After Dachau, we headed up to Rothenburg, a very popular tourist town that looks pretty much like Shrek could be your neighbour if you lived here. We headed inside the walls of the old city and became exchanted with the picturesque buildings. The city has amazing gates and watch towers with the most medieval of buildings inside. Rothenburg was a very rich city in its heyday since it was at the intersection of two major trade routes and because it had such abundant harvests they could export. However, the trade routes moved and Rothenburg never needed to stay up-to-date with its technology, leading to the beautifully persevered state it's in now. It became a very fashionable tourist spot in the 1800s, so much so that when part of the town was destroyed in the war, they were able to raise money from around the world to help restore it.
We learned this on our tour with the Night Watchman, which was awesome. George, the last remaining night watchman in the city took us on a walking tour to share the city's history with us. It was awesome. He was dry and sarcastic and has such a wonderful intonation that you didn't even notice the other 98 people on the tour (seriously - I bet there was at least 100.)
Today, we headed up to Wurzburg, where we took in the Residence, which has been beautifully restored after pretty much being destroyed during WWII. There are many photos of the city as just shell after shell of buildings - about 87% of the city was destroyed in under 20 minutes just before the end of the war as some Nazis were hiding out there. The work that went into restoring the building is amazing and they've included displays of photos of the work being done, along with how things looked after the bombing. From there, we walked to the Alte Mainbrucke and up to the Festung Marienberg, the fortress where the prince bishops originally lived. We cut our wandering short as the rains rolled in, getting drenched on our way back to the car.
We got back to Rothenburg early this aft and after a restful nap, we went back into the walled city to walk the city walls, where there are inscriptions of everyone who helped fund the restoration. I believe you can still purchase space on the wall for the low price of €1,200. Then, it was on to a pre-dinner schnapps and another traditional meal. Tomorrow, we're heading off down the Romantic Road to see Harburg Castle and make our way to Fussen. But now, it's time for some sleep.