Most German of German towns – Rothenburg over Tauber (Part 2)

Rothenburg is actually bigger than I imagine…I don’t think I can walk around the old town within one day. My “hiking” on the covered walkway takes me nearly two hours for a small and most popular part for visitors, and I have no idea how long is the wall, more than thousand meters long (*) ? Anyway it seems impossible to go the entire wall. Yes, it’s interesting due to the historical stories, the view from the wall to the old town…but also quite tiring as I walk in a narrow corridor on a rough cobblestoned surface, go up and down by steep staircases and sometimes I feel a bit…boring when seeing the endless wall.

017 — Another shot of the Castle Gate and the tower is gone!

These above photos taken at very slightly different angles, distance and…the tower is gone, the trees also changed in the second photo. I only noticed it while preparing this post! Interesting! Let’s move to the Castle Gardens. It’s located at the end of the old town on the south side.

013 — The view to the Southern part of the old town from the Castle Gardens

“The Castle Gardens”, actually it should be “the gardens in the place of the castle”, because the castle has been destroyed in the earthquake in 14th century and the stones of the ruins were used to build the city walls.

018 — I’m fascinated by the view of the old town

029 — The view to the southern part of the old town

Once entering the Castle Gardens, turn on the right side, immediately, I’m fascinated by the wonderful view of the southern part of the town and the Tauber Valley, later I follow some small path leading down to the valley…

028 — while walking down to the valley – the view to the city church and double bridge

019 — The geometric flower beds from the 17th century with four figures representing the different four seasons…

I’m sitting on a stone bench near to the gate, enjoy the peaceful scenery in the garden in the mid of autumn, I love the sound when the yellow-dead leaves, leaving their branches, flying down in the wind, creating quite joyful autumn sound.

005 — The garden is huge and the dead leaves on the ground like a beautiful carpet.

023 — I was attracted by a couple in their late 70s…

Suddenly I notice a nice couple, both in their late 70s, well-dressed in black, hand in hand, they walk leisurely…I decided to follow them from behind, they stop at every single sign, read carefully all the informations on it. I follow them for a while until I turn right to continue my own path down to the valley.

006 — hand in hand they slowly walk down to the valley and have no idea that I follow them

007 — From here I go my own path down to the valley

008 — Along the way down…I met almost no one on the road

020 — Back to the garden, I notice another couple reading books on the bench under the late sunlight

I spent almost two days in the old town, tried to discover as much as I can, from the famous the Plönlein to the vast garden in the Southern side, from the Christmas Museum to another one – the Medieval Crime and Justice, from the mysterious endless roads surrounded the old town to different restaurants…

003 — Many hotels in the old town…I’d love to come back and stay here to discover the night life…

024 — another lovely hotel not far from the Castle Gardens

021 — The Christmas museum and shop – after few shots, I notice a sign “No camera”

002 — The last photo taken in the shop – the Rothenburg old town with its soft-toy residents

From lovely and joyful museum I move to another one – far from the main street, at the end of a small downhill alley – the Medieval Crime and Justice museum. It looks scary right from the entrance but I quickly feel a bit boring, maybe without knowledge, informations on the history of the Middle Ages, I didn’t feel any big curiosity or special interest on the museum displays.

The iron maiden – the torture device with hinged front and spike-covered interior has a special display in the Crime and Justice Museum, but in the past it was not used as an instrument of torture or murder, but as a sentence of public humiliation. Looks scary!

025 — Another torture device – it reminds me of the famous durian in Asia! Quite similar from the outside look!

I don’t want to end my post with these horrible devices from The Medieval Crime and Justice Museum, so here I’m sharing another device also from the old times – the lovely apple-press machine and so joyful sale-lady. It’s actually not an easy job as it requires good strength to push the handle!

030 — Now we know how to manage the handle!

016 — Very joyful sale-lady she keeps demonstrating the apple-press machine

I’m leaving the beautiful Rothenburg next day in a misty morning…like my mixed and unclear feelings – I don’t want to say goodbye to the old town but can’t resist the desire to discover the new lands…I’m heading to Hamburg.