Rothenburg on the Tauber - Frozen in Time?

From Bacharach we rolled on to Rothenburg, a medieval marvel. The story goes that after a couple of hundred prosperous years in the middle ages, the city and surrounding villages were decimated by the plague and war. It took several hundred years for the population to rebuild and return. In the meantime, no one had any money for repairs or new buildings. When they could finally afford it, they realized they had a fabulous tourist destination, a perfect medieval walled city, to bring back their prosperity.

Our best shot of the city - at sunset, from the castle garden

To go home, take the left fork

Orientation tour of the city (part of the city wall at the end of the street below us)

I'm a sucker for interesting sculptures and statues. This one is at the top of a tower near the main square

An outdoor map of Rothenburg. See St. Jakob's Church in the middle?

St. Jakob's (James) reminded us of our childhood parish church, St. Sylvester's in Brentwood, Pennsylvania.

The red tiled roofs were standard on most buildings.

This church is famous for The Holy Blood altarpiece, one of the largest carved altarpieces in Europe, as well as the 12 Apostles Altar and the Great Organ (huge set of piece).

In the Medieval Crime and Justice Museum (aka the Torture Museum) we were grossed out by many of the horrifying ways men have invented to get innocent people to confess to crimes they haven't committed - and lots of interesting info on laws and punishments through the ages. This is the Iron Maiden (potentially jazzed up with spikes by a 19th century showman to impress gullible tourists).

It was fun window shopping all around the main square (Marktplatz). Sausages are a major thing in Germany.

Late lunch on the Marktplatz. Yes, I'm doing as the Germans do. The dark beer (schwarzbier) is really good.

The city is completely encircled by this defensive wall, accessible at tower gates like this. Over 40 towers or tower gates were built along the wall. 

Just because Mary looks awesome.

Mary dared me to do something silly. It's what siblings do.

Once we climbed down off the wall, we headed for the castle garden. The view of the city was spectacular (see top pic).

There's a "Night Watchman" performance/tour each evening at 8 pm from the steps of the town hall. Something like 60-70 tourists followed this actor from spot to significant spot to hear his take on the history and life of Rothenburg. It was both cheesy and fascinating. Very entertaining.

Christine