Day 8 - Rothenberg Imperial City Festival. What a Hoot!! Then onto Munich

On Saturday we visited the Medieval town of Rothenburg. It is Germany's best preserved walled city.  The city walls were built in the 13th century and are largely still original today. It was bombed during the war and about 30% of the town was badly damaged. However, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, knew about the historic importance and beauty of Rothenburg, so he ordered U.S. Army General Jacob L. Devers not to use artillery in taking Rothenburg. To make a long story short, the US Army got a message to the forces in the town to surrender or be leveled, they made the smart choice, so the city is very well preserved. It is a beautiful town and reminded June and I of the walled cities of Italy. 

The gods being truly in our favor, we arrived during the weekend that they hold the annual 'Imperial City Festival'. During this weekend, the entire old city becomes one huge Medieval camp. 

When we arrived we saw all the tents set up outside the city wall. 

Once inside the walls, the streets are narrow and cobble stone. Houses touch each other, everything is very compact. 

We made our way to the center of town just in time to watch the the main attraction at the Ratstrinkstube, the art clock on the right. 

 

The clock depicts an important scene from the history of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. During the Thirty Years' War, more precisely in 1631, the so-called "master drink" took place right here. The Catholic troops threatened to plunder Protestant Rothenburg when their commander, Count Tilly, proposed a "deal" on a whim: if the city's mayor manages to drink a 3.25 liter tankard of Franconian wine in one gulp, he would spare Rothenburg. He accepted the challenge, won it and thus saved his city. In 1910, the figures of the two protagonists were built into the front of the Ratstrinkstube and have appeared on the hour ever since.

Rothenberg is famous for its Christmas shops and it did not disappoint.  Thankfully we did not have room in our luggage for this kind of stuff, we mostly just looked. 

We were not there long when we started hearing the drums, flutes and bugles....it seemed every five minutes a different band marched through town, all from different eras. It was so fascinating and entertaining.

I can tell you these people were having a great time, they cooked their meals on an open fire and drank lots of beer. 

After wandering the town, we went back to the central square and sat at a café, the bands just kept rolling by our table, it was such fun to see and hear them celebrate their history. 

After a short break we started to make our way out of the city, we decided to climb the wall and walk a portion of it. 

The wall is impressive and just over 2 miles in length. It protected the city from all attacks (even if it took a mayor who could drink) until WWII. 

We very much enjoyed Rothenberg, I am sure the great weather helped and the fact that we were there on a special weekend made it even more memorable. If you get the chance don't pass up stopping to see this walled city. 

After the walled city we set out for Munich. We dropped off in the center of the city, Marienplatz, in the old town. 

Again, the gods were in our favor and we arrived just in time (a bit before 5PM) to watch the glockenspiel in the New Town Hall. It was hard to get a decent picture because we were so close. 

It was a treat to watch the clock move the figures, stage a joust and other movements. In its day, it was a mechanical marvel, they have been entertaining people for over 100 years. 

We were given some time to look around the old town and then made our way to a downtown restaurant for an authentic Bavarian meal. 

We had a great time with a good meal, drinks, and conversations.

We made it back to the hotel pretty late but knew we were getting an extra hour of sleep tomorrow before we board the bus to Dachau.