A Fairy Tale City

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg ob der Tauber

It has been over 36 years since last visiting Germany, and then it was on a tour bus — lunch in Colone — overnight in Heidelberg — next day Innsbruck, Austria. Did we really see Germany?

This time we are staying with our daughter and her family. They moved here in March as her husband won a civilian posting to Ramstein AFB. So, more time to explore. Really explore. Opportunity to visit the Christmas Markets and visit some special places.

I posted some photos from the Christmas Markets here: Street Photography at the Christmas Markets.

Our first special place was Rothenburg ob der Tauber. It is claimed that this is the town that inspired Disney for the location of Geppetto’s workshop in Pinocchio. The web sites and YouTube articles are very effusive with praise for the town. With this in mind, I booked an Air BnB near the town and off we went.

I find that I can’t focus on the art of photography when I am with others, especially family. I am constantly looking to see that they are enjoying themselves also.

Case in point, this great sunset shot I captured from the square beside the Rothenburg Rathaus.

This fantastic lightshow was happening behind me. I would have missed it entirely if I hadn’t noticed all of the cell phones coming out to capture the moment.

So, I am disappointed with my keepers from Rothenburg. The ones I did get are more happenstance than planned. I will have to consider this trip an initial reconnaissance. Next time I will try to be less constrained by my travel companions, and we will have more time.

Well then, what’s so special? Maybe the fact that the original walls are almost all in place. They were spared by some smart thinking on the part of the American and German commanders at the end of World War II. Most of the old town avoided being flattened by bombing and artillery. As a result, the city has the stereotypical feel of a Bavarian City. (Probably because it is the model for that stereotype.)

Above left, is a view south from the town square to one of the towers. Likewise, above right is the northwest tower. In the righthand capture, I enjoy the cars entering the city through the gate at the base of the tower, and I like the person walking away, towards the gate, giving some scale and a dynamic to the scene.

Below, left, I got closer to the tower and the gate. If you look closely, you can make out the stairs Liddy and I used to climb up to the walk along the inside of the wall. This wall allowed defenders to shoot down into their would-be attackers. I can’t imagine how the defenders were able to maintain their footing when there was an ice storm.

I like the above shot of the roofs from atop the wall. The chaotic, yet uniform red triangles leading the eye off into the distance to yet another tower. The slight skiff of snow helps as well.

This is a location where I could get lost for hours if not days. And then I would have to come back at a different time of year to get lost again. Unfortunately, as I complained at the beginning of this article, my time was not my own, and we were leaving.

From outside the walls, I captured the above view of the Klingentorturm, the defensive tower on the northwest corner of the city. I’m partial to the colored rendering on the right, but the black and white version brings forward memories of the thickets in front of Sleeping Beauty’s castle.

What do you think of this special place?