{"id":2275,"date":"2013-07-14T20:50:59","date_gmt":"2013-07-14T19:50:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/?p=2275"},"modified":"2026-05-24T08:17:34","modified_gmt":"2026-05-24T07:17:34","slug":"a-german-gem","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/2013\/07\/14\/a-german-gem\/","title":{"rendered":"A German Gem"},"content":{"rendered":"

On Friday we got up really late, at 9:15;\u00a0 brilliant !!!\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I spent what was left of the morning catching up on computer stuff and when Rodney finished his breakfast at 11:15am, he gave Eileen a bit of clean outside.\u00a0 A short walk around the tiny village of Detwang and along the river was about the only exciting thing we did all day. We ate breakfast, lunch and dinner outside, which is what we had expected to be doing in Europe in the summer, and it was oh so lovely to have a day of doing nothing much in the sunshine.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Above
Above the Tauber River<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Saturday morning was another lazy start and then a big breakfast outside, watching the comings and goings of a campsite morning.\u00a0 We tend to try and greet people in the language of the country we are in, unless we can see their vehicle registration plate and then we\u2019ll try their language.\u00a0 Mind you, I have said bonjour in Austria and momentarily forgotten how to say good evening in German.\u00a0 But we have noticed that the Germans always say \u201chello\u201d or \u201cguten morgen\u201d, whether they\u2019re in Switzerland, Italy, France, or at home; I\u2019ll keep an eye on this theory as we pass through Luxembourg, Belgium and France.\u00a0 We also want to know how they play Scrabble in Germany, as there really don\u2019t seem to be many words that consist of only seven letters or less\u2026..?<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Klingentor
Klingentor Gatehouse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We finally got our shoes on, very late in the morning, and walked up the steep footpath to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. \u00a0We entered the medieval town through the very impressive Klingentor gatehouse and started to follow the walking tour in our Michelin guide book, assisted by the local tourist information leaflet.\u00a0 The town\u2019s turbulent history has been threatened with destruction a few times in the past, but always managed to survive. Firstly an earthquake in the 14th<\/sup> century took out the castle.\u00a0 In the 17th<\/sup> century, during the Thirty Years War, the Protestant town failed to withstand a Catholic siege and 40,000 mercenaries pillaged the place for three months.\u00a0 The town was going to be razed to the ground and the citizens executed, until the victorious general of the Catholic army agreed not to, if one of the locals could empty a single draught tankard of wine containing 3.4litres \/ 6 pints, in one go. \u00a0The mayor volunteered and miraculously succeeded, and the town was saved. The Meistertrunk now celebrates that event every year!! \u00a0Then the third attempt at destruction was made by allied bombers in WW2, damaging parts of the town, but much of it has now been beautifully restored.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Pl\u00f6nlein
Pl\u00f6nlein and Siebers Tower<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
City walls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Wandering around, we photographed so many lovely mediaeval buildings and walked on parts of the impressive city walls. \u00a0As it was a hot day, we took refuge for a while inside a cafe in the market square for drinks and to sample the very impressive desserts on show. \u00a0I couldn\u2019t resist the local speciality, a chocolate schneeb\u00e4lle and Rodney overdosed on a raspberry tart covered in cream, along with an iced coffee topped with a pile of cream. \u00a0He was thoroughly creamed by the time we stepped back outside.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"The
The Hegereiterhaus<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"
Schmiedgasse<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

With legs slightly rested, we paid to squeeze ourselves up the narrow staircase and ladders inside the tower above the Rathaus (Town Hall); it was quite tricky at the top, but worth the effort for the delightful view over the town and surrounding Tauber Valley.\u00a0 And, after further exploration down on ground level, we visited a very impressive Christmas shop, the likes of which we\u2019ve never seen before. The Germans obviously love their Christmas decorations, with some prices reaching into hundreds of dollars!!\u00a0 It was all too much for Rodney, so our next stop was a beer garden and a soothing ice-cold beer!!<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Topplerschl\u00f6ss
Topplerschl\u00f6ss down in the Tauber Valley<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Galgen
Galgen Gate and city walls<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Rothenburg really is lovely, even if it is a bit of a touristy town, hence we spent a long time there.\u00a0 So we were rather glad,\u00a0after being on our feet for so long<\/span>, that the 2km walk back to the campsite was all downhill.\u00a0 Cod, r\u00f6sti and salad, cooked up by chef Rodney, was a lovely meal to top off a fine day.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Street
Street sign in Rothenburg<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

Most of the day on Sunday, after being woken at 7am by manic church bells, was spent cleaning, washing and some relaxing.\u00a0 I actually sat in the sunshine for a while and read 125 pages of my book; that was a first!\u00a0 Rodney opted to go for a long bike ride up the Tauber Valley and then late in the afternoon, we both walked back up to Rothenburg to have a bit more of a wander and an evening meal cooked for us.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Theres
There’s a house under there somewhere !<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

We started with a drink in an old fashioned Weinstube and sat discussing where to head to, on Monday.\u00a0 Somehow we just weren\u2019t in the mood for more meat, potatoes and cabbage and so we picked a Japanese restaurant for something a bit healthier.\u00a0 It turned out that they have a buffet dinner on Sunday evenings, so we pigged out on unlimited, miso, sushi, gyoso, spring rolls, fried chicken and more.\u00a0 Then we finished it all off with chocolate pancakes and fresh fruit salad.\u00a0 It was delicious and we literally waddled back down the hill to the campsite.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Baumeisterhaus
Baumeisterhaus with the Seven Virtues and Seven Vices. Gluttony is second from left on the lower level….<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

On Friday we got up really late, at 9:15;\u00a0 brilliant !!!\u00a0\u00a0 \u00a0I spent what was left of the morning catching up on computer stuff and when Rodney finished his breakfast at 11:15am, he gave Eileen a bit of clean outside.\u00a0 A short walk around the tiny village of Detwang and along the river was about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":2277,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ngg_post_thumbnail":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-europe"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2275"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8377,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2275\/revisions\/8377"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.petersphotogallery.com\/rodneyandlaura\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}