The Romantic Road Begins: Weikersheim, Bad Mergentheim and Rothenburg ob der Tauber
A Pentecost festival, chewy potatoes, dancing gnomes, and more medieval fun than we expected
We stay 3 nights at a very large 3-bedroom house in Weikersheim. Sometimes booking something outside of town is both cheaper and larger—so we take advantage of having a car to do this.
Day 1 – Rothenburg ob der Tauber
The first day is rainy, so we think: let’s do an indoor tour at the Schloss Weikersheim, just 5 minutes away. We should be able to make the 10am tour and still have the rest of the afternoon to go to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, just 30 minutes away.
There’s a game in improv we call Fortunately, Unfortunately. It goes like this:
Unfortunately, we’re 4 minutes late for the 10am tour and get turned away. You have to be prompt in Germany.
Unfortunately, we missed the 10am tour at the Schloss Weikersheim.
Fortunately, I discover that Papa Bear walks like this when he uses my umbrella in the rain.
Unfortunately, it’s still raining.
Fortunately, as we pull up for parking near Rothenburg, we see people dressed up in medieval guard clothes and think, wow, they really like to dress up in this town.
Turns out, it’s Pentecost, a Christian holiday celebrating the descent of the Holy Spirit. We didn’t even plan for this festival!
In Rothenburg, that means crowds dressed in medieval garb, wandering the very medieval-looking town. It’s picturesque. And totally appropriate for this guy to photobomb us while in costume.
Rothenburg is a very cute town—and it's 10x larger than the cute town we’re staying in. It has a full fortification wall that you can walk all the way around. Apparently it takes 2 hours to do the whole loop.
We spot tons of Japanese names etched into plaques along the wall—it looks like a donor wall. Later, during the Night Watchman Tour, we learn that during WWII, 40% of the town was destroyed. No one had the money or energy to restore the wall since they were fixing their homes. So the town leaders started a crowdfunding campaign—for 10 Deutschmarks, you could get your name on the wall and support the rebuilding. Now, I bet it costs a lot more.
With the festival in town, it’s lively. It’s an extra 5 Euro per person to get in, but totally worth it. Every 30 minutes or so, a random mini parade of medieval knights, goat herders, or merry folks walks by, playing drums or horns.
We make our way to the main marketplace, where they’ve set up a blacksmith, a wool string maker, a potter, and more. On the schedule it says “Cutpurse performance” at 1:30pm. I get excited that there’s going to be a show about thieves.
So we grab a delicious lunch of wild game sausage and lamb shank before the show.
Unfortunately, “cutpurse” is not a thieves’ show.
Fortunately, it’s a singing group of beggars, and they’re pretty good! They even throw in some dancing.
The next act is even better—a funky forest sprite band with all kinds of strange instruments. One guy built a wooden gnome that pops out of a box and dances when he presses a foot pedal. Papa Bear guesses he’s the guitar player—he’s used to foot pedals. He’s very committed, timing the gnome’s dancing exactly to the music transitions. We watch the whole show through periodic rain, including a song where the guitarist wears cymbals on his head for the drummer. No clue what they’re singing about (it’s in German), but it’s great fun.
We stop into the Christmas store—yes, a massive one—then head out to catch the 3pm parade. Unfortunately, only Baby Bear can see anything, as she stood on a ledge. The crowd is five people deep. Disappointed and a bit tired…
And realizing we’re on day 4 in CET timezone, I desperately need a nap. We head back to the car for a little siesta.
Refreshed, we’re ready for the 8pm Night Watchman Tour.
Unfortunately, we still have 2.5 hours to kill, and everything is closing.
Fortunately, we find a great bread place. The guy behind the counter speaks English, and I finally get to try a slice of the giant German bread I’ve been eyeing all day but too afraid to commit to. We get two slices free with purchase, and Baby Bear loves it—she eats both.
Unfortunately, we still have time to kill.
Fortunately, I’ve been thinking about that raspberry jello cake I saw this morning—and the café is still open. There’s one slice left. I order it immediately. It’s amazing. I’m definitely eating this again if I see it.
Unfortunately, the café closes at 7pm.
We search for somewhere to sit. One restaurant is closing, but fortunately, we find another spot in the square that’s still open. We order German pork hock.
At lunch, Baby Bear had tried a bite of lamb shank and said, “It’s chewy... still chewing after 5 minutes.” I asked if the potato was chewy too. “Potato can’t be chewy, silly!” she says.
Well... the potatoes with the pork hock are chewy. Turns out they’re potato dumplings. Never say never.
Back in the main square, Baby Bear discovers the fountains have a water extender that you can swivel out to catch the water flow. She’s thrilled. Traveling with a 10-year-old is fun.
Finally, it’s time for the Night Watchman Tour. A local guide in costume leads us around.
Unfortunately, it’s still light out.
Fortunately, it’s a beautiful night. No more rain.
We learn about the “eye of the needle” door, which you have to enter through (and pay a fine) if you’re late coming home after the castle gates close. We hear a story about how in a war year (which one?) 20,000 soldiers stormed the town. The wall held, but then a peasant boy dropped hot ashes into the powder room—accidentally blowing it up and causing a siege.
The invaders had allegedly killed everyone in the last town they conquered, but in Rothenburg, they stayed the winter and robbed the town instead of killing everyone. So… partial win?
We also learn about a nobleman’s castle outside the wall that was later taken down by townspeople to fortify the wall. When they realized they weren’t supposed to do that, they claimed an earthquake in Switzerland had caused it. Nice one.
Goodbye Rothenburg. We’ll miss you and all your charms.
Day 2 – Weikersheim and Bad Mergentheim
The next day we wake up to blue skies.
We try again for the 10am tour at Schloss Weikersheim.
Success!
We’re the only ones there at first, so the guide does the tour in English—until some late German tourists show up, and the tour switches to German.
Argh. Why are they allowed in late?
The castle is part castle, part palace.
The most impressive room is the hunting-themed ceremonial hall. Check out the very angry rabbit in the painting and the real antlers decorating the room.
Papa Bear says it looks like Bass Pro Shop Canada. (LOL)
The princess’s chambers (apparently she outranked her husband?) are even fancier—with a royal bed (for show only), ornate tapestries, and porcelain from Japan and China.
The gardens are beautiful. Modeled after Versailles, they feature 50+ statues themed on the four winds, the four seasons, Greek gods, and more. We each pick our favorite to pose with.
We grab lunch in the cutest village square straight out of a Beauty and the Beast movie set—a.k.a. old town Weikersheim.
Then it’s off to the Wildpark at Bad Mergentheim. It’s a “zoo” that’s more like a hike through the forest. All the enclosures are huge, and you’re not guaranteed to see the animals. The photos come out awesome because it looks like you really saw them in the wild.
So many animals! Highlights: arctic fox, raccoon dog, and a “farm animal show” with goats pulling carts. Nope, the animals are not trained. They’re just shooed out to the lawn stage by the humans, and then shooed back into their homes. Only in Germany.
Later we walk around town and find the most delicious Italian gelato at Eis am Dom—melon and pistachio. Amazing.
We plan to buy dinner at the grocery store and eat at home—it’s Monday morning back in the U.S., and Mama and Papa Bear has to work.
But alas, it’s Whit Monday, and everything is closed! We try three grocery stores—no luck.
Fortunately, we find a bread store that’s just about to close. I dash in and grab three breads. Thankfully, I’ve saved leftover lunches from previous days, so our dinner is still a little feast.
Here are our breads!
Oh, and Baby Bear tells us that our dish detergent is a “wifi symbol.” What?
Tomorrow we check out and hit two cute towns before heading to Augsburg for the night!