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Showing posts from October 26, 2012

Earn a Living as a Tour Guide

M eet Hans Georg Baumgartner, The Night Watchman of Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany.  He's the fellow in the photo left dressed in black holding the nasty looking weapon - an hellebarde , a medieval weapon that combines a seven foot long spear and axe used in the day to keep the local drunks in line. From the earliest years of civilization in Europe until about 1920, night watchmen were common, working from 9:00 p.m. until 3:00 a.m., keeping an eye out for trespassers, drunks and especially fire.  Even though the citizens trusted him to keep the streets inside the high stone walls safe, his pay was low and his status lower. Only the gravedigger and the executioner were lower in status. *  *  *      Herr Baumgartner is a Re-enactor , the highest form of tour guide in the industry.  The basic job is that of a Tour Guide , sometimes referred to in the tourism industry as a Step-on Guide , referring to the guides who "step-on" a tour bus to conduct a local tour.  To