Three nights: Tuesday, June 19 to Friday, June 22
Getting to Rothenburg was interesting because we made our first travel mistake: I made us get on the wrong train! Turns out it was on the right platform and going to the right station (that’s what confused me), just a bit earlier than our intended train. It arrived at the next station later than we had planned, which threw off our timing, resulting in us getting into Rothenburg later than expected.
Rothenburg itself was an amazingly quaint medieval town. We were staying in a hotel in the heart of the old town and spent our two days there exploring the city and its surroundings. On the first full day, we headed out to the gardens where the old castle once stood and worked our way north to a spot where we could climb up into the old city wall. The city wall was impressive and we were able to walk around two-thirds of the city, getting some interesting perspectives. Also, the city walls had various stone signs embedded in them mentioning donors who contributed to their restoration after WWII as well as other notable events, such as the filming of a movie here in the 60’s.
On the second full day, we headed outside the city walls and down through some scenic vineyards down to the old double bridge that spans the Tauber River (more of a creek). After heading back into town, we decided to climb the rathaus (city hall) tower. There were some good views from the top, but it was an extremely tight, vertigo-inducing space. Finally that night, we took in the Night Watchman tour, which was entertaining. Amazingly, it seems this guy has been giving the tour for twenty years now, though I suspect it’s fairly lucrative given the crowd of ~100 people at €7 per person. I wonder if Seattle needs a night watchman?