Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Day Trip!

I woke up really early. I hopped on a bus to the train station. I rode the regional train. It was bumpy and had an unpleasant odor.

I arrived in Rothenburg around 9am. It, too, had a rather unpleasant odor. Perhaps it was the funk of 1,000 years.

The town was deserted. So I sat on a bench in the cold with lightly precipitating snow. I discoverd the medieval city walls, and, surprisingly, they were open for tourists to walk up the steps and traverse the perimeter. Since I had nothing else to do, I did so. (Please see the corresponding set of pictures on facebook.) The ceilings were surprisingly low. I had to duck the entire time to avoid hitting my head. I played a game of chicken with some pigeons. They didn't quite discover that I continued to walk in one direction. Every time they flew away, they flew to another spot further down the line. Dumb birds.

I then found myself at the perimeter of the town on top of a cliff. The panorama was beautiful. I could see valleys of trees and field. Marvelous.

I had exhausted my options for walking around (the town is incredibly small,) so I waited some more until a cafe had opened up for the day. I had some Gluehwein, which came with sugar. It was delicious (but most importantly, warm.) I could sit inside and look out the window and wait for things to open up.

At 11:30, I went out to the street to discover that I was hungry. I found a restaurant and went in. My first experience in a German restaurant (how long have I been here and it's my first time eating out) was marred by two very loud American tourists speaking really slowly to the waitress (who, I might add, snapped back at the in English) and a group of incredibly obnoxious Italians, most of whom were on their cell phones screaming things. I sat alone in the corner and enjoyed my Wiener-Schnitzel while laughing at how the waiters mocked the crowd.

After lunch, when the town had emerged from their bed and breakfasts, I made my way into the city vaults. This was the former home of the Baker's guild during the 30-years' war, but the basement was also the town prison. There was a list of people who had died there. Not a very settling notion.

The Kriminalmuseum was fantastic (in a very morbid sense.) They had displays of various torture techniques from corporeal mutilation to social humiliation. Two thumbs up and a recommendation for all who might visit.

Saint-Jacobs's Church was awe-ing. Huge altarpieces and a holy relic - 3 drops of Jesus's Blood. Highly recommended.

Reichsstadtmuseum. Waste of time and money. It was cold, the museum was poorly curated, and really had nothing of interest, especially relating to the history of the city during its imperial stage (which is what the name means.)

My final impressions. The city is old, yes. It preserves much of the original architectural style of the middle-ages; however, the city really became proposeless after the 30 years' war. All of the business moved elsewhere, industry never moved in, and now it's just a bunch of museums and churches with a town population to serve that. At what point does "preserving the heritage" of a city become "making the city a Disneyland," a place in which people go just to look around but do nothing else? The antiquarian inside me says "keep the heritage around, because there are only so few places left like this in the world," but the futurist in me says "let's devote our time to something with a purpose."

Of course, most of the Futurists died because of their live-and-let-live ways.

Until next time.