Dienstag, 5. Oktober 2010

A little bit of Munich, Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Ulm

A week ago Kathi, Kathrin and I, the old internship bunch met again - this time back in Bavaria. It was raining the first day, so we decided to go discover Munich a little bit more and show Kathi some of the museums, she missed while living there. In fact we only made it through one museum, but always a nice one the Pinakothek der Moderne, the modern art museum. With an open architecture and not too much paintings and objects it's good to digest. But despite of that we spend enough time there, that we skipped our plan of visiting the Cuvillies Theater of the Residence as well. Instead we enjoyed ourselves at an always to full Vapiano.

As Kathi required to visit one of the very touristy cities, we went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber the next day. And it was ideal for a half day visit in the "most German" city. Originated in the 10th century, it grew with the Staufer and Habsburg dynasty. A siege in the Thirty Years' War and the Black Death stopped the growth - even put it to a hundrets of years sleep until it was rediscovered as a tourist spot in the second half of the 19th century.
And there we are now, the wall is still intact, as are the medieval streets, towers and buildings. Every alley is worth going through. As it was preserved for a long time now, there's almost nothing to disturb the medieval atmosphere - except the tourists themselves :) As it is especially frequented by the Japanese, you can find instructions and menus in bright Japanese signs in the doorways of pitoresque houses. Kathi even called it little Nippon.
Having some time, we went to the ancient criminal museum, too. It's a collection of torture and penalty instruments, explanations of the medieval legal system and the relations between duty, failure and penalty of the normal citizens. You should also visit the Christmas Shops of Käthe Wohlfahrt, when you're in Rothenburg, but the snowballs are just a ball of fried dough - you might try it, but don't expect too much :)
Von Rothenburg und Ulm

Von Rothenburg und Ulm

Von Rothenburg und Ulm

Von Rothenburg und Ulm


For the evening we stopped by Kathrins city of work - Ulm. That's where the world's tallest church, the Ulm Minster, is situated. It's a nice lutheran church, but the best time for me to visit it and it's huge square in front, is when the square is filled with booths of the christmas market :) Continuing the medieval tour, we strolled through the fishermen's quarter with half-timbered houses like the crooked house hanging down to the river and the Schwörhaus (house of the oath or vow). But in contrast to Rothenburg, Ulm has preserved the medieval buildings and added a bunch of very modern buildings to it's city center to merge the history and the present.
And I totally forgot, that it's the birthplace of Albert Einstein, Hildegard Knef, Uli Hoeneß and Otl Aicher - what a mixture ^^
Von Rothenburg und Ulm

Von Rothenburg und Ulm

Von Rothenburg und Ulm