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Get your German steins and cuckoo clocks in Rothenburg

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I never do this sort of thing - putting comments into forums, etc. I was so impressed, however, with the customer service, product-quality and overall customer experience we had at Anneliese Friese in Rothenburg that I felt compelled to leave a comment here in the Rick Steves forums. Rick mentions the store in his book - and Anneliese (the most adorable rock-star 80-something-year-old shop owner you'll ever meet!) is so proud of her relationship with him that she treats anyone with his book like honored guests.

If you plan on buying a stein or cuckoo clock during your trip to Germany - make that purchase at Annelies's store in Rothenburg. You'll not only be supporting a fantastic family-run store, but you'll also find great value on all of your German souvenirs inside!

Posted by
746 posts

I bought a cuckoo clock from Anneliese last summer and had the same positive experience. Anneliese proudly showed me the many handwritten letters (kept in a binder between sheet protectors) that she has received from Rick over the years. Her shop is simply wonderful and I was impressed with the high quality merchandise. After showing Anneliese my RS book, she gave me a very nice discount on my cuckoo clock and free shipping. (She also threw in some other goodies like a Xmas ornament and an autographed hand-drawn map of Rothenburg.) She timed the shipping so my cuckoo clock arrived after I got home from my trip. It was delivered to my house in a well wrapped box in perfect condition. I wish I had bought a stein from her, too! Of all my years traveling, this was the best souvenir shopping experience plus I felt so good supporting a family-run store! Highly recommended!

Posted by
417 posts

FYI. We purchased a cuckoo clock, wooden figurines, Hummels and Christmas ornaments at Montags in St. Goar. Very nice shop, and a HUGE collection of clocks! They ship free if your purchase is over a certain amount and give you a 10% discount if you show RS book. They also operate a huge beer stein shop across the street that gives the same discount. We purchased Swiss Army knives at the stein shop. We had researched cuckoo clocks before heading to Germany and the price was better than we could get in the states and shipping was included.

Posted by
7209 posts

For beer steins look for any flea market. You'll find lots of steins at a FRACTION of the cost of a new one. There will be lots of amazing trinkets and antiques to choose from. FYI - European's definition of antique is quite different than the USA. I bought a pewter pitcher with a datestamp of mid 1700s. It was just 30 or 40 francs.

Posted by
731 posts

I really really appreciate the OPs recommendations here. We, too, visited Anneliese Friese's shop last spring while in Rothenburg on our BOE 21 day tour and found her to be so charming. Her shop isn't the glitz and glamour of one of the other shops in Rothenburg but it was clearly full of love and devotion to our RS! She proudly showed us some of the same things and gave us a great price on a cuckoo clock that we fully intend on ordering from her from home.

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