On the first day of school, 60-year-old Rosane from Brazil, 30-year-old Ruth from Florida, and 19-year-old I started talking and from that moment on, we did everything together. An example would be our trip to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, one of the most well-preserved medieval towns in Germany!
Rothenburg is only 55 km northeast of Schwäbisch Hall, so Rosane rented a car for our journey. Rosane had requested an automatic car, but was surprised to find that morning that the car rental only had manual stick-shift cars available. In addition, Rosane cannot speak English, so if we were lost we could only use German, our one mutual language and the language which we were all trying to learn. Thankfully, we were able to successfully navigate the winding countryside roads and the Autobahn — even if it did include a few detours!
The first activity we did in Rothenburg ob der Tauber was walk the famous town wall so that we could have an aerial view of the city before exploring its streets. The wall is 2.5 miles long and was constructed in the 12th century to protect its wealth and status as an important, imperial town. Around 45% of the wall was destroyed in World War II, but the citizens rebuilt it and it is now considered one of the town’s great achievements of recent history. As you can see from the pictures below, the view is spectacular!
Among Rothenburg ob der Tauber’s most popular attractions are its elaborate Christmas shops! They sell an unbelievable variety of Christmas ornaments, nativity sets, German cuckoo clocks, tablecloths, and even tissues! But as you can see from the picture below, it is only a browsing place for college students!
And of course, when in Rothenburg one must try the signature town dessert — Schneeballen or “Snowballs”! Fortunately, they are not hard for visitors to find as there is a Schneeball store on almost every street! Schneeballen have gained popularity across the world (even in South Korea!), but are said to have originated in Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Original Schneeballen are short-crust pastry folded into a ball, deep-fried, and then dusted with powdered sugar. Schneeballen were originally made for baptisms, confirmations, weddings and church ceremonies. Today, Schneeballen can be coated with a large variety of frostings ranging from chocolate, caramel, cinnamon, hazelnut, lemon and strawberry and then topped with all different kinds of nuts and seeds.
Rothenburg ob der Tauber is truly a medieval, fairytale! I would love to go back someday!