Rothenburg - Day 6

Our next day in Rothenburg was spent meandering around this quaint little town and seeing the sights. As we learned from our tour, Rothenburg is ironically so well preserved because it went through a several hundred year period of complete poverty. While other towns in Germany were tearing down their old buildings and putting up new ones, Rothenburg was practically abandoned. It wasn't until the romantics of the 19th century 'rediscovered' Rothenburg did it become the thriving tourist attraction that it is today.



I climbed up the Roedortor, which is the highest tower in the city. It afforded some beautiful sights, but not much else. The mini-museum at the top is 95% only in German, with only one display in English. That display complains about the "senseless" bombing of Rothenburg by the U.S. in the closing months of WWII. Hmm...curious that it is the only display in English.


One ofthe signature features of Rothenburg is of course the fortified wall which surrounds the city. There are stairs up to the wall, and one can walk around nearly the whole city on the wall and really get a feel for what it must have been like to defend a city during medieval times.


Interestingly, Rothenburg was only captured once in its history. That occurred when someone accidentally set the gunpowder room on fire, which of course led to a huge explosion which blew a large hole in the wall.