Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

I had read in lots of tour books that people have decidedly different views about whether or not to stay within the walls of Rothenburg.  I figured this might be the only time we were ever going to visit, so we might as well go all the way.

John had been wanting to visit Rothenburg since we lived in Germany.  For some reason, we never got around to it...until now.  It's a medieval city in the heart of Bavaria, and there is a wall completely surrounding the city.  In fact, when we first drove up, we weren't exactly sure where the entrance was.

It doesn't exactly scream "ENTRANCE", now does it?

I decided it would be worth it to spend the extra money and stay in the city (kind of like staying in a resort at Universal Studios). I booked us the best rated hotel within the town, The Goldener Hirsch.  No joke, it was gorgeous...and rather sad to think of how this stately hotel was used in olden times.  It was dripping with elegance and old-world charm, and I felt rather disrespectful in it, walking around in my t-shirt and sandals.  The owner actually worked the front desk also, so he was rather busy.  However, he was happy to help us with anything (including washing our laundry).

I'm not sure how we worked this, but John and I got the nicest room in the hotel.  It was probably the size of three American hotel rooms, and it had been freshly renovated.  In fact, we had to open the windows the first evening, because we could still faintly smell the fresh paint.  And to my delight, there were more beds with individual comforters...always a good thing when your husband seems to have eight arms during the night :-) 

Again, it looked over the wall.

John headed out first thing the next morning for a run.  I always find this useful, because he not only sees things ahead of time that he thinks we should visit later, he also gets a feel for the lay of the land.  Sometimes all the maps and GPS machines can't make up for intuition with a side of some knowledge!  He came back rather excited, seeing as he had run around the entire town and wanted us also to walk the wall.

Another great thing about our hotel was the included breakfast in the morning.  It was delightful.  The breakfast room looked over the wall, the tables were covered in traditional German linens, and the food was just what we needed.

This was our view from our hotel (and looking over the wall).

We headed out into the town.  It's not that big of a place, but boy is it popular.  There were so many people there to see it all, and I couldn't blame them.  Honestly, it looked like a Disney German village trying to be an authentic German village...but it was authentic.  You just can't believe places like this exist.  Thankfully, it was saved during WWII (more about that later).

We first visited the town hall.  We had read that we could climb to the top of the tower and see the entire city.  Thankfully, this didn't seem to be on anyone else's itinerary, because visitors are usually only allowed a certain amount of time on the tower.  We stayed as long as we wanted!

The stairwells to get to the top were skinny to say the least!
And there were huge columns of air that would blow through them.

Isn't the city just beautiful?

I have to admit that I was a bit overwhelmed, thinking of what modern-day Germany would look like if it hadn't been for the World Wars.  This city, and all its beauty, were preserved, but just about every other city has been rebuilt since WWII.  How sad.

I appreciate some Russian girl coming along at some point and defacing the wall with a very standard (but lovely) Russian name, because I certainly wouldn't have done it myself.  My honey loves me enough to scratch off the extra "s".

Next, we did something rather unconventional for traveling Kennedys--we just wandered.  I had left Ethan in charge of planning the day, and as it turns out, he hadn't planned anything.  So, John wanted us to walk the wall around the city, so we did.  We found some rather fun things to do and see.

Just a small part of the wall that we didn't have to climb ON.

It felt like around every corner was a photo op.  Everything was so green and so beautiful and historic.  

Church grounds.  Yep, our ward building has a little bit of work to do if it wants to look like this :-)

Funny story.  John has a generous heart when it comes to people trying to sell things.  Let me rephrase:  John has a generous heart when it comes to people who are poor who are trying to sell things.  He will buy anything from any kid who is trying to raise money.  He will roll down his car window to give money to some guy standing by the side of the road with a cardboard sign.  He especially likes to buy from sidewalk artists.  Perhaps this is because he knows how hard our kids have worked as artists and how little they are appreciated, or perhaps it's because he remembers that our children used to be sidewalk artists themselves.  Whatever the reasons, they all roll into one big, generous heart when it comes to John.

So when John found an ancient German man (seriously, he might have been left over from medieval times), sitting under the wall, selling mediocre, hand-carved trinkets, he couldn't resist buying one of them.  John affectionately named his statue Freddie, and he accompanied us the rest of the trip...much like Bil-LAY, but much less cute....

See Freddie?

So, somewhere along the way, there was this delightful wading pool that was supposed to have
mystical properties.  There were very specific rules regarding the pool--shoes and socks must be removed, you circle the pool just once, you must hold the handrail, you must wait to put your shoes back on again afterwards.  I don't know.  What I do know is that we were totally up for the experience, especially since we had walked several miles by this point.  Too, I was glad that it was still a bit chilly outside (50's during the day), because that meant nobody else was wanting to do it.  I can only imagine on summer days how busy that teeny tiny pool is. 

No joke, it was crazy refreshing.  I haven't really tested other cool wading pools after a long walk, but if I didn't know better, I would agree that it did indeed hold restorative, mystical powers.  Afterwards, our legs were all tingly, and I felt like we could walk several more miles.  I loved it.

I do believe John was talking to Freddie here.
Yes, John could hear Freddie talking to him throughout the remainder of our trip...

Probably one of our favorite moments of the day was finding a "fest" going on in some random hall.  These aren't uncommon at all in Germany, seeing as Germans find a way to celebrate just about anything on any given day.  However, there were Turks selling kebabs in front of the hall.  WINNER!  So, in true German fashion, we sat ourselves down on one of a million picnic tables in the grass, ate kebabs, and listened to polka music coming from the hall.  I didn't want to leave. 

Check out the Turkish pop!

We headed back to the hotel for some free time.  Some of us took naps, some went running (again), and some went shopping.

The Night Watchman

Later in the afternoon, we all gathered together again and headed out for two different tours.  John insisted that we go on the "Executioner Tour" which turned out to be intimate and interesting.  We were pleasantly surprised.  However, the big moment was attending "The Night Watchman Tour".  There must have been at least 40-50 people on the tour, and it didn't disappoint.  In fact, it was on this tour that we learned exactly why Rothenburg was still standing (and hadn't been destroyed like other German cities).

Rothenburg was actually the quintessential German city, and the Nazis valued it as a representative of all they saw good about their country.  When the command came through to bomb the city, the US Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, asked that artillery not be used on the city.  Why did he do this, you might ask?  Because he remembered, as a child, seeing a painting of Rothenburg hanging on the walls in his home.  He knew the beauty it held, and he wanted it preserved.  However, the Germans who were defending the town needed to agree to immediate surrender.  And to his credit, a German commander ignored Hitler's orders to fight to the end and surrendered.

And because of a wonderful series of events, it still stands today.

We headed to what became our favorite restaurant in the town (Gasthof Butz) for one last meal of schnitzel and bratkoffeln and Apfelschorle.