Day 40 Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Another rest day, with just a couple of short exploratory walks. Rothenburg is very quiet today compared with the last two days. Maybe the difference between the weekend and Mondays - several cafés that were extremely busy on the weekend are closed today which backs this up.

It's been cooler today with a late afternoon thunderstorm, which cleared by the evening. 

Today we sampled Schneeballen - snowballs. 

The story of snowballs
 

Original Rothenburg Schneeballen are a shortbread pastry known over 300 years ago in the Franconian Hohenlohe region. The balls are baked in special snowball irons and, in the original version, dusted with powdered sugar. Snowballen were once eaten as festive pastries for special occasions, such as weddings and church consecrations, or, as described in a roughly 300-year-old source, by the nobility during a mill tour. The high reputation of the Middle Franconian town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber made them famous, and today they are sold in numerous variations and fillings. 

Source: Diller, der Schneeballenkönig.

The window display of Diller: der Schneeballenkönig, the snowball king - with a couple of onlookers. 

We only bought a couple of mini Schneeballen as the original size is massive, and a mini one was enough as they weren't very special, nothing at all like shortbread or pastry. 

This afternoon we went for a walk to the Burggarten, the Castle Garden. The castle was destroyed many years ago in an earthquake. 

The Burgtor - Castle Gate.

Some random photos:

Just before the thunderstorm arrived. 

A weather stone. 

The legend. 

Evening light in Rothenburg: