Rothenburg ob der Tauber: Everything Christmas

Christmas Market stalls in the Marktplatz, Rothenburg

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is the quintessential German Christmas town. Many of its stores are of the "all Christmas all the time" variety. There must be millions of Christmas ornaments and decorations for sale in this beautiful little place.

The Herrngasse decorated for Christmas.

Knussknackers (Nutcrackers)
in a shop window

The town's old buildings are all decked out for the holiday. Tiny fresh evergreen trees strung with lights hang above entrances on the Herrngasse, and the shop windows are filled with Christmas goodies.

Käthe Wohlfahrt: all you need for Christmas, and more!

The Mother of all Christmas stores, Kathe Wohlfahrt, has its headquarters in Rothenburg. The company's flagship store near Rothenburg's Marktplatz (Market Square) is conveniently located next door to the Weihnachtsmuseum- the Christmas Museum. No coincidence, because Kathe Wohlfahrt owns the Christmas Museum. 

An aisle of ornaments in the Kathe Wohlfahrt store.

But the Kathe Wohlfahrt store itself could be a museum. It has just about every type of Christmas themed object imaginable for sale, including the largest selection of traditional German Christmas ornaments in the world- more than 30,000 of them!

Beautiful items for sale in the Weinachtsmarkt stalls.

Benedicte and I spent two wonderful days together in Rothenburg. We chose to avoid the many museums in town. Instead we visited the shops, and also the stalls of the Weinachtsmarkt (Christmas Market) that were clustered in different areas of the town center. We stopped to drink hot glühwein in the Marktplatz, of course, for a nice break between browsing the Weinachtsmarkt stalls.  

My fashionable french friend Benedicte in her new hat.

Benedicte's favorite shop here, Anra Mode (www.anramode.de), sells very cool clothing that is handmade on the premises. She bought a beautiful felt hat with two flowers on it (also made of felt), a great souvenir of her visit to Rothenburg.  

The Markusturm (Mark's Tower) after dark.

On Sunday evening we joined the Night Watchman's Tour. Rothenburg's modern-day Night Watchman is Hans Georg Baumgartner, a very entertaining guy who gives a great tour. He was dressed in a long cloak and carried a lantern and a hellebarde (a weapon-topped staff, necessary in the old days to protect a Watchman from town drunks and thieves). The town was beautiful at night. It was fun following the Watchman around on the cobblestone streets, hearing snippets of Rothenburg's interesting history.

A sea of tile rooftops

After breakfast the next morning we walked on top of the old city wall. It's possible to walk for 1.5 miles on the ramparts, a great way to see Rothenburg from above. The rooftops are all red tile, some new and some ancient.

A reconstructed portion of
the old town wall 

A portion of the old town was destroyed in World War II. Rothenburg's residents came up with a good idea to help finance the town's post-war reconstruction. They asked for donations from people in other parts of the world who had been to Rothenburg. To commemorate the more generous donations, the town has posted their names on plaques embedded in the rebuilt walls. We noticed that many of the donors were from Japan, and wondered why. Later I read that there's a popular Japanese animated film (translated as Sugar, a Little Snow Fairy) whose main character lives in a German town modeled on Rothenburg. As a result, this fairy tale village is popular with Japanese tourists.

Ups and downs on the old Rothenburg town wall.

We finished our stay in Rothenburg with a meal of wiener schnitzel and noodles at a cozy little cafe. We left the town "high on Christmas." I can't imagine a better place than Rothenburg for getting a person into the holiday spirit.