In Hell

Day 145

When I woke up I got myself together quickly and quietly. I had half a mind to wake up the ROL on purpose, but I´m a better person than her and I decided not to do it.

It took 3 trains and about 3 hours in a drizzle to get to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Rothenburg is the only medieval walled city in Europe with no modern buildings inside of the walls. I was already in a state of awe from the ten minute walk to my hotel. Hotel Raidel was just a few dollars more than the cost of a hostel would be, and there are no hostels in the old part of Rothenburg. My guidebook had promised that it would make me feel like I had stepped 500 years back in time. Not only did my guidebook say this, but I recognized the guy who owned the hotel. I tooke me a minute to figure out why. He had been in a Rick Steves show. This would have to wait though, my room wasn´t ready so I just dropped off my stuff.

My stomach was growling, I wanted to have something traditional in a nice square. This didn´t really happen. I was just not in the mood to wander far and I ended up with bratwurst around the corner from my hotel. It was pretty good though.

Rothenburg has a few museums, but the main reason to being here is to check out the town. I spent hours just wandering. Eventually I found the town walls. You can walk on the top of them for almost the entire length. In the walls there were plaques from people who had donated money to the city. One of them was even from New Jersey! It was really amazing to get to see the town at roof level. I think that it should be mandatory for everyone to dress the part when the come here. The clothing and the cars were the biggest distractions from feeling like I had stepped back in time.

I stepped in to a magical Christmas store. They had everything here. I thought that I might by ornaments for my family. Then I saw that most of them were €15 or more. It’s the thought that counts, right?

After wandering for most of the afternoon I grabbed an ice cream and headed back to my hotel. When I was finally able to see my room I knew that my guidebook was right, I had stepped back 500 years. I spent some time reading and just listening to the noises outside of my window. When I closed my eyes and listened to the clopping of the horses I was sure that I had time traveled.

I didn´t want to rest forever though, and decided to explore the trails outside of the city for a bit. The Tauber valley was pretty amazing. I pretty much had the park to myself, it was lovely. By the time I had finished this it was 8pm and time for my tour.

At 8pm the bell rang on the Ratstrinkstube (city council tavern) and on either side of the clock two windows opened up. They portrayed a former mayor of the city drinking beer. In 1631 Catholic troops attacked the city. They were about to destroy everything when the general came up with a challenge on a whim. If someone could drink 3 ¼ liters of wine in one gulp he would leave. The mayor took the challenge and succeeded. This is reenacted a couple of times a year.

I was sort of shocked to see that there were about 250 people waiting for this tour. I had never seen such a huge one before. The night watchman´s tour is quite famous though, I have seen in on every travel show that includes Rothenburg.

When the figures were gone the night watchman appeared. He was a fabulous tour guide. Up until 1920 five watchmen cared for the city. Our guide acted like he had been the watchman since the beginning of the city and that he had knocked off the others for less competition.

During the middle ages Rothenburg was fabulously wealthy. It sat at the crossroads of two trade routs and owned huge amounts of land and sheep. It was a city of wealthy merchants and traders. It wasn´t very clean though, just like all medieval cites. Everyone threw out their garbage in the middle of the streets. The night watchman added that there were no good old days.

When we passed through the oldest city gate, dating from the 12^th century, we all admired the new door that had been installed in 1450. The old door was from about 1350.

You might be wondering why Rothenburg never modernized. The answer is the 30 years war. About 13 years into the war Rothenburg was pillaged and lost everything of value except for the buildings. This was despite the fact that Rothenburg had a good fortification system. They fought off the attackers for 3 days. Then the guy in charge of keeping the gun powder save accidentally brought his torch in and blew up the entire tower. This allowed the enemy in. By the time the war was over Rothenburg was very poor with no way to recover.

For the next 250 years nothing happened. The night watchman said that they were very patient, but that it was a very long time. Rothenburg was rediscovered in the 19^th century with all of the other romantic ruins in Europe. Tourists came in droves and brought loads of money, the town became wealthy again. At this point of the tour we passed the oldest building in the city, a tavern called In Hell. The cellars dated from the 10^th century and the building from the 13^th century. He told us that if we were wandering around at night and someone told us to go to hell we should take it as a good suggestions and not an insult.

At the last stop he told us about what happened during WWII. When Nurnburg was bombed the Nazi army retreated to Rothenburg. The allies (the Americans to be exact) wanted to take the city. They did an aerial bombing, but it was cloudy and most of the bombs missed. About 40% of the city was damaged. The next step was to take the city with heavy land artillery. The American who was in charge of this had never been to Rothenburg himself, but his mother had. She had love the city and had bought a painting of it. He didn´t want to destroy the city, therefore he tried to strike a deal with the Nazis. If they would surrender the town then it would not get bombed. The Nazi general happened to be out of town and his next in command decided to surrender the city. This would have been treason for him. However, it was very near the end of the war and he did not see why Rothernburg should be lost. The next morning the Nazi´s moved out and the American´s moved in. Rothernburg was saved.

