DINKELSBÜHL  

Approaching from across the lovely valley through which the tiny Wornitz carries its waters to the rushing Danube, we behold a living fairy-tale town - a vision from the long-gone Middle Ages. As we cross a bridge over the broad, lily-padded moat which was once the city's first line of defense and enter through one of the tower gates, it would occasion little surprise to be challenged brusquely by some ancient sentinel in helmet and coat of mail. However, once within the town, the traveler finds a fascinating picture of serenity.

The urge for speed has not reached Dinkelsbühl; streets still echo to the clatter and clump of horses and oxen. People live placidly, farming the fertile fields of the surrounding valley or conducting the same small enterprises which engaged the attention of generations of their for years.

There is no air of dilapidation about the place. Everything is incredibly old but extremely well preserved. Tradition is hallowed and kept alive here, and changes that would alter the medieval characteristics of the city are not tolerated. The Council sees to it that when repairs have to be made on the houses they are carried out in such a manner as to preserve the original form, and no shrieking signs may be displayed. A well-known coffee company wished to open a branch in Dinkelsbühl. Permission to do so was given only on condition that the firm's regular signs, in glaring red, should not be used; and of this concern's many branch stores in Germany, only the one in Dinkelsbühl has to get along without its usual device.

The main streets of the city radiate toward the cardinal points from a central plaza and are lined with shops and with fine old patrician houses. Time-mellowed buildings, gabled and timbered, rest cozily against each other, while occasionally an architectural giant rears its steep-sided roof above the others, proclaiming to all comers its sturdy old age.

Branching off from the main thoroughfares are narrow, winding lanes and side streets which abound in treasures of medieval artistry. Exquisite examples of frame and stucco building, intricate, hand-forged iron rails and gratings, and beautiful, secluded courts and gardens await the explorer of these enchanting byways.

In part, the various occupations are still confined to certain streets, as, for instance, the blacksmiths. In three so-called "smiths' streets" the masters stand at their forges and hammer out on gigantic anvils horseshoes, wagon tires, scythes, and other implements. Rarely does one see an automobile in front of these shops. The principal clients are peasants, who come from the surrounding country, bringing their wagons, plows, and drags for repair.

Trades that are dying out in other places still exist in Dinkelsbühl. Coopers make barrels by hand in the open air. Coppersmiths hammer out pots and kettles, baking tins, and other utensils, for copper in the kitchen is still held in high esteem in the small cities and in country districts, and one of the few surviving pewter molders still plies his trade here.

Everywhere, hanging over the doorways, are wonderfully executed wrought-iron signs indicative of the activities carried on within. One might infer that at some time in Dinkelsbühl 's history the guild of smiths was a power within the town. At any rate, the signs lend to the streets over which they swing a note of peculiar interest.

As in so many South German towns, the houses are for the most part gaily painted. The color combinations are perhaps a bit startling, but they are always effective.

And flowers vie for color supremacy with the brightly tinted houses. No nook or cranny where a plant might grow has…"