A trail leads downhill from Rothenburg’s idyllic castle gardens to a cute, skinny, 600-year-old castle, the summer home of the town’s mayor in the 15th century, Mayor Toppler.

To pay for reconstruction, Rothenburg began a worldwide fundraising campaign in the 1950s, inviting people to "buy" a 3 feet of its wall; in return, their names and hometowns were carved on it.

A trail leads downhill from Rothenburg’s idyllic castle gardens to a cute, skinny, 600-year-old castle, the summer home of the town’s mayor in the 15th century, Mayor Toppler.

A trail leads downhill from Rothenburg’s idyllic castle gardens to the cute, skinny, 600-year-old “Toppler Castle,” the summer home of the town’s mayor in the 15th century, Mayor Toppler.

Thirty years ago, I fell in love with the picturesque village of Rothenburg, in Germany's Franconian heartland. At that time, the town still fed a few farm animals within its medieval walls. Today ...