Rothenburg

Slowly making my way back towards Amsterdam, I stopped in the small, midevil town of Rothenburg. The old city is surrounded by wall, with guard towers over every street connecting the city with the outside world.

The highlight of the visit was the Night Watchman's tour. At 8:00, everyone meets in the town square, and is led around the town by the Night watchman - who tells the history of the town, explains the duties of a Night Watchman, and entertained the entire crowd with his sense of humor. It was definitely the most entertaining tour that I've been on in a long time.

Another great experience was the dinner I had with the English Conversation Club. The club meets every Wed evening at a restaurant to have some food, drinks, and chat in English. It's mostly locals, although every week some tourists join in. I read about it in Rick Steve's book, and was also referred there by one of the town's shop owners. It was fun talking with the Germans, and there was also a woman from Wisconsin who had moved over to Rothenburg after marrying a local farmer. The food was great - pork w/ cream & mushroom sauce, and a pear stuffed with cranberries.

I visited 2 museums - the Museum of Midevil Crime & Punishment & the Imperial City Museum. The Crime & Punishment museum was supposed to be great, but I was a little disappointed. I went to the Imperial City Museum right before it closed, and had to rush through it. I wish I had more time - the museum was much cooler than I had expected. They had a great display of midevil weapons - swords, lances, rifles, pistols, crossbows, etc... Some of the swords were huge - as tall as me! And, they had rifles there that were 7-8 feet long... I had no idea how anyone would lift one of those. I guess midevil people were strong.


One more stop - the city of Bacharach, to spend the day cruising on the Rhine river. Then, it's back to Amsterdam for a couple of days & then back to Minnesota.