October 1999 – Page 2 – today's worry

Day trip to Stuppach, Creglingen, Wurzburg. 10/3/99

After breakfast at the hotel where they have delicious pretzels, we set out towards Wurzburg. The ride is through woods and rolling farmland. We stop in Stuppach to see the Stuppacher Madonna, a famous painting by Matthias Grünewald (1475-1528). It is in a little chapel of its own set off to one side of the church. The Madonna is the central panel of an altarpiece. It is strangely luminescent and brightly painted. Angels are descending from heaven with a crown for the Virgin while God the father is cartoonishly outlined in a pink and yellow cloud.

From Stuppach we travel on to Wurzburg to see the fabulous Residenz in Wurzburg. The architect is Balthasar Neumann and it was built in the Baroque style for the Prince-Bishop of Wurzburg in the mid-18th century. The Residenz is reminiscent of Versailles and comes complete with its own chapel and gardens. We listen to an audio tour with much oohing over the Tiepolo ceiling.

Our last stop is in Creglingen to see the Tillman Riemenschneider altarpiece at the Herrottskirche. It is beautifully carved in wood and depicts the life and ascension of the Virgin Mary.

John near the entrance to Herrgottskirche in Creglingen

Altarpiece carved by T. Riemenschneider dedicated to the Virgin Mary in Herrgottskirche, Creglingen, Germany (internet)

This is our last night in Rothenburg and in wandering around we find the Zum Breiterle near one of the city gates and stop for dinner. There are dedicated tables to groups of men and the eye us suspiciously. We are served nonetheless. We have pork schnitzel. You rarely see pork cutlets made this way in the U.S. unless you go to a German restaurant.

Zum Breiterle guesthouse and restaurant near one of the city gates

Rothenburg, October 2, 1999

We sleep reasonably well for having just arrived in Europe. We have breakfast at the hotel in their breakfast room where the use actual patterned china. They have the usual assortment of cold cuts and cheeses, eggs and rolls. Then we go out for a walk around the city.

We see a band and stop for a listen.

We go to mini-World, a train diorama, on our way to St. Jacobs church.

Mary on the way to St. Jacob’s Church. Portico for church in the background.

Inside St. Jacob’s Church is a beautiful altarpiece depicting the life of St. James. On the reverse of one of the panels is a 15th century depiction of Rothenburg looking much the way it does today (with the exception of tourists.)

We have lunch at the Gesthaus Greifen restaurant on a nearby street.

In the afternoon we have booked a walking tour. We find out that Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber means “place where they cut down the trees above the water.” We see the town hall with its “stein” clock, a town market, and the old tower with a sundial. It is an excellent tour.

Town hall with two figures with steins come out of the adjacent windows

Later we take a ride around the area and end up in the little village of Detwang for dinner at the Gesthof Schwartze Lamm. I have bratwurst and John has venison. This place is much cheaper than eating in Rothenburg! Plus we almost witness a fight between the smoking and non-smoking dogs! Afterwards we go to their little church to hear an organ concert.

Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber, October 1, 1999

Both our flights go smoothly and we arrive in Frankfurt at 7:15 AM. We pick up our rental car and are on our way to Rothenburg by 9AM. We run into some. Very heavy traffic outside of Wurzburg and we opt to take a scenic alternate route and arrive in Rothenburg around noon.

Since Rothenburg is a medieval walled city we park outside the city in one of the many parking lots and walk into the city. Everything is very medieval and the whole town mostly survives on tourism. We find the Burg Hotel which is part of a cloister and uses the city wall as one of its outside walls. They have our room ready so we are check in. The room is very nice with a sitting room with ceramic stove. The bathroom has the typical European shower of no shower curtain but a useless pane of glass that only goes part way across.

View out of our hotel windows of Detwang

We go out in search of lunch down one of the main streets of the town. It is raining but still everything is so charming! We decide to try the Hotel Gotisches Haus which has a restaurant at street level. I have wedding soup with tiny meatballs. John has soup and a salad. After lunch we return to the hotel and take a nap from 3PM until 6PM.

Hotel and restaurant Gotisches Haus, Rothenburg (internet photo)

Charming building with window boxes and John

Later we go out for dinner at the Hotel Goldener Hirsch. We share the dining room with a large Japanese group. I order sauerbraten and John tries their Wiener schnitzel. Vegetables do not seem to be a German thing. After dinner we walk the ramparts.

Dining room of the Goldener Hirsch (internet)

P.S. On the way to dinner we see a small parade with a valveless trumpet and drums. They march into a restaurant. We also see some really nice small Santas in a shop that look like they were made out of pressed metal and painted.