June 2011

 I thought I posted this calendar photo last year, with an explanation. But since I can't find it in earlier posts, I'll attempt an explanation now.

This is the old gate to the city of Rothenburg ob der Tauber (circa 1360), taken during our trip to Germany last summer. (We were there in July, but June seemed close enough.) Rothenburg's claim to fame is that it's the best preserved medieval city in Germany. The reason for this (according to Wikipedia) was that the town was forced to quarter a large number of soldiers during the Thirty Years' War (1631) which depleted the city's resources. Then the Black Death hit.  The city was so wiped out at this point that it stopped growing, thereby preserving its 17th-century state. Romantics discovered it in the early 1800's, and the Nazi ideologists considered it the epitome of the German "Home Town." Parts were destroyed in WWII, but the local military commander gave up the city rather than obeying Hitler's orders to fight until the end. This saved the town from total destruction. Parts of it have since been rebuilt.

Notice John walking in the background, oblivious to the giant Louie marionette and the Strombeek puppeteer. Louie is wearing a little Bavarian hat, like Pinocchio, because the city was the inspiration for the village in the 1940 Walt Disney movie.