The Romantic Road - Rothenburg
Last night was a rough one, and today started out just as bad. I began feeling a bit congested and under the weather yesterday, but I typically don’t get sick so I didn’t make too much of it. Well today I feel horrible and I hardly got any sleep last night. It’s our last morning at the Garden Hotel here in Nuremberg, and while I was looking forward to one more shot at this amazing continental breakfast, I couldn’t eat at all. I don’t have an upset stomach, it’s just head congestion and a nasty cough… but I can’t eat when I don’t feel well. I picked at a couple things then left Beth down to finish her breakfast as I went back to the room to try to get a little more sleep. After a nap, I needed to get up and push my way through the day, as I was not going to let this spoil our trip.
The same subway to the same stop we took yesterday brought us back to Frankenstraße, but this time we walked the other way to the car rental. In, out, and we picked up our Skoda Yeti. I’ll have to admit that it took us a bit of back and forth to find our way out of the parking lot, but we eventually managed and got underway! Not a bad little car, this Skoda. We'll only have it for today and tomorrow, when we drop it off in Munich. Less time than we've had cars on previous trips, but we've got some long distance to cover on trains this time around. We’ve been through Germany a few times now, but this is the first time actually driving here. You hear about the autobahn with no speed limit and have dreams of flying down the highway in German sports cars. Here though it was a regular cruise out of the city that was rather uneventful. Highways are highways I guess, and the Skoda was built for economy rather than speed. We did have a few Audis fly by us tearing down the road. Hey if you got it, flaunt it. I know I would!
The highway was a quick A to B run to get us from the city to the Romantic Road, which originates in Würzburg at the northern end (too far up for this trip) and stretches all the way down to Fussen by the Austrian border (our destination for today). We planned to take the highway to quickly get to Rothenburg then slowly work our way down the Road through Dinkelsbühl, stopping at a few points marked on the map if we can before jumping back on the highway to Fussen. Hopefully there is enough time for it all!
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is a well preserved medieval city with most of the old walls and battlements still intact. It sits right along the river Tauber as the name suggests. We parked outside the Wolfgangskirche, which looks like it was built right into the walls, and had a sandwich with our leftover schnitzel before heading out. Pathways leading around the inner perimeter enticed us to follow, but we instead went through the Klingentor gate to the town itself. The roads were set stone and narrow, definitely lending itself to more of a walking town than one to drive through. I absolutely love this about these old European cities. I want to walk, to feel the city and take the time to enjoy it all. We followed this road toward the center of town, passing under the St. Jakobskirche wing that extends as a bridge over the road. Cool stuff!
Rothenburg is the home to Käthe Wohlfahrt, a shop famous for carved wood Christmas decorations. They are found all over the world now, but this is where it started. Beth was excited to visit the store but it was unfortunately still closed. Much was still closed actually, and so we wandered around looking at the buildings and the beautiful city streets. It was a bit crowded with tourists here. We stopped to check out the Plönlein – a picturesque building along a fork in the road, but honestly I don’t know what it actually is. No matter, really. It was such a beautiful piece of an old city, just marveling at the curves in the streets and colors on the walls was really enough for us.
An interesting thing about these villages and cities in Bavaria are the shop signs. Maybe it’s like this through the rest of Germany as well, but we’ve mostly been to the south lately where we’ve noticed them. There are intricate metal signs that come off the buildings and reach out over the street. Some are smaller, some a bit larger, but they are all interesting. We’ve found some beautiful designs throughout our travels, and here in Rothenburg is no exception. We’ve often talked about trying to make one for ourselves at home, though honestly we wouldn’t know where to start!
We walked through a wonderful little park just beyond the Burg Turm at the western end of the city. There’s an old small chapel there (closed) and what looked to be a well-landscaped garden that is sure to be beautiful in the spring. The Burg Turm itself is fantastic. The pointed rooftops along the curved gate walls give it so much character as the tower stands tall behind. As we walked along the path deeper into the park, clearings along the side walls offered a spectacular view of the town and the countryside around it. So green! There were little farmhouses scattered below us in the hilly fields with the church steeple rising above them. The walls of the city stood as a high backdrop to the quaint little village. If we had more time, we’d love to run down through those fields and cross the old bridge. As always, if only we had more time…
We went back to the Plönlein for a few more pictures and stopped at Café Uhl for some coffee and a snack. Schneeballen (snow balls) are a popular item here in Rothenburg. It is like strips of short pastry somehow arranged into a ball and covered with powdered sugar. It is the city’s signature dessert, though it seems that they get mixed reviews from people. We’ve tried them at a few places, and personally I found them just ok – nice to have one while in town as they are the local thing, but I wouldn’t go looking for them. Café Uhl did have a very good cup of coffee, and we skipped another schneeballen for a chocolate croissant. I’ll probably say this a hundred times on this site, but it’s worth repeating – I LOVE European cafés! We have tons of cafes back home, but the vibe, food, and especially the coffee just aren’t the same.
On the walk back to our car we decided to stop and climb the steps at the city wall. You can walk the old battlements here. They were narrow and dark, but just imagine how much darker it would be up there during the middle ages on night watch! We went a bit around the parameter, peeking through the arrow slits and looking out over the rooftops of the city. It’s amazing how preserved the town is. I think this is important, just as I said yesterday, to keep these old structures intact. I’ve heard that these were poor towns where the people couldn’t afford to modernize their houses, so they kept the old buildings as a necessity rather than intentionally preserving. Hopefully going forward everyone realizes what a treasure these old cities are, and works to keep them as well preserved as they can.
Next, we go onward down the Romantic Road!
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