This is the town that spawned the Pied Piper story. We are staying here
tonight. I can see now where Walt Disney got his inspiration for his Germanish
buildings in Disneyland. Hameln "feels" like square block after
square block of Disneyesque buildings! It is wonderful!
The Pied Piper story goes something like this....The town hired this
"exterminator" to rid the town of rats. This fellow claimed he
could play his flute and lure the rats away for a fee. He played his flute
and led them to their deaths in the nearby river.
But the town didn't pay him! They thought he was a sorcerer.
In anger, he played his flute and lured all the children (except for
one lame boy) into a mysterious doorway that suddenly appeared in the side
of a hill. They have never been seen since.
This fairy tale has some basis in fact since several centuries ago,
the children of Hameln DID inexplicably depart the town!
A cobblestone side street in Hameln
A long and wide street filled with shops
A shot of another wonderful street
It keeps getting better