Another Masterpiece And Some Final Wandering Around Rothenburg

By the way, two years ago we went to Regensburg, a medieval city outside of Munich, but both Rothenburg and Esslingen are better choices to spent your time traveling.

Anyhow, after the Christmas store, we headed looked around the town hall square, then headed west to the Burggarten (Castle garden).  The gates are quite picturesque, and we lingered a while there.

A view of the town square houses 

(Marktplatz) from the west to the east.

Town square.

The side of the Rathaus and another 

classic building.

The famed Burggarten gates and tower.

After the Burg, there was an in-depth discussion of whether to get lunch or just have a snack later.  The question was answered for us as we walked toward the Markusturm.  There was a Doner Kebab place. . .so we went in.  Fast, tasty. . .perfect lunch option that didn't take an hour.

After that, we wandered around the east side of the city, taking in the aforementioned Markus Tower, a beautiful fountain, the the Weiss Turm (White Tower).

Clock on Markus Tower

Markus Tower

Fountain and half-timbered house.

The White Tower

We were saving St. Jakobs-Kirche for last, because it had several famous elements.  The most important of which is the other surviving altar carved by master wood carver Tilman Reimenschneider.

I didn't know until that day that Jakob is German for James.  In this case, St. James.  That explains why this is an important historical stop on the Camino de Santiago (long trail version!).  There are the symbolic scallop shells embedded in the roads all throughout the town.  Example:

Now a Lutheran Church, it is still a stop on the Way.  There is a recent sculpture of James as a pilgrim just at the entrance to the church.

Started in 1311, it was finished in 1471 and consecrated in 1485.  By 1544 it became a Lutheran church as the Reformation swept through that part of Germany.

Anyhow, the star of the show is the High Altar, carved in 1466.  It is also called the Twelve Apostles Altar.

The stained glass windows in the church are from around 1350 (center piece) and 1400 (left and right). 

After we finished in the church, we walked out of the city gates (Klingenturm), hopped in the car, and drove off to Ludwigsburg, outside of Stuttgart.