"Romantic Road Must See " a Rothenburg ob der Tauber Travel Page by JJBlondie

After almost 2 hours on the road from Oberursel, one gas stop, one pit stop for ice cream and water, we decided to skip Würzburg and stop in Rothenburg for the afternoon. Rothenburg is one of the most famous stops on the Romantic Road, a former medieval Franconian town complete with encircling wall and defensive towers. Guide books say give yourself days to explore this town, I personally found 3 hours to be sufficient, but I’m not really the touristy type. I did, however, take some beautiful shots of this town as I wandered around. It really was quaint and beautiful, although a bit crowded.

After a brief stop at the Visitor Information Center to check out hours for museums, shops, and restaurants, I headed to the Kriminal Museum, known for its torture instruments and devices, and as the most important legal museum in Germany because it offers insight into the legal happenings, laws and punishments over the past 1,000 years. After my tour I headed out into the streets of Rothenberg for some shopping and picture taking.

I wandered into the Käthe Wohlfahrt store, where it truly was Christmas in July. Käthe Wohlfahrt is famous worldwide for her handcrafted Christmas ornaments, decorations, music boxes, and nutcrackers. I spent an hour wandering the various levels and sections of this winter wonderland, elbowing my way through tourists from Japan, America, Germany, France, and who knows where else. It was pretty cool, albeit quite expensive. Needless to say, my need for bargains didn’t allow much purchasing power, but they did accept my American Express, not surprising for a tourist town, but unheard of in general in Germany and Europe.

I did stop and buy a Schneeballen, as they were selling them in all the pastry shops in town, and I didn’t want to miss out on this Bavarian treat. A schneeballen or snowball, is basically a sugary pastry ball. I picked a plain powder sugar covered one, but they had chocolate and sprinkles and all sorts of toppings to choose from.