Last weekend we took a drive up north to Germany to see the village of Rothenburg, otherwise known as "Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber" (which means "red fortress above the Tauber," which is a river nearby.) Rothenburg is a classic medieval German village, surrounded by city walls and towers. It's almost like something out of a book or fairytale. The buildings are in the classic "old world" German style. Where other German cities we've visited have both old and new city centers, Rothenburg is completely old, which makes it popular with tourists. Ages ago Rothenburg was at a crossroads between two trading routes; one running between Paris and Prague, and the other running from Scandinavia and Rome. So over time the city flourished with all the incoming travelers pumping money into the local economy. Nowadays Rothenburg makes its money from tourism, so I guess not much has changed over time. We saw so many tourists from America and the UK, as well as Asia. We hardly had to speak any of our German. The weather was rainy and damp, but we made the best of it. We walked around the village, did some shopping, and we got to try the local pastry...a "Schneeball," which is basically like a round sugar cookie. At night Ben and I also went on a night walk with the "Nightwatchman." Every night at 8pm a guy dresses up as a medieval nightwatchman (complete with lantern and pike) and takes you on a night walk and tells you the village's history and interesting stories. That was the night a thick fog rolled in and it made for a cool, "eerie" scene with all the medieval buildings. It was like something out of a Frankenstein movie. Anyway, we loved Rothenburg, and we would love to go back someday. The kids really liked it too. It's touristy, but it's a great place to visit if you want to experience "old world Germany."
A "Schneeball"
The hotel where we stayed
"The Nightwatchman"
No comments:
Post a Comment