Gutenberg and Rothenberg

We left Bacharach this morning headed toward Rothenburg (silent "h"...go figure!) Please note that this is Rothenburg aub der Tauber. (I found out the hard way that there are several "Rothenburgs" in Germany!)

However, on the way to Rothenburg we decided to get off the train at Mainz for a while. Mainz is the birthplace of Gutenberg, and now has a Gutenberg Museum. The musuem in shown in the photo, however, the section with the Gutenberg items is in an ultra-modern portion of the building directly behind this facade. Of the presumed 180 original Gutenberg Bibles, only 49 are known to have survived to this day. Three of these are available for viewing in the museum, and can be "easily" located behind double steel doors in a dimly-lit vault room. Once you enter the room, you can get as close as 6-8 inches from the valuable books, with alarmed glass between the viewer and the books. However, it was a thrill to see them.

A statue of Gutemberg in is the plaza near the museum, and today was a market day, which was very colorful. The open-air market had fresh fruit, vegetables, and food of all types. Locals went from booth to booth filling their baskets with delicacies to take home for dinner. Tourists went from booth to booth with their cameras and backpacks, drolling over the delicious items. We returned to the Mainz train station and stopped to have a bagle-sandwich for lunch. They also had chocolate muffins for sale. We had to buy one and share it in honor of the two young men we traveled with this past summer. ("It was a MUFFIN!")

Our next train took us to Frankfurt. We did not do any sightseeing in Frankfurt, just changed trains. However, by looking out the train windows we could tell that Frankfurt is an ultra-modern city with skyscrapers and a skyline similar to many cities in the United States. As we rode on toward Rothenburg we passed beautiful German farmland and quaint little towns. Once we arrived in Rothenburg we were not disappointed. Rothenburg is Germany's best-preserved medieval walled city. We left the train and headed toward Market Square in the center of the old town area. Once there we located our hotel, only two doors off of Market Square! Our room for the next three nights is in a beautiful 600-year-old home that was once occupied by Rothenburg's Mayor Toppler, who was town mayor during the heyday of Rothenburg in the 1400's. Our hotel is the green building with the barber-pole-looking red and white shutters. (What a combination!) Our room is on the second floor, the first window on the left, right above the door to the hotel. Mayor Toppler must have been a short man, because the door to our room is one that Olen can barely enter without ducking his head. Our room is delightful, with a window overlooking Market Square and the lovely buildings surrounding it. This is the view from our window. Perfect!

We had dinner outside at an open-air street-side cafe where our entertainment was people-watching and gazing at the lovely buildings. Olen reead the tourist guide while we waited for our dinner. We are really looking forward to our stay here! At 8 PM we went to Market Square to take a walking tour with the "Nightwatchman". This clever tour is led by a man dressed as a nightwatchman during medieval times...and he carried a lantern and habard like the nightwatchmen of the era. He related the history of Rothenberg while we followed along walking through the town. It was extremely educational, and extremely entertaining at the same time. He had a wonderful talent for telling historical tidbits with a splash of comedy...if you were listening closely. We loved it! (Thanks for the tip, Susan!)

We are looking forward to three nights in this wonderful town. There is much to see and do here.

We hope each of you can learn something today, with a splash of comedy thrown in! "A little bit of sugar helps the medicine go down..."