Rothenburg ob der Taber

Ryan and I went to Germany for his spring break in 2006. We flew into Frankfurt since there were these cheap tickets on something called “Ryan Air” for $99.00. We then rented a car and drove on the autobahn down to Bavaria – on the border with Austria. That was where Neuschwanstein Castle was. I was excited to drive on the autobahn but then it got to be a pain. The fast lane went really fast and the slow lane went really slow. If you were in the fast lane and another car came upon you going faster, you were ‘obligated’ to move over to the slow lane to let them pass. If you did not, they brighted you, honked their horn and tailgated you (I always let them pass, but watched this from the slow lane) they were very aggressive about it. It generally worked. The problem came that when someone came swooping down on you and you were going 95 kph (about 60 mph) and you needed to get over – the slow lane was going about 50 kph and you would need to slam on your breaks to not hit them. So either you could go real slow, really, really fast or keep moving back and forth between the two lanes – it got old really fast – especially in the dark.

We went from Hohenschwangau, Germany to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany (they were not really that big on short city names). We drove something called the ‘Romantic Road’ which was a medieval trade route containing quaint towns and very ‘German’ looking scenery. We traveled with Gary up by Berlin and it looked nothing like what you expect Germany to look like – just ugly – Communist looking stuff. Bavaria looks like ‘Germany’.

We stopped on our way in the town know as the birthplace of ‘The Brothers Grimm’. I purchased the complete works. I have a complete works of Hans Christian Anderson from Copenhagen, Denmark – his birthplace and wanted a set. Both are the original versions – not the Disney versions – thus fairy tales that scare the shit out of you.

We stayed in a hotel inside the city walls (it had an ancient wall surrounding it). It was really a room above a café and was very cute. I had to drive into the city on cobblestones and winding roads – we were lucky we a) found it and b) found parking. We parked the car and left it where it was until we left – the medieval part of the town inside the walls not being all that large.

Our hotel is the two upper left windows. Notice our diet cokes and water cooling out on the window ledge:

Two of their claims to fame was a very large (maybe the largest in Europe if I remember reading the signs) Christmas shop and a medieval torture museum. Photos were not allowed in the first and I won’t bother you with photos of the second (although it was interesting – in a creepy sort of way).

Rothenburg ob der Taber is supposed to be the best preserved medieval town in Germany and we can attest to that having driven through a bunch of others – they just looked like aging towns where Rothenburg ob der Taber looked like Disney World. It is a big tourist attraction, but in February was not that busy.

The theme today is apparently ‘Windows’. I love taking photos of windows (as my little “Windows of Prague” on the side there shows). I did not get many – but they were so ‘quaint’. The three of linens in the windows was to show Gary what I didn’t buy. I cannot go in a linen shop (in Europe) and not buy something. I regret it now having beautiful linens from everywhere I went except Germany.



I like taking pictures of people taking pictures. This is one of my favorites of Ryan:

Here are some shots of the city: