It's situated on a hillside (like all castles and fortresses in Germany) and its claim to fame is that it withstood attacks from around 1100 to the 1600's. And even then, the reason for its fall was due to the gunpowder babysitter accidentally blowing it all up when they most needed it during an invasion.
Part of its success against attackers was its curfew policy. Evidently every night they would blow a horn and warn all those outside that they had 1 hour to get back into the town walls, if not, they'd be locked out for the night. BUT if you were convincing enough to make the night watchman believe you were a townsman and if you had enough persuasive money, he'd let you in the doggie door.
This door is from the 1300's! Personally, I wouldn't mind being locked out because on the outside of the door is the most beautiful park!
Rothenburg is also famous for its Christmas trinkets. This is outside one of the Christmas shops.
And then we walked inside.
Merrrrrry Christmas! It went on like this for miles. It was unreal. I escaped with a little German hunter Nutcracker.
So Schneeballen. Similar to how Paris has a patisserie at every corner, Rothenburg has a Schneeballen store at every corner. In consequence, you might think they are good. Not so. Imagine chunks of pie dough dipped into frying oil, but not cooking it thoroughly enough so the middle crunches like uncooked pasta. They try to mask its grossness by dipping it in chocolate or cinnamon sugar, but to no avail. It's still bland, tasteless, and sick.
I washed away the taste with a bratwurst next door. Deeelish!
And then headed to the Medieval Crime Museum which was rad. I've once again confirmed that I'm glad not to be living in the Middle Ages, and that's not just because of their torture tactics. Did you know chastity belts were the real deal? Demeaning and disgusting, but true. They also have these things called shame masks. Different masks were for different accusations. E.g. if someone was labeled as a loud mouth or gossip, they'd wear a mask that had a long tongue sticking out, while being tied up in the stocks outside for all to see.
I don't think Groucho knew :-) So they also had all these laws! How many people you can invite to your wedding, what you can serve, the rules for brides walking down the aisle and their outfits depending on how chaste they've been... Pretty obvious that they made so many laws no one could keep track of them, let alone illiterate townspeople. Basically if the powers that be had a bone to pick with you, you would be accused of something. They also had rules for how to accuse, how to condemn, and how to punish. This was my favorite: Divine Judgment.
"Divine Judgment: No witnesses to the crime meant that there could be no court case. The woman then called for a duel. The man was placed in a hole up to his hip and one hand was bound behind his back. He had a club in his other hand. The woman's veil was used to bind a stone to her hand. She had free movement. If the man overcame the woman, it proved a false claim and she was punished. If the woman overcame the man, it proved his guilt and he was punished."
Next fad: Witch Hunts.
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