Cruise Report - A Day in Rothenburg

When I planned the trip, my parents said I absolutely had to visit Rothenburg.  This is an all-day option, with plenty of time to go about on our own.  Rothenburg is a walled medieval village, and within the walls it remains very much as it was, with not too much built beyond the early 20th Century.

   

Quick view inside the cathedral - you have to
pay if you want to tour it.  I just bought a souvenir.

See the round thing at the top?  It's a nest:

   

This reminds me of Cobb Gate:

After our official tour, we were let loose for almost three hours.  I began by walking the town wall, or as much of it as I could because at one point the it ended at a staircase.

 

 

I checked my tracker before and after:

   

Then I went wandering, with a purpose in mind.  Several, actually.

Of course I found the Jewish area:

  

And nearby a location where Pope Francis lived as a student:

One of the things I wanted to do is find yarn, and this was a town where I'd done some preliminary work, marking a few possible locations on a map.  That didn't mean the shops would be easy to find.  One shop proudly proclaimed that it stocked yarn from Scotland; another had mostly Opal sock yarn and while it is cheaper in Germany, it's something I get in the USA.

When I couldn't find a shop in an area where I'd marked an address, I stopped to fulfill another goal: try a schneeball, or a fried pastry shaped like a snowball.

This is a miniature version.  I liked it; not overly sweet.  As I stood in a patch of shade to eat it, I noticed a rack of yarn just inside the door of what I thought was a sewing machine shop.  After I finished the pastry I looked at the yarns, and then saw another rack, and another.......

Turns out it is a sewing, quilting, and yarn shop!  I took some discrete photos then tried to figure out what to buy.  They had some inexpensive German yarns I'd never seen before that seemed like my best bet. 

  

They also offered premade items - sadly, none of the ones I liked were in my size:

  

Then the shopfrau, who had been assisting some customers to choose buttons, asked if she could help.  Luckily, she had English so I didn't have to stress my German.  After a moment's thought she recommended some yarn from a local indie dyer, that I'd missed when I walked into the shop:

  

I happily made some selections and thanked her - the perfect souvenir for me!

Then I continued to explore the town.  I spent quite a bit of time at the town museum.  Some people went to the Crime and Punishment Museum; I did not, but took these photos outside:

When we met our buses to rejoin the boat, we traveled to the town of Volkach.  Some people had a long walking tour of the town; we received a short one.  Everybody ended up in the square where we were treated to music, dancing, wines, and bratwurst.  Unfortunately, my phone's battery died and I wasn't able to get any photos or video - but it was a fun (and yummy) ending to our tours.

That night was the Captain's Gala Dinner and I was invited to sit at the Captain's table with several other guests.  It was a lovely meal and nice conversation, and we learned quite a bit about being a river cruiser boat captain.

A general items seen in many towns

These are something you see all over: 

   

Because the houses can have narrow, twisty staircases, the hook or block-and-tackle is used to haul furniture and large goods up to the attic for storage, or to whichever floor they are needed.  These can be found on houses centuries old.