Across The Fruited Plain: 12-13-2015 ROTHENBURG OB DER TAUBER, GERMANY

Suzy-Q, the lady inside our GPS, took us directly, with just a little confusion on both her part and ours, through the farm country to our next little hotel. Rob did a good job of navigating the tiny cobblestone lane, about a foot wider than the car on either side. The Hotel Reichsküchenmeister is inside the wall near the center of town. Not a single crabby Kraut is employed here. The staff is beyond gracious. What a view from our beautiful second floor room, through a double set of windows made up of small panes framed in wood.

View from our window

Between them is our “refrigerator” for sundries such as wine and cheese. Before long we were settled in and, after checking the documents and play money supply we routinely carry, it was time to go walk the glittery Christmas lanes. (I keep my “pretend money” in a ziplock. Classy, hey?) There are decorations everywhere: thousands of Christmas lights, trees, boughs, ribbons and ornaments as far as the eye can see.

Rothenburg Christmas Market

Marketplace flanked by ancient buildings

Röthenburg (“Red Fortress”) is an ancient city dating back to the 11^th century and is still hugged by its original 3-foot thick walls. I am not sure from who the walls protected the burg, probably many different invading armies over the centuries. One army that did not attack Röthenburg was the Allies during WWII. The city was recognized as an ancient treasure and although everything outside the walls was obliterated, Röthenburg went unscathed, in like manner as other monuments such as the centuries-old Cologne Cathedral.

Cologne Cathedral surrounded by rubble (note the bridge)

Lindy at the wall around
Rothenburg

Wall thickness measured in Rob-arms

In the center of town is the Church of St. Jakobus (St. James) and around it are beautiful half-timber buildings with tall gables and crooked shutters. At the top of the Ratstrinkstube, the councilors’ tavern, animated figures depict a particular scenario from the 1600s. In a confrontation with enemy forces led by General Tilly, Mayor Georg Nusch and he reached an agreement.

Typical half-timber building. This one is a pharmacy.

My favorite store: Kathe Wohlfahrt's
Christmas Market

If Mayor Nusch could drink 3 ½ liters of wine in one minute, he would save his town from being pillaged. Well, being the hero that he is, he chugged all of it and saved his town. What a giver. (No one says how the Mayor felt the next morning.)

There is a museum here that features medieval torture implements. Somehow, a tour through this place didn’t seem to fit the spirit of The Season. One device I know of was a cage built of bars. A person was locked in this cage and submerged in the river until near-death (if he was lucky, I guess). An infraction that justified this torture, as an example, was if a bread maker sold a one-pound loaf of bread that didn’t quite weigh one pound or a dozen rolls that was below the prescribed weight. It became common practice for him to throw an extra roll in the bag, just to be on the safe side. Thus was born the expression, “a baker’s dozen,” thirteen.

If Rob is on a quest to find the perfect wienerschnitzel, I am on one to find the perfect leberknödel. Rob may achieve his dream but I probably will not, because I already know where the perfect leberknödel was: my Mom’s kitchen. Everybody else tries hard. Fortunately, the recipe is still alive and well in the family recipe collection!