Winter Holiday 2011 @ Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany [ entry 2 of 5 ]

event :: Wonderful Xmas Town @ Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.
date :: 16 - 22 December 2011
locatio :: Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Bavaria, Germany.
theme :: red.

[1] The day we checked out from our hotel in Munich, we were supposed to have breakfast at the hotel restaurant. But because we had so much of food leftover from all the shopping hubby and I did before, we  ended up having some scallop, and mix of other seadfood with instant noodles for breakfast (yup pretty weird combination for breakfast). By the time we checked out from hotel, it was 7.30am.

[2] We took the S8 bahn from Hauptbanhof to the airport, which took around 45 minutes. Hubby brought me a long detour at the Hauptbahnof because we were looking for escalator down due to our heavy luggage. You seriously can get loss around the this central train station (I did the first day I was there). It's huge & the underground heading to the rail tracks are like a small shopping mall in itself!

[3] When we reached the airport, we headed straight to the car rental kiosks just in time to the counter opening time at 9am. Hubbykun called a day before asking on the possibility to pick up the car earlier but we were informed that if we do this, we might have some problem with the insurance coverage.  Considering the winter seasons, we decided not to take our chances. We were given Ford Focus 1.6TCDI Combi in black. In actual, hubbykun only booked a smaller car, but somehow or rather we were given free upgrade (part of their xmas/winter time promotion.) We made sure to request winterisation package when making the booking (i.e. winter tires).

[4] This time around, we came equipped with Western Europe GPS of our own. Got a real good deal on the GPS because Amazon was having the 'Cyber Monday' xmas promotion (also bought some other items for myself :P). We calculated that if we rent GPS at the car rental (like what we did during the last Hohe Tauern Austria trip), the cost is almost the same as buying the GPS on sale. So hubbykun ordered online and Alhamdulillah it arrived just 1 day before I went to Munich.

[5] Hubbykun said that he was thankful that we got the free car upgrade because it is more heavy/stable. Regardless, hubbykun is not used to driving on the right side of the road. So that required some getting used to in the beginning. Luckily he had some prior experiences such as when we were in Niagara Falls NY, Hohe Tauern Austria and in Crete Greece (I used to gloat in Malaysia that I'm the better driver, but having not properly driven a car for years I think I have to forego the title to hubbykun now :S).

[6] The journey from Munich to Rothenburg took around 3 hrs (we departed at 9am and reached there at around 12noon). Of course the first thing we did was to check in at the guest house. The landlady that we met was really sweet and friendly. We were ushered into a really huge apartment, with a double bedroom, a kitchen, living area and toilet all for our private use. The room is much bigger than our room in Bristol! :P and better yet, we got the room for just €18.50/person per night.

[7] What I really love about the apartment it not only because it was super-clean, but the it has the perfect location right behind the St James's church and within the old city area (inside the city walls). It only took 2 minutes to walk from the apartment to the rathaus (city hall) and main square. Hubbykun was all praises when he left reviews in their guest book ;) we highly recommend this place if you're interested for a sleepover to visit Rothenburg. We didn't took any photos of this church below, but while enjoying the shops display, we saw this cute miniature of the St. James's Church. There were also miniatures of other buildings in Rothenburg that can be bought by pieces.

[8] During the drive from Munich-Rothenburg, it was raining all the way. The weather didn't turn out any better when we arrived either. Therefore, we decided that we had to spend time indoors. We first checked out the indoor christmas market near the main square. There, we met and chatted with a seller from Iraqi. He said he really wanted to visit Malaysia especially Kuala Lumpur and has a number of friends that has been Malaysian residents for some time now. I suggested he visited during winter so he can run away from the cold weather. Hehe. It's nice to hear when people are interested to visit your mother country right? ;)

[9] This was at the Marketplatz (town square) which was surrounded by the beautiful half-timbered buildings. Hubbykun and I loved seeing them. It reminded me strongly of Romer square in Frankfurt, except this is at a much larger scale, it almost looked like a whole town are filled with them.

[10] The Christmas market wasn't so lively, I guess probably because people would rather stay in the warmth of their homes :P We just spent a bit of time here, and decided to grab a quick lunch (trying to enjoy the town a bit more before it gets dark). Also because the cold weather made you really  hungry all the time :P We found a halal kebab restaurant near the main square. A hot meal always tasted great ;)

[11] The travel books that hubbykun borrowed from the library and his office (since so many has been on business trip, the book is left at the office for anyone to borrow) said that Rothenburg is the best preserved medieval town in Germany! it was not affected by the World War either, so the streets were all cobble stones. Hubbykun has actually came for a day trip here with his office friends a few weeks before (I wasn't around then) - checkout the video below. But I insisted that this is a town I definitely wanna visit. So of course my sweet hubbykun relented to my selfish request and brought me here ;)

[12] He was quite the expert in the town layout too (which is a rarity since I'm always the map reader) right down to the fact that there is a Chinese restaurant near here that we wanted to try out but they were closed due to the festive season ;) Turned out Rothenburg is actually quite small in size. So everything is within walking distance from the the main square (located at the center of the old city). We didn't refer to the map at all during our stay here. I also found out that Rothenburg is part of the recommended 'Romantic Road'. There are also a few recommended Germany driving routes such as the 'Castle Road' and 'Panoramic Road'. I would have loved to try all of them, but all the routes are pretty far each. Since we were short of time, this is one of the place that we picked from.

