When thinking about this blog post on Sunday night, I had many things rushing through my mind, but nothing seemed to jump out as a great topic. I was focused strictly on Zurich, Lucerne, or Interlaken Switzerland, but overlooked the cities and villages that I visited in Germany the week before classes began. Then it hit me out of nowhere that the best example of what we have been discussing in our classes would be the small medieval town of Rothenburg ob der Tauberg.
I arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on May 11th, excited and ready for the adventure that awaited me during the next nine weeks. While packing, a few days prior, I trusted the handy dandy yellow book that was prepared by MUDEC personnel as well as past students of MUDEC. I packed close to what they suggested and was confident that they would lead me in the right direction for what type of clothing (jeans, shorts, long sleeves, etc) that I should bring with me. On arrival I was much surprised to what I found with the weather, not exactly what I had anticipated. I had only packed three pairs of pants and a nice pair of dress pants, however most of this was in my large suitcase that I didn’t want to open until I arrived at my host family’s home (4 days away). Thus in the bag that I packed for the next four days I had with me one pair of jeans, a pair of dress shorts and athletic shorts, along with some t-shirts, golf shirts and long sleeves. The weather was rather cold throu
ghout the week so I had worn my jeans almost every day, thus I was feeling a bit tired of wearing the same pants every day so I decided to pull out the dress shorts that I had packed. After selecting these and making my way down to the vehicle I knew I had made a terrible mistake!This day our group had decided that we would be leaving Munich and heading to the small town of Rothenburg and then on to Landau to spend the night. Rothenburg is located 73 miles NE of Stuttgart and is located on the Tauber River. It is the best-preserved medieval city in Europe (http://www.frommers.com/destinations/rothenburgobdertauber/0124010001.html). We made our way to Rothenburg ob der Tauberg and on arrival we exited the car to sprinkling and lower than enjoyable weather. I suffered the rest of the day working my way around the beautiful medieval town in my shorts and spring rain jacket. This city’s history is very in-depth starting clear back in 950 AD. As many historical medieval territories this town is located right along the Tauber River. This gave the towns people easy access to resources as well as transportation. The actual city of Rothenburg was founded in 1170 when the people build the Staufer castle. As in many medieval towns, the centre of this town was a market place and the Jakobs-Church (http://rothenburg-tourist.de/en/history.htm). While I walked around the town freezing and wet, we found a huge wall that circled the old part of Rothenburg. Through my research I found that these walls were built back in the 13th century. This was to help with protection against foreign attacks and enemies. One of the coolest experiences that I had was walking around this wall and looking at all of the scenery and open land around the exterior of the wall.
Overall I had to struggle to make it through this day because of my poor choice of clothes but the one thing that kept me going and kept me from complaining (at least too much) was the fact that Rothenburg ob der Tauberg was so beautiful, old, and rich in history and the fact that I was right there in the middle of it. The history that occurred on the same ground that I was standing on was racing through my head. I would highly recommend that all visit this old medieval town and make sure you look at the forecast prior to getting dressed for your adventure!Directions to Rothenburg
View Larger Map
Link to books about Rothenburg
http://rothenburg-tourist.de/en/books.htm
Other useful Links
http://rothenburg-tourist.de/en/
http://www.passports.com/trips/cityfact/cityfact.asp?city=Rothenburg
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