Exploring

I have been explaoring Rothenburg, street by street, a bit at a time. I walk quite a lot and enjoy discovering little nooks and crannies I hadn't known existed. Rothenburg is a city which invites you to linger. Little park benches abound and there are a multitude of paved paths for walking outside the city walls. I like the old Burg garden (castle garden) with its flowers. shade trees, and views of the Tauber valley.

I climbed down into the valley the other day to explaore a small church, however was disappointed to find the church closed. To get to the church I had to pass under a double decker bridge looking much like an ancient Roman aquaduct, which it's not. It was a warm and sunny day and climbing back into the city walls was a bit of an effort, but I took a couple breaks to read my book and did just fine.

Germans have the greenest thumbs.....every building is decorated with colorful and lush flowers blossoming in wild abandon. I saw a rose with a trunk thicker than many fair-sized trees, and a man near my house was using a hand sprayer to spritz his ruby colored roses with some magical solution. Germans are the gardeners of Europe.

There is a tiny church, St. Wolfgang's, near the castle wall not far from my house. St. Wolfgang was the patron saint of shepherds and for a nominal fee I could view the tiny church, climb down into the catacombs, and up into a shepherd's museum. Now, let me tell you that museum was another reason to have nightmares. There was a display of costumed dolls doing the infamous "sheperd's dance", each about 12 inches tall, with spooky, wax-like, frozen faces and evil eyes. I am pretty sure those ghastly things come to life and dance around the church at midnight. There was also a display of household items of times gone by, which included a female mannequin. Helga the Horrible is displayed leaning back against the wall, in a corner, with her feet are upcocked pertly in the event you wanted to admire the tops of her buckled shoes as well as the soles. Maybe to check for sheep dung or perhaps she just liked to walk on her heels. I have included two pictures so you can judge for yourself how hideous this figure is. You´ll note her right arm is extremely long, and if the hand was straight her fingers would reach her knees. Also, the hand is outsized, like a huge man's hand on a female's body. Now the left hand is another matter altogether. The wrist is attached to a supporting wall and has been snapped, perhaps as an example of medieval torture, leaving the hand dangling, withered and curled spider-like, from a hollow wrist. The whole unfortunate affair is topped by a funereal bonnet and some dry, straw-like substance masquerading as hair. Hideous, just hideous.