Rothenburg Ob Der Tauber

A couple of weekends ago we took a weekend trip to
Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a walled medieval city here in Germany/
We've been planning to go here for the past year, but due to J's work schedule changing,
we've had to cancel our previous two trips.
Thankfully we were able to get away for this weekend trip this time!
Rothenburg is a very charming, beautiful city.
I just wish the weather would have been as beautiful.
While the entire USA was sweltering in heat waves, we were freezing our bums off in
the 50 degree weather and ice cold rain.
Thankfully we had brought sweatshirts and an umbrella. In most of our photos
our noses and cheeks are red from the cold!
Despite the crappy weather, we had a fantastic time, loved our hotel- Hotel Rappen,
ate some delicious food and drank some yummy drinks. We saw everything
that we wanted to see this trip and we know we will definitely be back.

The main entrance

Where we ate lunch

Mushroom cream soup... Mmm, so good on a cold day! 

Where we had dinner

St. Jacob's church

The town hall or Rathaus
You could walk up to the very top, up many, many flights of steep stairs to the bell
tower. I made it maybe halfway, but J went all the way to the top. It is quite a
climb, but the views are beautiful. I just wish it would have been a sunny day!

The beginning of the looong way to the top....

View from the top of the town hall tower

I wish I would have taken a photo of these things... Schneeballen means "snowballs" in German.
There were several cafes and shops in town selling these pastries. They were actually
invented here. They are sold at most of the local festivals and markets.
Basically, they consist of leftover baking scraps- the dough that doesnt get used.  It all gets rolled
together and then baked and usually dipped in something like
chocolate or sugar with toppings. They had many different flavors, but I havent actually ever tried one.
Ive been told they arent very good and frankly, they dont look all that appealing.
Maybe Ill try one at the next festival we attend. 

My favorite store in town- The Teddy Store!
We had so much fun looking at all of the stuffed animals.
They were surprisingly really reasonably priced too.
Of course we had to buy the baby a few things! 

It is such a cute town! 

We went to the Criminal Museum, which is four levels of torture devices,
documents and paraphernalia from the medieval times.
It was very interesting, but it was mostly documents, drawings and books.
We actually liked the torture museum in Prague much better. 

In the stocks

We had lots of hot chocolate (heisse schokolade) and cappuccinos to keep us warm. 

This was my dinner. It was one of the BEST meals that we have had in Germany!
Between the two of us, we devoured the entire thing (plus the side of potatoes that you
cant see!). It is beef with a horseradish sauce and homemade cranberry sauce.
Absolute perfection. 

This was J's dinner and was also very good- pesto stuffed gnocchi with parmesan
and rucola. (We ate all of it too!)

Umm...what?
Seriously, what is this and would someone actually ever buy it?! 

One of the highlights of our trip was the Night Watchman's Tour. At 8pm they
have a tour in English. The Night Watchman tells you about his job in the medieval times
and gives you a very interesting history lesson of the town, from it's beginning to WWII, all
while leading you around the town. He was very entertaining and spoke perfect English.
 It was a very interesting and fun tour and I would definitely
recommend it to anyone visiting the city. 

When we passed by this restaurant, he said "Welcome to Hell".
Apparently, this restaurant is called Hell and according to the night watchman,
it's a great place to eat!

We toured the castle walls before we left. You can walk along the top of the walls
all the way around the city. The people of medieval times werent very tall- J had to duck
everywhere we walked! 

More delicious hot chocolate and cappuccinos! 

 Happy Monday!!!