A Day to Sightsee in Rothenburg

August 19, 2015

We are happy to remain at Camping Tauber Idyll in Detwang for a second night. It is situated conveniently alongside the Tauber/Romantic Strasse route and it is a short (but uphill) walk to Rothenburg ob der Tauber on a walking path through the woods. We are quite happy not to have to cycle up this hill.
But the most important feature of this campground is that they provide wifi (called wlan in Europe) and it's free and fast. Yeah!! We have not had access to internet since leaving our friends' house a week ago and we are very behind in this journal and communicating with people.
Mary Ellen was in Rothenburg 44 years ago and is keen to share with Barry the beauty of this special place.

A local sweet - the snowball. We tried the original style which is plain and dusted with icing sugar.

Barry touching the hand of the pilgrim in front of the gothic Jakob's Kirche. As you can by the well worn thumb, this is a tradition.

A pretty house on a side street that caught our eye.

This caught Barry's eye - but we didn't buy the apron after all.

This farmer was pressing apples for juice in the main square. The aroma was tempting.

Rothenburg, a well preserved and restored medieval city.

This Metzgerei was outstanding - and that's saying something as we seem to visit them in most towns we visit.

A wonderful selection of local meats and sausages. We enjoyed samples of a few smoked sausages - our favourite had ground up walnuts.The colour red is due to the lighting of the shop and not as it appears when you are in the shop.

A uniquely shaped house with great details.

One of Rothenburg's known attractions is the intact medieval wall with towers and fortifications surrounding the city. We walked most of it, about 4.5 km.

As we are perched high above the river valley, the views are stunning.

Clearly men in medieval times were shorter than Barry. He had to watch his head. However, most doorways were about 5'3", just right for Mary Ellen.

For us the charm of Rothenburg was wandering the side streets and the wall. A magical place that transports you back in time.

Mary Ellen and her friend Gladys stayed here 44 years ago when they travelled in Europe by bicycle. It looks the same but somehow it seems bigger in her memories.

Trying to sign 40, but backwards - not as easy as it looks!

We stopped to admire the view and met a Dutch couple with their black lab puppy.

After bonding with us, it was clearly time for a nap. We didn't leave til she woke up.

Lunch at the Metzgerei - really good sauerkraut.

Met this friendly couple at a bakery. They had just finished riding part of the Main route and had come down from Wurzburg for a day trip. They saw our Bikeline books that we had just picked up at a bookstore and this opened the lines of communication.

We took time out from sightseeing, to visit the Criminal Museum. This is Germany's most important legal museum and houses an extraordinary collection of medieval objects of justice (and torture) and of forensic science over a thousand years.
These objects are neck violins which are worn around the neck to subject the accused to public shame.

Really liked this one - a convicted "bad" musician, must put this over their instrument and it prevents them from playing.

A shame mask for talkative women with a long tongue and big ears. The bell rings with each turning of the head.

The executioner's mask - the eyes of the condemned could put a curse on the executioner, so this mask protected them.

One of the original towers with "eyes" that granted entry.

The mask was used by the guards to grant entry (the "eyes").

Barry climbed the tower of the Gothic town hall to get a great view of the surrounding area. Many steep and narrow steps to climb.

The view from the tower, dominated by Jakob's Kirche.

A panorama of the surrounding hills of Rothenburg from the tower.

For once, a selfie that makes sense, a great perspective.

We visited the Roman style church in Detwang which dates from 1170. It is known for its magnificent carving by Tilman Riemenschneider.

A charming and historic church - Detwang.

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