Nuremburg

Craft guild just outside our Nuremburg hotel

We awoke at the Reichsküchenmeister Hotel around 6 am and relaxed until it was time to go to breakfast at 7:30. As with the morning in Würzburg, breakfast was very good with a selection of fresh breads, cheeses, cereals, fruits and juices. Sausage and eggs were also available. We enjoyed breakfast with Cindy and Jodie then gathered our bags for the walk to the train station about 20 minutes away. We were cautious because we had to make two transfers before arriving in Nuremberg, but we sat with two local ladies who were very helpful in guiding us to the correct track for the trains we needed. Since both of these ladies take these trains for their daily commute, we had confidence in their knowledge of the best route. One of the ladies had a bright orange umbrella making her easy to find in a busy train station. The trains went through mostly agricultural land and small villages between Rothenburg and Nuremberg. Corn and rapeseed are the dominant crops in the region. We even saw quite a few stands for deer hunting near the fields.

Our hotel in Nuremburg

Our hotel, The Victoria, was just inside the Nuremberg city gate and only short walk from the train station. Because we were at the hotel before 10 am, we couldn’t check in, but the clerk was happy to store our bags until we returned in the afternoon.

We walked through the Old Town market and the Christmas Market, stopping for a hot chocolate along the way. Like all other cities in Germany, hot drinks are sold in a porcelain cup with a deposit that can be redeemed by returning the cup to any drink vendor in the city. As we walked, Cindy spotted a young man with a WVU knit cap. His family of four was visiting Germany from Martinsburg, WV, so we had a nice visit before walking toward the Imperial Castle.

Outside Nuremburg's Imperial Residence

We walked up the hill to Imperial Castle which housed the region’s rulers as far back as the 1200’s. The structures have changed some over the 800 years but is mostly as it was when the area’s rulers resided here. There are displays of armor, swords, early firearms and other items of the day. There were gold items belonging to kings from hundreds of years ago. After spending about 90 minutes in the castle, we walked up the many steps in the tower to have a beautiful view of the city from the top. As we were trekking up the 113 steps to the top of the tower, we spoke with a family from Huntington, WV. Because there is a limit on the number of people who can be in the tower, we didn’t chat long. A gate at the bottom of the tower only allowed visitors to go up the tower as people came down.

Nuremburg's Christmas Market

It was nearly 2 pm by the time we left the castle, so we looked for a place to get lunch. We first found a stand selling kartoffelpuffer, or potato pancakes, which we enjoyed a lot. We split an order of three pieces among the four of us. Another stand had Nuremberg bratwurst which are three small sausages with sauerkraut on a hard roll. The sandwiches were very good because the kraut in Bavaria isn’t as sour as most kraut sold in the US. Dessert was a Nuremberg specialty, Lebkuchen, a special type of gingerbread.

Statue of Kaiser Wilhelm I

Jodie and Cindy returned to the Hotel Victoria, but Mary and I found a post office just inside a city gate where we bought stamps to mail our postcards. We got back to the hotel around 4 pm and stretched out for about an hour. Afterwards we went back to the Christmas market with Jodie. We all found a few gifts for kids in the family and had a snack while we walked. We got back to the hotel by 7:30 then laid out Thursday’s clothes and repacked for the train to Munich.

We had been in Nuremburg when we were visiting Emily in 2010 but seeing the city again was great. However, we tend to enjoy the small towns wherever we travel, and Nuremburg, Munich and Frankfurt are larger cities than we prefer.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

We didn’t awake until 7 am, which is the longest either of us can remember sleeping. I don’t think that either of us twitched in the night. Since we hadn’t slept much on the airplane, the nearly 12 hours of sleep was welcome. We awoke refreshed and ready for our visit to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. The city name means "Red castle over the Tauber River" to avoid confusion with another Rothenburg on the border with Poland in far eastern Germany. Breakfast at the Hotel Wurzburger Hof was very good with the homemade breads, cheeses and hot foods like eggs and sausages.

Our hotel in Rothenburg

We walked the short distance to the Wurzburg train station, where we took a regional train to Steinhof and then we transferred to another train to  Rothenburg. By 10 am, we had arrived at the Rothenburg train station. Because we were staying at the Reichsküchenmeister Hotel so early, we were unable to check in but the clerk stored our bags for us in the small library near the registration desk. The Christmas market started right outside the door to our hotel by St. Jacob’s Evangelical Lutheran Church. Mary, Cindy and Jodie toured the church, while I walked around the Old Town to get a lay of the land. The church was built as a Catholic Church in 1311 but later became a Lutheran Church following the Protestant Reformation.

Gate through the wall surrounding the ancient city

Like other old German towns, Rothenburg has beautiful, well maintained cobblestone streets adding to the overall charm of the medieval city.

