Fairy!) which we fully intend to try sometime.  Maybe when we have a babysitter.....they also have a lot of Franconian wine which comes in bottles unique to the region.  They look like large flasks. 

Collin got tired and we had to cut our walking tour a little bit short.  On the way out, we stopped and walked along the wall for a bit. 

You can see Collin and Malisa on the right...

A view of one of the Rothenburg homes from the wall.

We came upon one of the defensible fortifications on the wall and Collin "tip-toed" inside what he termed "da Monster cave".