Going Medieval

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Geo: 50.3118, 11.7712

We are on the autobahn to Rothenburg, having left the hotel at 8:30. It's raining again, and I think I'm coming down with a cold. Ick.

At our first rest stop (where, by the way, you can buy jewelry and a fine watch), I made sure to watch my toilet after waving my hand in front of the sensor to flush it. It's amazing. A mechanism comes out from the tank and hovers over the seat and bowl. It squirts cleaner into the bowl, while the seat spins around on top of the bowl to be cleaned by a sponge (or something) on the underside of this mechanism. It's pretty cool, and I don't mind paying the 50 or 70 eurocents to use a clean restroom at a rest stop that comprises various restaurants, coffee bars, and a small shop.

We arrived in Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber around 12:30. Most of us are staying at the Hotel Gerberhaus, but because of a plumbing problem a few people have to stay across the
street at the Goldene Rose, which is apparently quite a nice hotel. The Gerberhaus is nice too: my room is cute and looks out on the street, and I've got a double bed. There are also flower boxes outside my windows. The bathroom is teeny, but there's a modern(ish) shower. I'm not sure what exactly the plumbing problem is, but I know my toilet makes a loud whooshing noise every 70 seconds, and I hope it doesn't keep me awake tonight.

I did a hand wash in the sink and then ventured out in the rain. I walked up to the old part of town, under a tower, and found a little bakery to have lunch in. I had a nice panini, with cheese, ham and cucumber, and some little pastry thing for dessert.

Headed up to the St. Jakobskirche via a drug store for some medicated pastilles and an ATM (geldautomat). When I got there, an English tour had just started, so I joined it and ended up with Jim and Diane from Keizer, OR. This church was built in the early 1400s and has some amazing carved altars. The most famous is by Tillman Riemenschneider, who is considered the
Michelangelo of wood carving. His Altar of the Holy Blood is spectacular, showing the Last Supper (complete with removable Judas!) and the Annunciation. Another important altar shows the death of Mary (complete with little mouse under the bed!). There's also a stone sculpture of God holding Jesus, with a dove linking them. A very nice church, indeed.

Afterwards, I went into a shop, and the lady inside got to talking about the weather. She says the wind is coming from Spain ... which had snow just a couple of days ago. No wonder it's been so cold! Then I crossed the street to the Kathe Wohlfahrt Christmas shop. It's like Christmas meets Costco. It's far bigger on the inside than it looks on the outside. I kept turning a corner thinking, “This has got to be it,”only to be met by another alcove, another hallway, another staircase. There are Christmas ornaments, incense smokers, nutcrackers, those wooden pyramid/windmill things that spin when you light a candle under them, fine linen, pottery, music boxes ... 99.9% of which has a Christmas theme. I went a little nuts, and some people who are reading this blog should expect something from Kathe Wohlfahrt for Christmas this year. Mom would LOVE this place.

I had planned to go to the Crime and Punishment Museum, but it was already 4:30, and the museum closes at 6:00. So I decided to go to the Christmas Museum, above the Kathe
Wohlfahrt store. It is not just a ploy to get people to buy stuff in the store; it's a serious collection. I spent nearly an hour going through it. The especially nice thing was that I was the only one in there, so I could dawdle if I wanted to.

On the walk back to the hotel, I noticed an alleyway leading down to what appeared to be a lookout point. So I went to look out. I didn't realize when we arrived in town how high up we are. The valley seemed quite far below, at the bottom of more of those steep vineyards.

I'm back at the hotel now, listening to my toilet and trying to decide whether to go out at 8:00 for the Nightwatchman's Walk. I suppose at least it would get me away from the damn toilet.

LATER: So I did decide to do the Nightwatchman's Walk. It was pretty good fun. A local man (who in the off-season lives in Thailand) dresses up like a medieval nightwatchman – complete with halberd – and leads groups around the old town every night at 8:00. His patter is all in English, and he's very funny. (I wanted to get a photo, but my battery had died while I was out this afternoon, and it was back in the hotel charging up.) Rothenburg at one time had been very rich because it was a crossroads for the main north-south trade route and the main east-west trade route. Also, the town had a lot of wool money. At some point, the trade routes shifted, and Rothenburg was no longer a place for traders to stop. Plague also wiped out a great deal of the
town from time to time. As a result, Rothenburg became poor and could no longer expand or afford to tear down old structures to build new ones, and it has been sort of pickled in time. Most of the houses on the main square were built in the early 1500s and are huge. The town
hall is huge, and the church is huge. Even the cliff-face is huge. For a small town, it really packs in a lot of big stuff. Anyway, the walk was interesting ... especially when a golden retriever broke
away to chase a black cat (unsuccessfully, I might add).

After the walk, some of us walked back to the hotel and sat in the bar for a while. I had a hot chocolate with Kahlua and a piece of nussecke, which means nut corner. I never did get any dinner and I know a piece of cake isn't much of a substitute, but I'm on vacation.

I'm hoping that the weather improves for tomorrow, and I'm hoping that this toilet shuts the hell up!

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Photos

Altar
St. Jakobskirche

Rothenburg
The main square

Rothenburg
The Spitalgasse

Comments

[Katherine]

The Swedish self-clearning toilet commercial is used in marketing classes 'round the word. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o5ul7prwoiM