Family Vacation: Rothenburg, Germany

Rothenburg, Germany.  

~Welcome~

Les got a week off work so we decided to head up to Germany, visit the most preserved medieval town (Rothenburg) and head back from there and stop off at different places.  I have decided to chunk our trip down into different posts since I have so many pictures and each place was just so different.

Rothenburg is a medieval town going back to the 1100s.  Actually the first parts of the town began before that in the late 900s.  This town went 500 years without being taken over.  It finally was during the 30 Year Wars.  They were out manned by the Count of Tilly, who had 40,000 soldiers and were marching somewhere else.  The weather got bad so he wanted to quarter his soldiers in Rothenburg.  The people of the town refused and they held them off for a while, only losing 2 people, until they ran out of gun powder.  The soldiers took the town, stayed until the weather got better, leaving the town very poor.  Later the plague hit the town and this place was pretty much abandoned.  This is why it was so well preserved.  In WWII, the Nazis were ordered to burn it down, but one of the men sent here to do it feel in love with it and he, along with an Assistant American Secretary of War, saved it.   

Landon, Les and Grayson taking a break from our walk around town. I loved the old rock walls. 

Landon, Grayson and Les on the old bridge.

The Night Watchman.  This man was fantastic!  He made the history of Rothenburg come alive and kept us laughing the whole time.  

This restaurant is called "Hell".  The night watchman told us that if someone here tells you to "go to hell", you should.  Good restaurant.  My boys thought that was a free-be to say a word they aren't supposed to say!!

This is the original door that was the ONLY was into the walled town.  At night the small door inside the door was the way people had to come into town so only one person could come in at a time.  Great defense from enemies.  

The roof line from the town wall walk.

This was the entry to the town.  Where the garden is was where the castle was.  It was destroyed in an earthquake in the 1300s.  The old chapel is still there.  

This is where they would pour boiling oil down on their enemies.  Face reminded me of "The Man in the Iron Mask".

Inside the outer walls where the soldiers had cannons and shot arrows at their enemies.  Most of the enemies where from the neighboring towns.

Landon looking out the tower window.

Grayson looking out the tower window.  He was in medieval heaven!

Les looking out the tower window.  I have a hard time getting him not to do goofy faces.

Wall walk.  This goes around the town as part of their defense.  Slits for arrows.

One of the towers.

Inside on of the towers.  This was a large space and in my imagination I could see and hear the bustling of soldiers preparing for an attack from their enemies. 

Les and Grayson looking for food!  You can see how charming the streets are.

 Storefront of a bakery.

Toy store window.

Grayson's favorite store.  The medieval shop!

Cobblestone streets.  Just for you, Holly!

 Grayson kicking back!

Me and Grayson enjoying that yummy door.  He is always helping me be on the lookout for unique doors.

I loved this garden so had to take a picture of it.  This is a hotel in town.

Landon on the outer wall surrounding the town. 

Les and Grayson next to a statue by the church.

Schneeballs.  This place is famous for this dessert.  They are pieces of dough, like pie crusts, that are balled up together and then fried.  Some have fillings or are coated with chocolate, powered sugar, etc.  We tried some. I wasn't too keen on them, but it was fun to try.

More Schneeballs.

We had dinner at a place we had walked by the day before.  The smell was driving Les crazy.  They had pasta for Grayson, but he's a picky eater and turned his nose up at it.  The waiter forgot Les's food so he took turns finishing off all our food.

Landon got this yummy ravioli.  Les had to finish it up too.

This place was known for ham hocks.  This is what Les wanted to eat.  I ordered it, took a few bites and let Les finish it off.  It was interesting.

Les stopped at just about every little place that sold bratwurst.  He loves German food.

I loved this house and garden.  So charming!

While we were walking the town wall, I saw this row of pigeons resting and had to take this picture.  

One of the places we went (the boys took pictures but I didn't) was the museum of weaponry and torture.  It was pretty gruesome to see what people used to exact punishment or even to get a guilty confession from someone.  

We had a great time in Rothenburg.  I want to come back during winter.  They have Christmas stores throughout the town and it's supposed to be pretty amazing in the winter.  The people were friendly and the food was pretty good.  

The only negative was the bad body odor of the lady who cleaned our room.  I had to hold my breath every time we walked by her.  I decided not to have our room cleaned so we didn't have to breathe that in.  Seriously, never had such an overwhelming negative reaction to someone's smell before.  Gross! (You wanted to feel like you were with us, right?)  

From here we headed south and visited a castle.  That's for the next post.