Visiting Rothenburg ob der Tauber

I should apologize in advance because this ended up being a pretty long post. I didn't have to post so many pictures and I know a lot of people may not be interested in them, but I know my Mom will be and after all that is my original reason for starting this blog. So, feel free to skip this one if you don't want to hear me rattle on and show pictures from our weekend.

We just got home from church not too long ago. We stopped by Patch Barracks to get a couple of movies for the next few days, then we went to eat at one of our favorite Italian restaurants. It's a place we first discovered when we made a few wrong turns in Sindelfingen. The first day we ate there we felt like we were in an Italian commercial, sitting out on the cobblestone courtyard with people walking along the streets. We've been back there several times and we always enjoy it.

Usually at some point during the weekend we stop in at our new place to peek in the windows and see if anything new has been done. We have our walk through with the contractor on Wednesday, so everything should be done by then. We're very excited about it. The only thing that stinks about the new place is the parking situation. That's not so good. We share a garage with the neighbor right beside us. We have two parking stalls on top of each other. So, it's a double-wide garage with two levels and it can be raised or lowered depending on which level your vehicle is parked. They do that here to save space I guess. Sam's truck won't fit in though, so he'll be parking down the street

The driveway is shared with one of the neighbors who has lived there for many years. Our drive is very narrow to begin with then he puts up a chain to mark the property line, so we can't back into his side of the drive to help us get turned around (even though he doesn't use that area to park in - he has a large parking area further back). We're hoping for the best, but I'm concerned he could end up being someone that's hard to deal with. I don't really blame him for being frustrated about these townhouses being built right beside his house, but it's done and hopefully we can all just get along.

Yesterday we were planning to drive to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to explore that city. Before leaving though we called the post office to see if we had any package slips in our box. There was but the lady Sam spoke to said they weren't opening the window for another two hours. Well....we decided to try our luck and stopped by Patch on our way and there was not one...but TWO slips in the box. Sam persistently kept knocking on the window until someone opened it, had pity on us and handed us our boxes. I was thrilled to get the boxes, but did feel really bad that we pushed our way through. It's hard for me not to follow the rules. Anyhow, we got a box from my Mom and Dad and one from my sister. Of course we waited until we got home that evening to open them.

Rothenburg ob der Tauber is an old 16th century medieval town. Old town Rothenburg, which is in the center of the modern city, is still surrounded by the original stone wall. It's really awesome and we didn't have near enough time to go through the whole place. It was mostly cobblestone roads with lots of shops and bakeries. Lots of old buildings. During the summer we read that the town citizens re-enact life as it was in the 1600s. I'd like to go back to see that. At this time of year it was pretty chilly, but we really enjoyed seeing it all.

This is at one of the entrances to the city. On our way out we realized there was a walkway on the wall that we could have explored.






People actually still live within the old town too. We were taking a shortcut through some of the houses. It's crazy how close together they built them. This walkway leads between the buildings.

Sam at one of the town entrances

This is a Schneeballen or Snowball. We saw these everywhere and had to see what they were like. Basically, it's dough that's been rolled out then sliced and crumpled into a ball before being deep fried. Some have marzipan, vanilla cream or nougat in the center. They come in a variety of flavors. Some are covered in cinnamon & sugar, powdered sugar or chocolate. We had a hard time choosing. We didn't think they were the best dessert we've ever had, but it was interesting to try.

I'm not sure what building this is. Perhaps the Rathaus or city hall.

These horses were just beautiful. They had long hair down their legs. This wagon gave tours around the city. Maybe next time we'll have to try it out.

There were lots of Christmas stores with beautiful nutcrackers, smokers and ornaments. Käthe Wohlfahrt Christmas stores began business in 1964. The stores can be found all over Germany and they have beautiful decorations. This vehicle was parked in front of the Käthe Wohlfahrt store here in Rothenburg ob der Tauber which has been in business since 1977.

We visited the Criminal Museum while we were there. It had medieval instruments of torture and law enforcement. Some of the items on display were incredibly creepy. Whoever created a lot of the torture methods had to be somewhat demented. Anyhow, it was still interesting to see. This is one of the displays with the spike chair and I think that's an arm twister in the back. I know....it's sick.

Sam posing with some of the dummy masks they used for humiliation purposes. It was amazing to me the things they had to discipline/humiliate quarrelsome women. Like a piece of wood with holes for two women's heads and hands (also used for a married couple). They would be put in this contraption until they worked out their differences. I am SO glad not to be living in those times. Women didn't have much of a say in anything it seemed.

Sam standing under a human cage in front of the museum

My own personal knight in shining armour

Stairs that lead to the top of the wall. Next time we'll have to walk around the city this way. It was getting late at this point so we wanted to head home. We still had two Christmas boxes to open when we got back which we thoroughly enjoyed. Thank you Mom/Dad and Kristy! We really enjoyed opening everything.

Well, there you have our weekend in a nutshell. Seems like there's always something to do or see here in Europe. Hope you enjoyed the little tour of Rothenburg ob der Tauber. Sam has to work tomorrow, but then has New Year's Day off. I like it when he's off work and we can be together. I wish everyone a Happy New Year. Talk to you next year!