We spent the weekend in Rothenburg (pronounced Rote-en-burg, for "red castle"), a beautifully preserved walled Medieval town just 1 1/2 hours from Stuttgart (but three hours by meandering train). The castle was destroyed in the 1300's, but at least one of the buildings dates to as early as the 900's. Constant sieges from neighboring countries (Germany was comprised of over 300 separate countries in that time) kept the town from succeeding and modernizing for centuries. Now a constant flow of tourists siezes the town each summer.
We slept in a cozy bed and breakfast, home of a gracious multi-generational family. The murmur of happy conversation in the streets below was punctuated by the clip-clop of horse and wagon. And while some of the items in Rothenburg's renowned Medieval Crime and Punishment museum could be difficult to ponder, the experience made it graphically clear that the Middle Ages weren't exactly the good old days.
3 comments:
I am enjoying your photos! Aren't you glad pictures are digital? Can you imagine how many rolls of film you'd go through?
During out school year, I keep forgetting to take photos. Guess we're making up for it now! But we are really going through the batteries.
Wow, it was exciting to see my favorite German town on your blog. Dennis and I loved visiting Rothenburg. We had many of the same everyday experiences as a foreigner in Europe. It can be exhausting at times. That's when we took a break and visited the Netherlands. The people were friendly and English was commonly spoken by the local people. We had the same experience with money trays in Belgium. I had forgotten about that. I don't really understand it either.
We're all enjoying your blog.
Take care.
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