May 19, 2018 – Day Four – Rothenberg ob der Tauber, second day

May 19, 2018 – Day Four – Rothenberg ob der Tauber, second day

What a delight it is to sleep in!  It’s nine o’clock!  We have to hustle so as not to miss breakfast (a mortal sin, I’m sure!).  We wander in around nine forty-five and the sweet lady in charge of breakfast makes us some more scrambled eggs and slices some more cucumbers and tomatoes.  There is still plenty of sliced cheeses, cubes of feta, bacon and sausages, mixed fruit, yogurt, cereals with various nuts to add, delicious breads and butter and jams.  There are even four kinds of juice from which to choose!  And a fresh pot of coffee at our table!  While we’re eating we hear drums and look out of the window to see about two dozen musicians and courtiers marching toward our gate! 

We thank our hostess profusely and promise to be earlier tomorrow!

View from our balcony

Our home away from home

We come back to our room to stretch and do all those things one normally does before leaving, then head for the Meistertrunk (Master Draft) Festival.  Before we’ve gone very far we come upon a group of mounted soldiers who are singing for beers outside a hotel.  One of the horses is particularly skittish, but no one but his rider seems to notice.  We see this group, or one like it, a little later, having another beer from a friendly innkeeper!

We have plenty of time before the play and go exploring, following Rick Steve’s walking tour, well, mostly!  But first we stop into a shop we’ve seen before and this time we each buy a stein charm for our necklaces!

We see a blacksmith plying his trade, and a woodturner.  We see some of the ladies getting their hair plaited and a cook preparing a stew. There’s a craft fair that requires separate admission, but we’ve got our all-weekend passes, so we’re just fine!  

There are falconers with three different birds of prey including a Harris Hawk and another from Central and South America.

We explore St. Jacob’s Church, which is Lutheran, and houses what is described as the most beautiful altar piece in all of Germany!  And a huge pipe organ!  There is a cultural tie between the Lutheran deanery of St. Jacob’s and Tanzania!

The Altar of the Holy Blood

The details are amazing.  Look at the horseshoe nails!

There are wandering groups of mummenschantz signing and entertaining all over the town!

Okay - disclaimer:  I'm in love with these buildings!  Hold on!

This is the nuns' garden, where they grew herbs and medicinal plants.

The two crosses meant it was very deadly!  I don't know why nuns grew deadly plants!

This one's called Dictamus albus L.

The well in the garden, and the mechanism for lifting the cover.

That's a really big gate!

View through the bars in the old city wall.

The Night Watchman told us about this little door.  If you were out after curfew, you had to pay a fine and crawl back into the city through this tiny door!

The face was actually where they poured hot oil down on intruders!

The coat of arms for the Red Castle (Rothenberg)

Oh, oh!  Girl fight!

This is all that remains of the old Blasius Chapel.  The stone is a memorial to the Jews who died during the Rintfleish Pogrom which nearly extinguished the entire Jewish community in 1298.

This is the largest house in town, and it has been continuously occupied by the same family for 300 years! (But as the Night Watchman told us - not the same people!)

By four we’re ready to eat and find a restaurant, Baumeisterhaus, where we can sit inside and enjoy a moment or two off our feet!  Marilyn has a not-too-sweet white wine and I have a dark wheat beer from a brewery called Hofmuhl.  If I were more of a connoisseur, I would be able to tell you it had hints of smoke or whatever.  However, I just know it tasted grand!  Who knew I’d turn into a beer drinker!  (Ole and Stu, are you proud?)

We ordered two of the regional specialties.  Mine was called Landsknechtseller (lentils, noodles, sausage and smoked pork sausage).  Marilyn got Frankische Bratwurst (fried sausage with sauerkraut and boiled potatoes_)  I guess no one eats vegetables here!!  My lentils were delicious;  you are supposed to mix them with the noodles, which have no flavor of their own.  I was unable to finish my dinner!!  Who can eat all that food??  

We finished up just in time to walk across the square for the play, in the Imperial Hall.  And what a play!  Even though I only caught about two percent of the dialogue, I already knew the basic story line and the actors were so expressive, that it was easy to follow along!  Basically, the city fathers know they are about to be overrun by the bad guys and argue over whether to surrender or keep fighting.  They do, and they are defeated.  The conquering anti-hero and his minions descend on city hall, where our fearless leaders plead for the city.  They even offer him the key!  Eventually, the conqueror drinks a large tankard of wine, with the help of all his companions and challenges the mayor to drink a similar amount – but by himself and all in one go!  He does!!  And the city is saved!

All of it!?!?

I think I can!

Look!  It's gone!

And I feel AWFUL!

There is a large cast, and beautiful costumes, and musicians and everything!  Very professional, although I suspect that they are volunteers!  At the end, the young girls throw flowers out into the audience and Marilyn catches one of the bouquets (I don’t think that means she’s getting married any time soon!)  The entire cast marches off stage by ones and twos while the musicians play and the audience claps in unison.

Back outside various groups are gathering to join in the smaller parade of the festival, but we don’t feel the need to follow them.  Instead, we spend a few minutes in Teddy’s, looking at the Steiff animals;  I really don’t need the beautiful dragon!  I’m so strong!  What we really need is ice cream!  I need crème brulee!  Yes – life is good.  And there’s even a stork on her nest atop one of the towers!

Back home just before dark with time to plan for tomorrow (Marilyn has found a Catholic church) and to decide whether we really want to go inside Neuschwanstein (Cinderella’s) Castle the next day, or just take pictures from the outside.  They won’t let you take pictures inside, and you have to arrive an hour and a half early, and there’s something about not ordering your tickets more than two days in advance and having to have printed them!  It sounds way to complicated – and there are lots of other castles!  Pictures from outside will be just fine!

Now to shower and blog and sleep!!