At the end of the tour everyone had to fight to pay. This guy must be making a huge amount of money. A €4 per person and extra souvenirs to buy he must have made over €1000 for just one hour of work.

I had wanted to check out a beer garden I had found earlier and write in my journal for a bit. The beer garden was very dark though and I needed light to see my journal. In the end I decided to go to hell.

When I had written as much as I could I wandered out of hell and back to the magical streets. There really isn´t another place that has the same sort of magic as Rothenburg.

Sleepwalking

Day 144

After the ROL (rude old lady) had woken me up I had a horrible time trying to sleep again. I was still very tired when the sun came up, but wasn´t able to get back to sleep. I just got out of bed and decided to deal with being drowsy all day.

My original plan for the day was to go to Stuttgart and visit with Laura, who I had met in Nice. Unfortunately, her grandmother was sick and she was taking care of her. I hope that she recovers soon and that I will be able to catch up with Laura at Oktoberfest.

Instead I decided to head to Heidelberg. When I got there I walked right past the tourist office, over a bridge and into the suburbs. I am one smart person. Eventually I wandered back on the right side of the tracks and found the old town. It was an awful lot like an outdoor mall. I spent some time window shopping and then taking pictures of the old buildings. Eventually I wandered up to the ruins of Heidelberg Castle. Well, it was more like huffed and puffed my way up the 330 steps.

Heidelberg castle was a medieval structure that was altered up until the renaissance. This is when it caught on fire and was really just abandoned. Now it is a rather romantic looking ruin. I decided to spring for an audio guide of the grounds and the structure.

A massive moat surrounded the entire thing. I was mortified to learn that during times of peace wild animals would be locked into the drained moat. The aristocracy would then shoot them for fun. It doesn´t seem like much of a sport to me. I bet that those poor animals haunt the grounds now.

Like most castles there were several interesting legends. It is said that whoever bits through a particular brass knocker will gain control of the castle. A witch tried once, but was only able to make a small dent. It really did look like teeth marks. Another is that a knight had just put on his armour when a fire broke out. He didn´t have time to use the staircase and instead jumped out the window. He managed to survive the jump and left his footprint in the rock. The last ledgend is that the architect of the castle had twin sons. While their father was working they would play on the scaffolding. One day they both slipped and fell to their deaths. Their father was unable to continue building the castle. Several weeks later his sons appeared as angels to him in a dream, asking him to continue his work for them. The next day he was back at it with renewed inspiration. Above one of the doors is a sculpture of twin angels, said to be a memorial of the boys.

On a very historical note, one of the façades is said to be the best renaissance artwork in Germany.

Also here was an absurdly enormous wine barrel. Back in the day wine was often used to pay taxes. Everyone would just dump what ever they had into one barrel. I can´t imagine that it tasted very good. This thing was about 2 times my height, it was absolutely massive.

Mark Twain visited Heidelberg and fell in love with the castle and the view from it. He especially loved one of the towers that had broken almost exactly in half.

At this point I headed back to the town to visit the University Museum. For some reason it was closed even though it was a Saturday. As I was still really dragging from lack of sleep I decided to just head back to Frankfurt. I slept for the entire ride.

After some time at the internet café I spent some time reading at the hostel. I called it an early night though, I had a train to catch in the morning.

Footsteps

Day 143

I don´t know what it is, but I seem to have become a morning person. I was up early despite my long day and sort of late night.

It wasn´t long before I boarded a train to Butzbach. The train was a bit odd. It seemed to go on forever and not stop. It might have all been in my head though. Eventually I did get to my stop, but it kind of caught me off guard.

Butzbach holds a bit of family history for me. My Uncle Bill, who I visited in Montana at the beginning of this blog, was stationed here during the 1970´s. He had told me that it was a cute little town and gave me a few places to check out. What I didn´t realize was how absolutely adorable it would be. It also did not appear to have been heavily bombed, if at all. This was a huge and welcomed change from the other places that I had visited in Germany. Butzbach was also not in my guidebook. At the tourist office they seemed positively shocked and happy to see me. Not only did I get the typical information and map there, but also a cathedral guide, a walking tour, and several postcards. The guy there also helped me find the places that my Uncle had told me about, even the GI bar that has closed since the Americans left.

It was almost a funny feeling to have such a beautiful town to myself. I didn´t hear any English spoken unless it was directed at me, and that was only after people realized that I was confused.

The first thing that I went looking for was the bar my Uncle had mentioned. Unfortunately it had shut down in the early nineties after the Americans had left. However, the sign was still there, so I took a few pictures.

Once that was done I decided to follow the walking tour. This basically pointed out all the oldest and most interesting buildings around town. In a place like this they were all old though and all interesting to me. I loved the Market Square, the buildings were all crooked, and I would be surprised if any of them were reconstructions. I sat there for quite some time just taking it all it. I loved it.

