We arrived by train in Rothenburg on der Tauber, Germany, yesterday evening, after riding the rails and making several train changes during the morning.

We were there early enough to walk around the medieval town and check it out. It was about a 10 minute walk from the train station to our Hotel Sonne.

We found the streets were all cobblestones, which made rolling our suitcases a little bumpy. We entered the town after getting off the train by walking under an arch, what was part of the town’s wall, which we would walk on later. For lunch all we had was a pretzel and shared a Coke. So we were hungry when we arrived in town.

In walking around we found a restaurant that looked interesting and had English in the posted menu, which is a BIG plus in ordering in places where you can’t read the local language. We both had roasted ravioli with meat and vegetables, with scrambled eggs and a huge salad, all in one plate. There was a lot of red lettuce and it all was soaked in a dressing that was really good. It may have been that we were just really hungry.

After we went back to our room, we broke our heavy coats out because we were heading for The Night Watchman’s tour. A one hour walk in the city, starting at 8 p.m. Our guide was Hans Georg Baumgartner, who was dressed the part, carrying a medieval weapon that he explained was needed as the night watchman was responsible for protecting all the property in the town. The tour was highly recommended by Rick Steves, whose travel guide we have relied on in making the trip, plus by many others. In fact, most said do not miss the tour. We can attest to that. It was an amazing tour of the town.

Baumgartner, who was our tour guide, has been giving the night tour nearly 35 years. His wit, humor and sarcasm, made the tour a real hoot. There were about 60 people gathered in the town square for the start of the tour. Interestingly enough, in doing some research on him, he was in newspaper and magazine production when he read that Rothenburg needed someone to do the tour after the man who had done it for a decade died.

Dressed in costume with a ram’s horn, which be blew to start the tour, and carrying a lantern with a candle, he told us about the town’s history, which included the plague that wiped out more than one-third of the town. He said all the priests died attending to the ill. He said a sign of the plague was sneezing. Since there were no priests to give last rites, when someone sneezed other would say “God bless you” because they were certain the person sneezing was going to die and go to hell.

All the while, he was walking us all over town pointing out significant historical buildings and sites, including the first fort build there, now mostly gone. It was a red castle and thus the town’s name is Roth, which means red and burg, which means fort. There are several Rothenburgs in Germany. This is known as Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which means the one that’s above the Tauber River, which runs below the town. Many times when the town has not had money for repairs has resulted in much of the Medieval buildings still standing.

He told us the town was very prosperous during the 12th century and was one of the larger towns in Germany. But, war broke out between the Protestants and the Catholics and the town eventually fell during the 30 years war. It is one of only four towns in Germany that still have completely intact city walls, all in Bavaria. The war and the plague left the town in dire straights. And, during WWII, some of the town was destroyed when German troops were quartered there and the US bombed part of it. But, the town was saved when the US assistant secretary of war, knew how much his mother had loved Rothenburg and ordered that the town not be destroyed, if the Germans who were there would surrender. They did.

Our guide said that the town is thriving now because of all the tourists who come. Some nights he has more than 200 on his tours. Not only was the tour great, the town is great. And, he was smiling at the end of the tour when he said it was time for the tourists to pay. His fee was 9 euros per person. Most gave him 10 euros per person. You do the math for an hour’s work and 60 folks putting money in his hat.

It is filled with restaurants and shops, along with a new town hall, built in 1572, which stands next to the old one, built in 1250. The old town hall has a tower that gives a view of the entire town. It’s possible to walk on the wall around the city, which protected it during attacks.

The town also has St. James Church, which really looks like a cathedral. Its claim to fame is that on its altar is a drop of Jesus’ blood. Our guide said many pilgrims come to St. James Church starting a pilgrimage to St. James Church in Santiago de Compostela, Spain.

Throughout the town are huge cisterns that are constantly filled with water through the power of the river. Citizens used to come to those cisterns to get water for drinking and it also helped save the town when fires broke out.

The next morning, Oct. 16, we had one of the best breakfasts of our trip at our hotel. It was about as American as one could get. Our waitress asked if we wanted coffee and actually brought it to us and poured it in our cups. It tasted just like coffee from home.

During the tour the previous night, we met two sisters from Utah and had a great talk with them. They were in Germany visiting their other sister and brother-in-law who was stationed at an Air Force base. At breakfast we saw them again as they were staying at the same hotel as us.

After breakfast we took a self-guided walking tour of the town using one of Rick Steves’ recorded tours, which we had downloaded on Karen’s phone. We had one set of earphone and each one of us took one and were able to listen to the tour by Steves.

The afternoon presented a time for a nap and some rest, which we’ve not had a lot of time to take.

The top photo shows us standing in front of the “new town hall” built in 1572, which also is part of a large town square. The second photo is our tour guide for the Night Watchman’s tour. The last photo is of us standing in front of one of the houses that was an inspiration for Walt Disney’s fantasy land. It gives a view of a tower at the wall around the town as well as the narrow stoned paved streets.