Rothenburg ob der Tauber

On Sunday, June 28, our group went to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a famous medieval town in Middle Franconia. It was really lovely and every corner was picturesque, but at the same time somewhat unsettling, because it was apparent that the entire town's livelihood depended on tourism. In that way, the town felt kind of dead, but well-preserved, like a mausoleum.

Coming in through the Gallows Gate.

"Schneeballen," or snowballs, are the traditional pastry here. Basicaly, they're fried balls of dough, dusted with powdered sugar or anything else you might like. I had one, and it wasn't that good, but I think the one I had might have been a bit stale.

Kittehs!!!!!!!~~~:D :D :D

Cute little house. Dr. Suess took us on a 3.5 hour tour of the city, and we started by walking around some of the old city walls.

Beautiful St. James church.

The gorgeous Tilman Riemenschneider tryptic in the rear of the church.


View from the tower on City Hall, which we climbed.

More Schneeballs!

Group picture!

Gate to the gardens, in the area where the castle once stood.

Inside the torture museum.

An iron maiden.

Inside the Christmas museum/store.

More Prague Photos

View of the "City of Spires" from the ramparts of Prague Castle.

Climbing down the through the vineyards.

We spied a bride and her wedding party as we came down from Prague Castle.

On Charles Bridge again.

A house in the Old Jewish Quarter.

The Old Jewish Quarter, near the Cemetery where Franz Kafka is buried.

A synagogue in the Old Jewish Quarter.

The Communist Museum. "Dream. Reality. Nightmare."

An interrogation office.

Lenin and Lenin.

Learning about Prague Spring.

Poster of the Velvet Revolution (1989) in the Communist Museum.

The Dancing House in the New Town.

Prague Castle and the Vltava by night.

Hilarious Menu in Prague

On our last night, we ate at this place called Atmosphere. The menu was in Czenglisch. Very strange. It was the primary factor in our decision to have dinner there.

"Potatoes...poured with cheese."
"Fried potatoes, cutted for tiny slices...with chili a horse reddish sauce."
"Basket full of fried little fishes."

And my favorite, which isn't in this photo: "Sauteed sea shells." Unfortunately the food wasn't very good, and I think we annoyed everyone in the place by constantly breaking out laughing, because everything was ridiculous. We accidentally ordered much more food than we could eat. J got this drink called "Hot Apple," and on our way out, he yelled as a battle cry, "Hot APPLE!!" His entree was "Atmosphere 400G," which was spaghetti noodles "poured with" BBQ sauce.

Photos from Prague

Whose idea was it to arrive at 5 am??

Old Town Square, early in the morning, on the way to our hostel. At this point, we still thought we would be able to check in and crash.

The fascinating Astronomical Clock. Right across it was the alley which we went through to reach our hostel.

Then we found out that we couldn't check in until 2 pm, but we could come back in a few hours and crash in their rec room.

Wandering around the Old Town in a fog of exhaustion, but it's so beautiful!

Allowed back in the hostel, crashing in the rec room.

Finally allowed into our eight-person room! D is frantic with relief, V is already passed out.

B was my bunk mate. By the end of the trip, his stuff was strewn all around his bottom bunk, so that I could see every article he brought with him, and couldn't reach my top bunk, haha.
I decided not to nap with the others, so the other B (I'm using initials for their anonymity, but it's getting confusing because everyone has B or J names) and I went to explore the Old Town. After it started sprinkling, we took shelter at a cafe, where I recharged with tiramisu and cappuccino.
Prague Castle just after sunset - we went the next day.
View of Charles Bridge, spanning the Vltava River.

B and I walking along Charles Bridge.

Lunch the next day... goulash in a bread bowl! The food was good and cheap, but the service horrible.

A small mug of the dark Czech beer. Yummy.

At the open-air bazaar in the Old Town.

V and D got handmade silver necklaces with their names, courtesy of this guy.

Lovely D sitting in one of our hostel windows.

We climbed the hill up to Prague Castle. We're all sweaty because we accidentally took the hardest possible path, kind of through a jungle, instead of the nice paved path we later took on the way down.

Entering Prague Castle.

Beautiful Gothic St. Vitus Cathedral inside Prague Castle.

Gorgeous rose window.

Detail of the clock tower.