Day# 15: Rothenburg

After a nice breakfast at the B&B I was staying at, I spent most of the next five hours on a train. Here's the route:

From Bacharach, I took a regional line to Mainz. From Mainz, I hopped a bigger train to Frankfurt's main train station. In Frankfurt, I ran several tracks over to catch my connection to Steinach. From Steinach, I caught the shuttle train to Rothenburg. Whoo.

Rothenburg (and I wish I could post the pictures but the terminal is locked up, precluding access to the USB port) is a medieval walled town. Sacked several times during the 30 Years War in the 17th century, it basically has not changed since then. I spent most of the afternoon wandering around in the town, taking in the sights.

One museum to note is the Medieval Crime and Punishment Museum. It has a fascinating collection of torture devices and other instruments used as punishment through the years. My favorite were the shame masks, the ornaments of which were customized to reflect the crime you committed. The Museum also had an impressive arrray of ancient seals, papal indulgences, and other legal documents of old.

My evening ended with the Nightwatchmen's Tour. Dressed to look the part, our guide led us on a tour of Rothenburg at dusk, seamlessly intertwining historical facts with a witty turn of phrase. In a sign of the times, at the end of tour, the Nightwatchman hawked his dvd that was available for sale at all major tourist stores!

After the tour, I went back to my hostel and met a couple of Americans who had just come from Munich. I was able to pick their brain for suggestions on what to do, so I feel like I've got a good idea about how to tackle that town.

Well, that's all for today! Hope everything is going well with yall. As always, emails and/or comments are appreciated.