Tuesday, September 30, 2025

Rothenburg and Wurzburg, Germany

St. Nicholas in Christmas Museum

Rothenburg with its medieval walls was established in 1070 amid numerous trade routes. The 30 years’ war left the town with no money, so they never modernized their buildings, leaving the interior of the city from the Middle Ages. A wall surrounds the town with many of the original fire towers. We walked along a portion of the wall, stopping at the Fortress Church, which is part of the wall.  Then on to St. Jacob’s Church, in English, St James. We reached the central square where the clock, commemorates how the mayor saved the town from Captain Tilly. He made a wager that he could drink an entire gallon of wine in one continuous swallow. The highlight of the tour was Kathe Wohlfahrt's Christmas Museum and store. She got her start when a US soldier wanted a Christmas decoration to bring back for his girlfriend. She picked up 12 wholesale and found that she quickly sold all 12.

Holy Blood Altarpiece

After lunch, we returned to St. James to see the Holy Blood Altarpiece and a monumental altarpiece by Friedrich Herlin. Then on to the Castle gardens and down through the gate on the other side to find the oldest house in town.

Castle Gardens

In the afternoon, we returned to our ship, docked in Wurzburg, the start of Germany’s wine country. The tradition is to have a glass of wine on the Old Main Bridge. We walked into town to see the townhall with its pictures from March 1945 where 90% of the town was destroyed in 17 minutes by British bombers. We continued on to Mary’s chapel with it’s interesting depiction of the Annunciation (a baby climbing down from God to Mary’s ear) and the Wurzburg Cathedral.

The Annunciation


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