Wurzburg and Rothenburg, Germany

(Click on photos for larger version.)

The trip itinerary lists today’s stop as Wurzburg, but we took the optional excursion bus to nearby Rothenburg, the best preserved medieval town in Germany. A 1.5-mile wall surrounds the city. Just in case the wall wasn’t enough to keep enemies away, the wall builders employed scary faces as well:

The wall connects five medieval gates with guard towers dating from the 13th to 16th centuries.

Here’s another indication of the town’s medieval origin:

Typical German souvenirs were on display in the city’s shops:

And the local delicacy is the snowball, which was described as a dense, hard pastry:

We stopped at a little shop for Italian gelato but passed on the snowballs, which some of our fellow travelers said weren’t very good.