[13] This is at the Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas Village. Even though it is actually a shopping store, it is definitely one of an attraction that you need to check out in Rothenburg.  The interior of the store was beautifully decorated. This is the main display of the store, the view when we were standing on the stairs staring down this huge xmas tree was simply amazing. Noticed that the display shelves were decorated such that they look like a sqaure of half-timbred buildings. Photography were actually not allowed in here, but we steal a few shots :P Some tourists were not even trying to conceal the fact that they were taking/posing for photos ;)

[14] Throughout the store, the ceilings were lighted with pine leaves and colourful mentols. I first saw this in some video shots hubbykun shared during his first trip. The video doesn't do justice, the view there was  simply magical! We spent quite a bit of time here even though we didn't buy anything. The store in itself is a few stories high. You can find almost any decorations you wish for here. Even though it is to cater mostly for Xmas deco, the store is open throughout the year. Hubbykun's friend said it will probably be quite weird thinking that you enter here in the July summer. We kinda agree :P

[15] There are actually a few Käthe Wohlfahrt branches around Germany. I found out that about this when I checked out the brochures that they place in the store. We also found out that they have a second store right across the street! Guess the huge first store didn't offer enough space after all?? :P I felt like taking photos of about everything! even their deco lorry looked so cute ;)

[16] By the time we left Käthe Wohlfahrt, it has gotten dark outside. Even though it was still early, quite a number of xmas market stalls have already closed for business. Suddenly, we hear people singing outside, turned out there was a xmas carol at the town hall. There was an authentic huge xmas tree outside the town hall too. Not surprising because Rotenburg is surrounded by the Bavarian alps.

[17] Because of the sleet/rain, the temperature was extremely cold outside. Even though I had my umbrella, my shoes were soaking wet. We decided to warm up by taking a quick hot chocolate break at the first restaurant we came across near the town square. In the beginning, I really wanted to try out the Schneeballen ('snow balls'), a famous delicacy in Germany. Hubbykun told me he has tried it when he visited Mittenwald with some friends, but he didn't particularly liked it. I thought it was more like a muffin, but apparently they fried it before dipping it into chocolates. Since I don't particularly enjoy fried stuff these days, I didn't try it myself.

[18] After a bit more walking around and enjoying the xmas window displays, we had dinner at a restaurant near here too. We both had a fish meal, some salad, more hot chocolates and even an apple pudding topped with ice cream. Yummy! :P After dinner, we wanted to walk around town a bit more, but when the rain started getting heavier, we decided it was time to take the night cap.

[19] Since we went to bed quite early the night before, we had an early start the next day. Woke up at 5am, then had instant noodle for breakfast (more leftover food from Munich :P). We were supposed to check out that morning. Since we had use of the kitchen and will be on a rather long drive after that, I cooked some fried rice for the journey. Since it was too early for check out, we decided to have a walk frrst. The first thing we did that morning was to take photos/videos at the Plönlein fork, a famous landmark and one of the most taken pictures of Rothenburg ob der Tauber found in travel books or postcards.

[20] Hubbykun was counting on snow, but there were only some ice frost on the car and house rooftops that practically melted as soon as the sun came out. But it did started snowing a few hours after that. We also went to the medieval criminal museum. I first thought that this is use for beheading criminals, but hubbykun told me it is just a punishment to humiliate the criminals.

[21] After that, we went back to apartment at around 10am to check out. The lovely landlady thanked hubbykun for the nice comments/drawings on the guest book ;) After that, we did the Town Hall (Rathaus) clock tower climb. Hubbykun told me that "Rothenburg ob der Tauber" literally means "Red fortress above the Tauber river". It is referring to the red colour of the roofs of the houses which overlook the river. You can get this superb aerial view from the top of the clock tower.  You'd need to pay €2/pax right before the final climb to the huge clock. Only a total of 20 people are allowed to be at the top of the clock tower at a time, seeing that the standing area at the top is quite small.

[22] Unfortunately, there wasn't any lift getting up. So some manual labour was required. The climb started off easy enough, wide and beautiful spiral stairs like this. But I soon found out that this tower is actually not really designed for tourists. The last hurdle getting to the clock tower was a rather thrilling steep step ladder :P It was quite interesting just observing the different climbing styles and the types of footwear people attempt it with haha.

[23] Rothenburg is surrounded by town walls that form a ring around the old city. I'm guessing it us used to protect the city in the medieval times. Surprisngly the city walls are accessible for pedestrians free-of-charge. So cool! I remember when we went to Segovia, I really wanted to walk around the Roman aquaduct which surrounds the city but it was close for maintenance at that time (so dissappointing!).

[24] Glad we managed to do it here. From the city walls, you will get great views over the city and the Tauber valley. We took a lot of video shots while walking along the city walls. During our first day here, we only did half of the walk and we continued the other half the next day.

[25] At some points around the city walls, there are also tower gates. While I was on the clock tower,  I counted  about 7 towers, I could be mistaken about the real number. All of the towers looked pretty well-in-tact. Checked online and some of the popular tower gates are the Siebers Tower and Klingen tower at the north of the city.

[26] However, my favourite and one I particularly liked is this Burg (Castle) gate located at the west of the city. Probably because of its beautiful curve tower shape. The Castle Gate heads towards to the large and beautiful Castle Garden. The medieval castle that used to be here is no longer around because it was destroyed in an eartquake long since. We didn't spend a lot of time here, because it was almost 1pm and we were  supposed to head out to our next destination.

[27] Video during hubbykun's visit with his colleagues.

[28] And video during our visit! :)

Coming up next, the white lake.