Romantic Road Gem

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Breakfast consisted of bread/rolls, thin lunch meat, thinly sliced cheese, a little fruit, juice, and they even brought cold (well, cool) milk for me. Tea and coffee were available.

Everyone was very kind and helpful. Henni even found some ice for my husband the first night we arrived. He was not in the best of moods after our long flight from Houston to Zurich, and then the drive to Rothenburg in a five-speed manual transmission, which he had not handled for many years. She calmed the troubled waters with some ice for the Dr. Pepper he had brought from home!

They lock the street door at 9pm, but you are given a key to enter at a side gate in the alley. They provided a parking place one street behind at no extra charge. We would definitely stay here again.

Take a look at their website Gasthof zur Goldenen Rose for pictures and current prices. When I tried to make a reservation by e-mail, I received no answer from them. In frustration, I finally called to discover that they had tried to answer me several times, but my computer kept kicking back their e-mail—something in my security settings, apparently, because this also happened with a place in Switzerland. So, if you don’t hear from a place out of the country, you might want to add their e-mail to your address book so it will for sure come through.

I had pork roast, which was very good. The potato dumplings were new to me, and I wasn't crazy about them, but that's not to say they weren't good. My husband had a sausage dish. We ate for less than $30 US with no alcohol. The desserts sounded good, but we had no room.

Families are welcome here. At the neighboring table was a family with a toddler, and the staff was very accommodating.

The restaurant is open for lunch and dinner Th-M, lunch only on T, and closed on Wednesday.

The bakery sells the Rothenburg schneeballs--a pastry somewhat like deep-fried pie dough sprinkled with powdered sugar. In my opinion, only fair, but you must try one. They also sell ones with other flavors added--chocolate, etc. I noticed people would sometimes come down from the cafe upstairs to choose their dessert from the many scrumptious offerings in the bakery cases.

Rothenburg Night Watchman.

Stairs in the back of the church lead to an exquisite work of art—a wood carving, Altar of the Holy Blood. It was commissioned around 1500 to hold a relic—a capsule of rock crystal which supposedly held three drops of Christ’s blood. The scene is of the Last Supper as Jesus gives Judas a piece of bread. It is true to the Biblical description. Photos on the wall show how Judas can be removed from the scene.

Outside the church is a scene of Jesus praying at Gethsemane. Most of the statues outside the church are copies. The originals are housed in the city museum.

Organ concerts are held some evenings, but not when we were there. Apparently, the church’s organ is quite famous.

This was one of the prettiest churches we saw, in my opinion. Being Protestant, I enjoy the clean architectural lines and beautiful windows more than the gold and curlicues of other churches and cathedrals.

EUR1.50. Open M-S 9am-5pm; shorter time on Sunday. Be sure to pick up the informative free brochure in English.

The museum is four stories; follow the yellow arrows to get through. Many exhibits have English explanation.

Admission EUR3.50. Open April-Oct. 9:30am-6pm. More info at Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum.

We were in Rothenburg at the end of May, and the wall was not crowded at 8:30 AM. We started at the Spitaltor end, as we stayed near there. The best fortifications are there. There are numerous towers along the way, but none were available to climb. The Rodertor Tower is sometimes open. The only negative was sometimes the smell of urine and beer bottles left behind by visitors who hadn’t been there for the views.

The main store on Herrngasse is a Christmas wonderland with thousands of twinkling lights and Christmas ornaments to fit any décor and budget. Ornaments are all sizes, shapes, and colors—even orange! Prices range from EUR 4 to 25+. Although the many nutcrackers are factory-made, they are all made in Germany. You will find everything connected with Christmas here—crèches, linens, nutcrackers, hand-blown glass ornaments, wooden ornaments, etc. I could have spent hundreds of dollars on ornaments alone!

A clerk will hand you a little basket as you enter the store, and, unless you are Scrooge himself, you will spend. Some say the prices are high, but I didn’t find such a selection anywhere else.

I did buy a cuckoo clock at the Clock Shop on Spitalgasse. It had a large selection of well-made clocks. The clock casing was carved in the Black Forest, while the works are Swiss. Frau Stahl was very helpful in showing us how to set up the clock when we got home. The shop shipped it to our home, and it arrived in perfect condition. By having the clock shipped home, you don't have to pay all the VAT, which covers the shipping.

Open M-F 9am-6pm, Sat. 9am-4pm. The store has a website--Kathe Wohlfahrt.