Rothenburg ob der Tauber

On our way back from Garmisch we stopped in the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It's one of the very best preserved medieval towns in all of Europe. And just to keep with the Disney theme from last post I'll note that Rothenburg was the inspiration for the town in Walt Disney's Pinocchio. It was fun to step back in time and imagine what medieval life may have looked like (without all the disease and poverty of course). The town has been around since around 960 AD. It even survived some of the destruction of WWII. 40% of the town was destroyed during the War but most of the historical area was saved. When the troops came across the town an American convinced the General to offer the city a chance to surrender so as to preserve as much of the history and spare as many of the people as possible. The surrender surely saved this beautiful town from total destruction.

The whole of the medieval part of the city is surrounded by a giant rock wall. Towers sit in strategic places along the wall which served as lookout towers in case of fire or foe. We saw the Town Hall Square which is a quaint plaza where the Town Hall rests (obviously). The meistertrunk on the building reenacts an important part of town history. Legend goes that the town was spared from the Imperial Forces of Count Tilly when a local hero stepped in and saved the day. The Count declared he would take mercy on the town is someone could drink and entire tankard which contained about a gallon of wine in one dose. The Mayor volunteered and to the town's great joy he accomplished the deed and the people were delivered from destruction.
After walking down numerous cobblestone streets and checking out the various historic buildings we found a souvenir shop where we finally broke down and bought a German Stein and a Christmas wheel which is propelled by small candle flames. After entering we found out from the owner, a sweet little old lady who's grandma had owned the house originally, explained to us that she gives a 15% discount to all military and if we knew of Rick Steve she'd give us an additional 10% off since he mentions her shop in his book. Well! Weren't we surprised. She also gave Jay a little wooden toy soldier who's arms and legs flop up and down when you pull a string.
We had a great time in the medieval city and wouldn't mind going back during their huge festival in May. Apparently they celebrate their salvation from Count Tilly every year with a huge medieval carnival. Sounds fun!