Rothenburg Walk

Heinrich visited the town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. This is a city that is one of the best-preserved and most authentic medieval towns in Germany. It means the "Red Castle" because originally the main castle was made out of red sand stone. That castle was destroyed but now the town is still red because of the red roof tiles on most of the buildings.

Around the town is the old city wall. It has a section that is still intact. Along the top of the wall is a parapet, or covered walkway. This meant that the defenders could stand up high on the wall but still have a protection over their heads.

 

As Heinrich walked around town there were things from the scary part of Rothenburg's past. One if these is the Torture Museum. It has a lot of old tools that the town leaders had to punish criminals and enemies. Here is a picture of the prison wagon that people were driven around town in. There are also stocks where the person would have their head and arms and sometimes legs put in these holes. Then they couldn't leave while people would make fun of them and throw things at them. Inside the museum were some really mean tools but Heinrich didn't take any pictures of the meaner ones. Didn't want to give anybody any ideas.

 

 

 

He also found an herb garden in the courtyard of a monastery. There were lots of plants and herbs. Some of these were for cooking and some were used for medications. But there was one section that was full of poisonous herbs. By each of the plants was a little sign with its name. For the poisonous ones there was also a system to show how poisonous the plant was. Little crosses were used to show the risk of death. This plant had two crosses. The most dangerous one had four crosses on it. Heinrich decide not to taste any of the plants and tried find some friendlier part of the town.