Day 2 Recap.

We had an early start on this morning. We bused over to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. I don't remember too much of it. I slept most of the way. Last night, a couple of our group got locked out of he hotel. Attempts were made to wake people of our party by throwing rocks at what was thought to be there windows. Eventually, one of the group managed to unlock the door. Our hotel is more like a B & B than a hotel. The rooms have no AC so sleeping with the windows open cools things off real quick. The shower was really annoying. It doesn't allow you to take showers in the traditional manner. It has a timer system to conserve on water use. Breakfast is good. They offer open faced sandwiches on some of the best hard rolls I've ever had!


Today's itinerary included:
1) A tour of the medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber . The name "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" means,  "Red fortress above the Tauber". The town is located on a plateau overlooking the Tauber river. As to the name "Rothenburg", some say it comes from the German words Rot (Red) and Burg (medieval fortified town), referring to the red color of the roofs of the houses which overlook the river. The town was the inspiration of the towns for the movies "Pinocchio" and "Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang". Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows was filmed there.

2) A tour of the Criminal Museum. The Criminal Museum (Kriminalmuseum) is a German legal history museum which gives an insight into judicial punishment over the last 1000's of years. Exhibits included torture instruments, punishment instruments, medieval legal texts and guidance on witch trials. The museum was really disturbing. It was so surreal that the items displayed had actually been used on people. It was kind of sickening when you thought about. You couldn't take pictures inside. But here is a web link if your interested:
http://www.kriminalmuseum.rothenburg.de/Englisch/engframe.htm

3) We shopped in an amazing Christmas Museum and Store (Kathe Wohlfahrt). This is the headquarters for the company. You can find a store or two here in the states.
http://www.wohlfahrt.de/index.php?article_id=1&clang=1

4) I walked the entire town wall with my parents and another couple Pam and Paul O. It was pretty cool. There a plaques along the length that acknowledge the donations of people to help rebuild the all following the destruction from WW II

  


5) We walked through St. James Church (St. Jakob). The church was built between 1211-1484. with a wooden altarpiece carved from 1500-1505.  It serves as a church on the pilgramage route to St. James Church in Santiage de Compostela, Spain. The church houses carved alter pieces.

6) We bused to Dossenheim and attended the KerweFest, a small local wine festival. They never saw us coming. We overwhelmed them. This trend happened everywhere we went. Our group was loud and fun. We closed the festival down. We also overwhelmed a local fastfood establishment. I experienced a doner kebab. It is the Turkish equivalent of a Gyro. Good Stuff.
7) It was back to Goodfella's for another night of closing down the bar. We were a novelty with many of the patrons especially the 20 somethings. They wanted to impress with their dance moves and the ability to sing with current American hits.


Church total for day = 2         Trip total =6
Pubs/festivals = 2 (Hefe was beer of choice)
Food = Pommes Frites, Curry wurst, whitewirst, breadzel