St. Mark´s Church was right up the street from here. Well, this place is so small that everything is right up the street from everything else. The brochure about the church invited me to sit and relax, that just by being here I could connect with the spirits of those that had visited before me. I really liked that. The church had some interesting old statues in paintings. The last time it had been restored was in the 1960´s so I think that I would have looked the same to my Uncle when he visited. For some reason there were four coffins in the crypt. I tried to read the description of them (this wasn´t in my guide), but all I could understand was that they were important, and not why.

I continued my tour, checking out the interesting half timbered buildings. I quite like the one called the Owl House. It was the oldest in town. One of the most interesting things I saw was the Landgrafenschloss. This castle was built over several hundred years beginning in the middle ages. By the 17th century it had become a stately home. In the early 19th century it was turned into army barracks. I´m not really sure when the American army set up here. This is where my Uncle lived and worked when he was in Butzbach. My guide told me that most of the barracks had been torn down and turned into a park. Still, I tried to take pictures of everything to see if he would recognize it. (I later found out that I managed to get the window of the room my Uncle lived in as well as where he had worked.) The Americans left in 1991 and the buildings were converted into offices for local administration.

I had wanted to check out the museum, but it was closed. I thought that was odd, it wasn´t a weekend or a Monday. Instead I grabbed a rather late lunch with a very eccentric looking waitress. She gave me free pudding at the end of my meal though so I should be nice.

When I got back to Frankfurt I tried to take a nap, but there was a snorer and it was impossible. Instead I read a bit with my ear plugs in.

I had noticed the day before that a carnival type thing was being set up in the Market Plaz and along the Main. I decided to go there for dinner. I ended up with some weiswurst and apple wine. While I was eating there was traditional music being played live. When I had updated my journal for a bit I went to check out the rest of the party. There were all sorts of rides and games. I bought myself some cotton candy. I seem to always forget what a massive stomach ache that stuff gives me.

When I headed back to the hostel it was only dusk, around 9 pm. Still, I was propositioned, as I had been warned, a few times. I really thought that I would have been worth more than $75. I don´t want this to sound like it was a really dangerous situation, it wasn´t. It was still mostly light out and I was on a well lit main street. It was just a bit weird.

I didn´t manage to meet anyone at the hostel so after reading for a while I headed too sleep. This didn´t last long though. There was an older woman in my room who had been annoying me earlier. She washed her clothes and put her panties all over the room. She then preceded to wander around wearing only her bed sheet. When she was loud around midnight I asked her to be quiet. She yelled and told me that we were not in my house and that I couldn´t ask her to be quiet. I told her that was the point, we were not in hers either and that she should respect the fact that people are trying to sleep. She must of kept yelling for a good 10 minutes. I stuck my ear plugs back in and ignored her, trying to sleep.

Green Eggs and Uno

Day 142

I was up early and packed quietly. I said goodbye to Andrew and headed out. I was on my way to Frankfurt. The train ride was amazing. For most of the time we were right next to the Rhein. There were castles and cute little towns. I would have loved to stopped by all of them. I would take a lifetime though.

When I got to Frankfurt I was happy to find that my hostel was really only a stones throw from the train station. It was however right next to the red light. Next to the hostel was a strip club that advertised a virgin room. Despite the unsavory area, it was on a main street and well lit at night. I wouldn´t have any worries if I was out late.

After dropping my things off at the hostel I grabbed a map and went off to explore. Eventually I found myself at the history museum. It pretty much completely sucked. The only worthwhile part had a few models of the city before WWII, right after, and then after reconstruction. Most of the museum seemed to have state dinnerware. This just doesn´t get my interest up.

When I finished with the museum I headed back to the hostel. There was a free afternoon walking tour and I didn´t want to miss it. Most free walking tours are kinda crap, but this one was really fabulous. It lasted four hours, had a few breaks, and was quite informative. Frankfurt was heavily bombed during WWII. After the war there were two main camps, those who wanted to rebuild completely, and those who wanted to restore. They ended up doing a bit of both. Today Frankfurt has the tallest skyscrapers in Europe, but it also has a cute medieval looking Market Square.

Sven, the guide, led us to the Dom. It´s considered to be the highlight of the city, but after Köln it didn´t look like much. In front of the Dom were the remains of a medieval monastery, these were uncovered due to the WWII bombings.

After a short break for apple wine in the Market Square we peaked into St. Nicolas, the oldest church in town. We were really lucky and someone was playing the organ. It was fabulous.

After Sven treated everyone to ice cream we headed across the Main River to get a view of the skyline. It was pretty nice. At this point we found a nice shady place to just hang out for a bit. Sven said that the tour was free, but if we wanted to tip him we could, if not, that was cool too. He was a good guide and I gave him a nice tip.

When we were done relaxing on the grass we headed back to the hostel. That night the hostel was giving everyone free dinner. I don´t remember the name of it, I think it was like green salad or something. Basically it was an egg and a potato covered in some oddly bright green colored sauce. It was really good.

By the time dinner was over I had met Canadian Megan, another Canadian guy whose name I can´t recall, Irish Stacy and Iranian Kadhim. I pulled out the Uno cards. This really does seem like a game that brings people together. We had a great time and everyone ended up laughing as we added extra rules. Eventually I was worn out though and headed to bed.