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Published: June 19th 2018
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We get to sleep in this morning, which is nice. Around noon, the Scenic Ruby arrives in Wurstburg. We have elected to take a day trip to nearby Rothenberg.
It's about a 1 1/2 hours on the bus. Our guide, Monica, springs an endless stream of stories and facts about our destination. Rothenberg is one of the luckiest towns in Germany. In the Middle Ages it was spared the plague of the Black Death through prayer (or perhaps isolation). It was rescued from total destruction at the hands of the conquering Catholics in 1631 when the mayor wagered the city's safety against his ability to drink 7 pints of wine in one go—and won. It was bombed once during WWII (and sustained some damage) but a second sortie the next day had to be scrubbed due to weather. And the American general ordered to take the city had visited it in his youth and declined to use his artillery, instead negotiating its surrender. Consequently Rothenberg is arguably the best-preserved medieval town in the country. It's a complete walled city with 90% of its original walls intact.
And it is indeed enchanting, looking like nothing so much as a movie
set. In fact, scenes from several Harry Porter movies were filmed here. Rothenberg is in truth Diagon Alley.
Monica takes us through one of the gates in the walls surrounding the old town and we stroll down the main street. It's a gentle uphill walk all the way over uneven cobblestones. The street is crowded with gaggles of pedestrian tourists who have to make peace with bicycles and the occasional car or van. Monica, obviously on good terms with the local merchants, scores us a series of samples along the way: apple chips, Lindt chocolates, sausages, and "snowballs". The latter is a ball-shaped treat made from sheets of thin, crusty pastry.
We tarry at a medieval torture and punishment display and try our turns in the stocks. The sanctity and dignity of life were not high on the medieval checklist of values.
We eventually reach the town's main square at the town's highest point. On one side, the requisite church, and on the other, the old city hall, which boasts a tall lookout tower. For free time, the women shop, and the men climb. We ascend the 262 narrow stone and wood steps of the lookout tower.
Near the top, we're basically scaling ladders. We are rewarded with stunning views of the city from the circular viewing platform at the tower's summit.
After descending, we head down a side street that leads to the city wall. On the way, we spot a stork with an impressive nest high on top of a tower. He/she occasionally issues a haunting call, a bit like a blue jay's, that echoes through the streets. We reach the wall, find the access stairway, and stride along a good section of the old medieval wall, taking the same path trod by the city's watchmen and defenders in the Middle Ages. Very cool.
For the men, it's time for a beer. We decide to try the Baumeister, a bar in a building that Monica had mentioned is one of the oldest in town. I couple my beer with a large chocolate-dipped snowball pastry. Crunchy, messy and tasty. As for the women, they've done some damage in the Christmas stores. After we reconnect with Monica, we retrace our steps back to the bus.
Our return trip takes us on Germany's infamous autobahn, but it's anticlimactic. It doesn't actually look any different from
our own superhighways and traffic is slowed along most of the route by construction. And the truth is that our bus is artificially limited to 100k/hr anyway. Along the road are huge wind farms, in some places wind turbines as far as the eye can see.
Our after-dinner entertainment on board is Paulina and her show the Beauty of the Violin. Paulina shows off her violin chops backed by recorded accompaniment. Her repertoire ranges from semi-classical to pop. Biggest rise out of the audience for music from River Dance. At one point, Paulina requests assistance from an audience member for one tune. Naturally, I volunteer. It turns out the job is to play the bell for Leroy Anderson's composition The Typewriter. I pull it off fairly well. The young people are watching and thinking "What's a typewriter? And what does it have to do with a bell?"
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