Rothenburg
GermanyWe said goodbye to Bacharach and drove the three hours to Rothenburg. Long ago, this path was named The Romantic Road as it passes through Bavaria’s heartland. We checked into our hotel, and it was awesome. It seems that whenever we only spent one night in a town instead of two, the hotels were even better. The afternoon was ours to explore. We were staying on one of the big shopping lanes, so we hit some of the stores on our way to the square.
Looking down Lower Blacksmith Street
Ornamental signs line this fun street full of shops.
How to get Dad out of prison?
Probably the same way he got in. This fun shop, called the Armory, felt like a Renn Faire.
Trumpp's Butcher Shop
Just the place to feed some hangry tourists like us. I wish I understood German so I could read more of the signs.
Outside the Christmas Village
Dad wanted to take this car home. I don't think we could afford the shipping though.
on the pilgrimage route
After making it to the market square, we headed off to see St. Jakob’s church. It seemed like Dad wanted to see as many religious places as he could. I know he was very interested in the wood carving in Germany, so we went in search of Tilman Riemenschneider’s Alter of the Holy Blood. It took him 5 years to carve this masterpiece, which might be the best wood carving in all of Germany. I could not get over this was carved in wood. The hair alone, not to mention the expressions on the figures, was unbelievable.
We then wandered a bit and found the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas Headquarters. We went in the Christmas Village, Weihnachtsdorf, and I felt like I was channeling Mom as I left with a big bag and less money. They even had cuckoo clocks. I bought a cuckoo clock ornament instead, and that would have to do.
We went in search of the LOTR pub, but it was closed. So we found some refreshment with a dunkel and snacks on the Reichsküchenmeister terrace.
Waiting for the night watchman’s tour
We enjoyed the jovial night watchman tour. Hans Georg was a mix of Seinfeld meets John Cleese. We made six stops along his “watch” as he relayed humorous stories of night watchmen duties and the history of Rothenburg. Even though it started to rain, it was really fun.
Blue hour Photos
“Die blaue Stunde”, was magical in Rothenburg. The combination of stormy, cerulean blue sky mixed with the twinkling street lamps was picture perfect. Dad was kind enough to go around with me and my tripod, taking long exposures in the cold and rain.
Let’s go further down the romantic road and see more of