Tuesday, November 18, 2008

Germany day 5: Rothenburg

Friday, October 31th.


Where's Day 4, you ask? Well, there's really not much to share about Thursday. Jim graciously watched Lily in the afternoon (i.e. read a book while she napped) so Julie and I could squeeze in some shopping and a cappuccino. Other than that, nothing of note happened. Except more sleeping, of course.

So, on to Friday!


Conveniently, Jim's parents and his sister's family were also vacationing in Germany. From the beginning we planned to meet up Friday for a day in Rothenburg, one of Germany's few remaining walled cities. It has all the quaintness that you expect to see when you visit Europe. I absolutely loved it.


Items of note:

Schneeballen - a delicous pastry treat, about the size of a softball, that can be covered in cinnamon, milk chocolate, dark chocolate, powdered sugar, or anything else sweet that you can think of.
Schneeballen!

Being a tour guide - no body else seemed to care about the history and purpose of Rothenburg, but I took the opportunity to read up on it during the 2 hour drive there. Thus I became the unofficial tour guide. My style is "why I care, in three sentances or less". I don't like to bore people. As it turns out, I caught someone's attention, who thought I was a real guide. Ha! After a little bit of small talk we found out she was from Annapolis and owned a wine bar downtown, the Purple Tooth. (Fast forward a week, and while we were back in MD we went, saw our new friend Emmy and enjoyed a very high-brow evening enjoying wines and cheeses and talking about all of the things we saw on our trips. So cool. She even took this picture for us in the Castle Garden.)
The Grubes, elder Grubes and Bishops take on Rothenburg

Little Sage - who travels to Europe with a six month old? My sister-in-law, of course! Sage was amazing. I maybe once heard him cry, and only for a minute. It was cold and damp but he didn't complain. I'm convinced all the good genes in the family are taken and when Jim and I have our Grublets, they'll be hellions.
world's best traveler, Sage (and Jim, too)

A few more pictures...
warming up in a cafe with more schneeballen, and a pretzel!

me, Lily, Julie, Carrie and Sage

in the Convent Garden of Potions and Herbs

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

Looks like fun. May I come next time?
Love the pixs.

Anonymous said...

LOVE the picture of the town. I'm tempted to steal a copy and frame it. Thanks for the stories. Sends me daydreaming... DR

Megan said...

I love Rothenburgh and all the history behind it! Curious if you ever saw McDonalds? It cracked me up how it blended in with the rest of the town. Did you walk the walls? I thought that was cool too...

Randy & Laura said...

I've been to Rothenburg and loved it -- a lovely town! I think I ate schneeballen at the same little cafe, too. I love the picture of you & Jim in the passageway... I wish Randy would cooperate with a photo opp like that but alas we might be too old to travel by the time he warms up to that idea. Have a great day :)

Anonymous said...

I miss Germany! We went to Rothenberg in 04 with my parents. Ahh, schneeballen, nothing like it. Looks like you are getting well traveled on your way to TX. Darlene Long

KToth said...

For the record, Kevin HATES schneeballen. He says they taste like paper covered in delicious toppings. I have to agree that they are fun idea, but that they just seem like stale funnel cakes. Thank goodness they are just a Rothenburg thing.

Crafty P said...

oh such sweet pictures. you should make a big BLURB book. I laughed out loud at the term "Grublets"! so funny and cute all rolled into one word!