staying at my brothers place and visiting Rothenburg o.d. Tauber

My last days in Germany had been quite busy; so many things I still had to do and other stuff that needed to be taken care off. But I wouldn't miss the chance of a photo safari in Rothenburg o.b. Tauber, where my brother is working and so I packed my bag to visit him and his girlfriend. Together we would be going home for the weekend to have a last gathering of the family for the next year or so.

My brother lives in the idyllic Vestenbergsgreuth and due to a tea factory in town there is always a light scent of herbal tea filling the air. Every day he commutes to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, where I arrived by train one nice afternoon to explore the city. What I did not know and was positively surprised by, was the city wall, which is fully accessible, and so I was running around the entire city - in stages of course. All buildings inside the city wall are historic old houses painted beautifully and fondly taken care off by their owners. Although, to be quite honest, if I lived there I did not want my house right next to the wall, having tourists taking pictures of my beautifully landscaped garden, plus deckchairs, plus me sunbathing. But anyway.

Rothenburg is very popular amongst tourists from all over the world and quite often I caught something other than German, mostly American English and Japanese. This goes so far that I was addressed in English while buying my fridge magnets in the souvenir shop, probably because no German buys souvenirs in their own country. The Christmas Museum (yes it does exist!) was full of kitsch and the Americans in the shop loved it, as they do! I even paid the 4 euros to get me into the museum itself, which is about the historical development of Christmas, where the custom of the Christmas tree came from (of course from Germany!) how and where the different tree decorations were created, when and where the first Christmas greeting cards where printed and much more. After all this information, I will see this Christmas, perhaps with different eyes.

The Crime Museum was recommended to me by different people and so of course I went out there. It's not only an exhibition that shows torture instruments and equipment for the execution of the body as there is more to see in the museum (it gives a comprehensive insight into laws and punishments of the past 1000 years) but the torture stuff definitely is an eye catcher. Anyone planning a visit to this museum, should bring a lot of time, because all items are described in detail and it takes time to read all the displays in the basement and two additional floors.

Last but not least I climbed the tower of the Town Hall for an exclusive view over the town. And that turned out to be a true adventure! While I was climbing the spiral staircase into the attic it became increasingly tight and narrow. I'm not a big person but even I had to constantly be careful not to push my head at the roof. The staircase was getting steeper and I had to haul myself up the handrail. When I almost reached the top I saw the little cashiers (you pay two Euros) and I felt sorry for her: She does that every day at least once but what happens when nature calls her? I paid my 2 euro, chuckled to myself, climbed the last few yards and then had to get on all fours to climb outside through a small opening that looked almost like a doggy door! The views are amazing but there isn't much space up there. So you waddle after the person infront of you once he finished taking pictures and if you're lucky the person next to him also just finished taking pictures and you eventually make it back down the tower.

If you ever make it to Rothenburg you have to try the local "snowballs", a shortcrust pastry, which looks like snowballs of course. Topped with either cinnamon or other delicious glaze of chocolate, vanilla, caramel, etc and they also come in different sizes if you are afraid of a big sugar rush.

I was very glad that I have squeezed the visit to Rothenburg into my tight schedule as the town is worth a visit and I also had some time with my brother and his girl friend before heading off to Canada.