Steve Mueller's Digital Scrapbook

Europe 2002

Wednesday May 15
Germany's Romantic Road

A couple of years earlier, we followed the Romantic Road from Füssen, home of Neuschwanstein, Germany's most famous and picturesque castle, to the tourist mecca of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. A recurring sentiment of that drive through Bavaria was a regret that each passing town was not our final destination. It is a sad paradox of travel that many the places we are only passing through seem the most appealing. In particular, two of the towns we glimpsed that day captured our imagination. The passing views of Dinkelsbühl and Nördlingen were so compelling that they immediately became "must sees" on our next trip to Bavaria. Our goal for this day was simple- explore these towns that we have wondered about for two long years. Dinkelsbühl Dinkelsbühl is located about 40 km south of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, along the banks of the Wörnitz River. It is the second most popular small town along the Romantic Road, and is often promoted as a smaller, less crowded version of Rothenburg. The two towns share the same ambiance - the winding cobblestone lanes and ubiquitous half-timbered houses. We entered Dinkelsbühl through the Rothenburger Tor (Rothenburg Gate), which is one of only four gates that allow access through the defensive city wall. The town is entirely enclosed by the medieval wall, which, in turn, is entirely enclosed by a series of tranquil ponds and well manicured parks. The ponds had a fair number of swans and the parks had a fair number of goats. One of the more photogenic towers built into the wall is the Bäuerlinturm, with its half-timbered upper section. Dinkelsbühl's most beautiful building is almost certainly the Deutsches Haus. Construction on this patrician mansion began in 1440, and the building acquired its present appearance just prior to 1600. The Deutsches Haus is considered to be one of Bavaria's finest examples of late-Renaissance half-timbered construction. Each floor of this historic structure extends outward toward the street slightly further than the floor beneath, and the building has an extensive amount of ornamentation in both wood and stone. The Deutsches Haus, now a hotel, is one of several historic structures that rim the Weinmarkt (Wine Market), which is the site of most of Dinkelsbühl's traditional festivals and celebrations. We considered staying at the Deutsches Haus, rather than in Rothenburg, but the proprietors did not respond to my e-mails until only a few days before our departure for Germany. The most prominent Dinkelsbühl landmark, certainly from a distance, is the Church of Saint George, also located on the Wienmarkt. The hybrid architectural style of this ecclesiastical structure is immediately evident. The spire conforms to the typical sturdy fortress-like Romanesque construction, with small windows and a tapered vertical profile, whereas the nave is a textbook example of the boxy "German Gothic" style of church construction. We wandered about Dinkelsbühl for several hours. Like Rothenburg, the historically significant portion of Dinkelsbühl is not very extensive. In both places, a person roaming at random will soon find that they have returned to a familiar spot more than once. In our case, that spot was more quickly recognized by aroma than appearance. It was an intersection near a very inviting pastry shop, complete with a friendly English-speaking baker. Apparently, it was inevitable that lunch that day was going to be German pastry. Nördlingen After lunch, we headed further south toward the town of Nördlingen, which, along with Rothenburg and Dinkelsbühl, completes a trio of the most frequently visited fortified medieval towns along the German Romantic Road. Nördlingen, or more properly Nördlingen am Ries, is not as immaculately preserved as its more popular sisters. In parts of the town, the cobblestone lanes have been replaced by paved streets, and a few contemporary-looking stores are located within the defensive walls. Nördlingen is unique among the three towns because a visitor can walk the entire length of the wall, which is well over 1km in circumference. What is most striking about the wall, however, is that it is almost perfectly circular. This is because Nördlingen was built at the center of an ancient impact crater. Although the crater extends well beyond the town, in fact the impact basin contains exactly 99 villages, the Nördlingen wall was constructed along a disruption in the basement geology commonly found within the central portion of an impact crater. The town has a museum dedicated solely to the science and history related to the impact event. It is located on Eugene Shoemaker Platz, which is a place name that has a personal connection to me. Gene Shoemaker was not an obscure medieval mayor of Nördlingen. He was a renowned planetary scientist that pioneered the study of impact cratering, and was the first to recognize the impact nature of the Ries basin in which Nördlingen is situated. Tragically, he was fatally injured several years ago while doing field work in Australia. Gene Shoemaker was unfailingly gracious to young researchers in the field of planetary science, and, although I didn't know him well, I was fortunate enough to have been acquainted with him. At the center of Nördlingen is the Church of St George, which, for reasons unknown to me, has a spire that is called the Danielturm (Daniel's Tower). The spire is located precisely at ground zero of the ancient impact point and coincides with the exact center of Nördlingen. A popular activity among visitors is to climb the 366 steps of the Danielturm to a viewing platform that is 90 meters (nearly 300 feet) above the ground. The view from the top is spectacular. The red rooftops of the town, combined with the meticulously cultivated green and yellow fields of the Ries basin, create a colorful mosaic of past and present. From the top of the Danielturm, it is possible to see all 99 villages of the Ries, each with a single church steeple. It was also possible to see the stretch of the Romantic Road from which we first glimpsed this town two years earlier, and which we would soon follow back to Rothenburg.
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