We met back up and started walking through the town when Cindy saw a Käthe Wohlfahrt store. Although I was unaware of her or her stores, we later learned that she is a major retailer of collectible Christmas items. Her Rothenburg store reports offering over 30,000 traditional German Christmas decorations. Cindy and Jodie bought several things to bring back as gifts or souvenirs. The store was surprisingly large despite the narrow storefront. The retail area was several floors and was very deep although not wide. The Christmas Museum is above the Käthe Wohlfahrt store. Mary, Cindy and Jodie went in while I walked through the Christmas market, which wasn’t a large square as in some cities but wound through the Old Town area of Rothenburg. They were in the Christmas museum for a little over 30 minutes and reported that the exhibits were very good and included many items from Kathe Wohlfahrt’s personal collection. We decided on the Goldenes Lamm for our late lunch because a warm place for a sit-down meal sounded good. Cindy had turkey, gravy and spatzel (noodles), Mary had leberkäse (meatloaf) with potatoes. Jodie and I had schnitzel with French fries. We chatted with two couples at the next table who were from Strasbourg, France.

Rothenburg's Christmas Market

After lunch, Mary, Cindy and Jodie checked into the hotel while I walked through the market and had a Festbier as I walked. The beverage was very refreshing.

At 8 pm we met at the old Rothenburg Rathaus (city hall) for an historic city tour by a reenactor of Rothenburg’s night watchman. This man’s job was to ensure that no one was on the street after dark within the walls of the city, as mandated by the city curfew. He told how the walls protected residents against attacks from Würzburg or Nuremberg or other threats to the safety of residents. The city became prosperous because it was the intersection of two major trade routes. The east/west route was from Asia to Paris while the north/south route was from Scandinavia to Rome. This positioned Rothenburg well to gain in wealth and importance. However, as trade routes moved, Rothenburg’s economy slowed. Despite the strong city walls completely surrounding it, the Protestant Rothenburg was overrun by Catholic troops in 1631 during the Thirty Years War. This left the previously prosperous city poor and nearly empty. In 1634, the bubonic plague swept through the city killing most of the remaining population. The city lived in poverty until the early 1800s, when city leaders realized that they could capitalize on their well-preserved medieval architecture. By advertising the city in Europe and America, Rothenburg started a comeback. By the late 1800s the city became known as a treasure of medieval architecture, and wealthy visitors were attracted to the city. 

Our group with the night watchman reenactor

In 1945, Rothenburg was bombed by British forces, but much of the Old Town was spared. A Nazi general brought troops to Rothenburg and put the city in the crosshairs to be bombed by US forces. Hitler had declared that Rothenburg was "the most German of German towns." Nazi officials frequently took day trips to Rothenburg to visualize epitome of the German 'Home Town'. Although planned for complete destruction by bombing, the U.S. Assistant Secretary of War, John J. McCloy, had grown up in a home with a painting of Rothenburg that his mother had purchased when she was younger. He had always admired the beauty of the city. McCloy ordered the Army to not use artillery in taking Rothenburg. The battalion commander sent a group into Rothenburg to negotiate a surrender. The US offered to spare the city if the city from total destruction if they surrendered to the US. The Nazi general was out of the area so the second in command, Major Thömmes, met with the American officers and said that German troops would vacate the city the next morning. In doing so, Thömmes ignored Hitler’s orders to fight to the end. The city was saved from destruction by the Allied forces. McCloy was later honored as an honorary citizen of Rothenburg.

Rothenburg's Glockenspiel

The night watchman tour ended around 9 pm so we walked the short distance back to the Reichsküchenmeister Hotel and went to sleep quickly.

Like Wurzburg, we had never been to Rothenburg in any of our previous trips to Germany but the city could be one of my favorite places in Germany.

2019 Cincinnati Christkindlmarkt

We took advantage of a pretty November day to go north up I-75 to the Colerain area of North Cincinnati for the Christkindlmarkt.  This reminded us of the Christmas markets in Germany.  These festivals called Weihnachtsmarkt in much of Germany and Christkindlmarkt in Bavaria and Austria, become very busy in the evening.  The food, craft and Gluwein stands fill the air with fragrant aromas. We met up with Emily & Ian around 9 am and met up Sarah and Peter at their home.  Peter had been complaining of an earache but his doctor said that he has pneumonia and gave him a prescription for Amoxicillin.  While he takes the course of antibiotic he was free to do anything he wants. 

The Christmas market, sponsored by the Germania Society of Cincinnati, was held at the Germania Park.  Heated tents were set up for events and meals since the weather this time of year is very unpredictable.  Just two days ago the weather was cold, snowy and windy.  Today was in the mid-40s and beautiful.  There were pens with a variety of animals set up for the children to pet.  Peter liked petting the sheep, goat and donkey. 

We walked through the craft tent where vendors were selling nutcracker figures, beer mugs, gluwein and carvings among other things.  In the food tent, we had wurst, schnitzel, potato pancakes and sauerkraut balls.  Peter ate part of his hot dog and a cup of applesauce. 

After lunch we walked through another tent of vendors and bought pretzels to snack on as we walked.  The last tent we visited had Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte, strudel, cream puffs and other pastries.  The group bought several choices to share as we sat out in the sun but near the steel drums with hardwood fires.  We walked around a little more then headed for home.

Sarah and Peter had driven separately so they headed for their house and Mary, Ian, Emily and I drove back to Georgetown.