Day 7: Romantic Road (Day 2) Rothenburg ob der Tauber (Day 1)

Hello again...enough reading yet? Bored yet? Please feel free to comment!

So after a fairly pleasant night in the Augsburg digs, we decided to see their large cathedral (Dom Maria) and then continue on our way down the road. We had about 7 towns on the map to scope out on our way to Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Once we found parking at a small garage we then looked for this gigantic cathedral. When we found it we couldn't go in right away as they were performing a service. Once that finished we popped in to have a look.

Dom Maria - Augsburg

Some of these churches are quite huge! This church had a lot of alcoves for the fatefully departed...but only if you had money to pay for it! Sometimes the vastness of the church can be a little intimidating...you automatically whisper as you walk around. One of my guidbooks stated that this church had some of the oldest stained glass in Germany. That some of it dated from the 12th century.

Stained glass

OK! So on to the next town. We got back into the car and got on the highway towards Donauworth. Here we stopped for the Liebfrauenkirche which has a sloping floor that drops about 120cm! It was a really nice church, but the picture that Jeff got is really cool. You can see the slope and it helps him get most of the back of the church.

Liebfrauenkirche - picture at the front of the church showing the back.

So most of these towns were a quick hop out of the car (or drive right through) so we wouldn't arrive too late in Rothenberg. The next stop in the whirlwind Romantic Road tour was Harburg. Actually we stopped at the castle beside Harburg called Schloss Harburg. It was a whim to pop in, but boy was it cool. It was a 12century castle with of course add on from the other centuries. You can take a tour of the castle but only in German. They give you a pamphlet in English to follow along. It was really neat to go into the tower building that have been documented at 1150.

Schloss Harburg - Courtyard

When we went is was right at lunch time, so the tour office was closed, but thankfully there is a Gasthaus inside the keep. They actually have rooms to rent there if you want to stay in a castle.

Jeff with his back to the castle wall

Our German Lunch - Chicken stew (J) and Bratwurst (E)

and of course Trez:

Trez forgot his T-Tunic in the Car...oops!

So once we finished hanging out at the castle we decided to keep trekking...our next stop Nördlingen.

Here we stopped to check out their church and take some more cathedral pictures. It is more of the same, so we will do a slide show when we get back. We then went to Dinkelsbühl to see the lovely city...really nice and we stopped for ice cream. Apparently Germans loves their ice cream! The town was so lovely and the ice cream was tasty.

Erin Enjoying her Sunday.

Jeff and I in  Dinkelsbuhl

This was really getting to be a long trip and we were getting tired. We made a note that we wanted to come back here and Nordlingen to spend more time in the beautiful renaissance cities. We were getting anxious to see Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This would be Jeff's 1st time staying in a medieval hostel, as I was able to stay in one in Nuremberg as you know.

Here is our hostel:

International Youth Hostel - Rothenburg ob der Tauber

This was the view from our room:

We could see the west side of the city...but we had a great view.

This city was so amazing. I recommend it to everyone! It had the most amazing architecture, people and things to see. Apparently their Christmas market is to die for. The food is about the same price for a touristy location anywhere, but I think it is really worth it. The city has amazing charm, churches and little shops. Everyone was very friendly and it was sure a great workout going up and down the city. Jeff and I want to go back and see it again. Every night a dusk the church bells ring to tell everyone it is time to be back in the town walls, this is from the medieval times. We found tones of cute kitties within the wall. They even had vineyards along the outside walls. Here is a picture of the Western gate, the most safe gate was it has the old castle gardens and 3 sides of cliffs (which have grapes on them now).

Western Gate at dusk - Rothenberg ob der Tauber

This was taken on our first walk when we got to the hostel in the evening. What a great way to spend an evening.

Gute Nacht,
Ern