The weather was cool and wonderful in Rothenburg (a tad on the chilly side if you asked some of us:) so we ventured out to see the sights! We stopped at the famous Christmas shop and it was incredible! There's a giant decorated Christmas tree inside with millions of amazing ornaments. No pictures allowed to be taken or I would have :) We got a little nativity scene in the clearance section because everything was a bid too pricey but still so beautiful. Then we went over to another shop recommended by Rick Steves. When we went in the shop owner said they have better prices than the Christmas shop and Rick Steves recommends them. I said I had read that in his book that we have and he gave us 10% off a Christmas tree music box, a cloth bag with their store name on it and gifts for Naomi and Fiona. Wow! We realized the Christmas shop has 6 stores within a small area but you wouldn't really know it. We ate schneeballen which is kind of like chow mein noodles but sweeter and covered in powdered sugar, cinnamon sugar, chocolate, etc. They were so crumbly and scrumptious!
After walking around the town for a bit we ventured outside of the city to a few more sights. It was such a beautiful walk! And it was nice to see the countryside and be away from the tourist crowds for a bit. We saw Topplerschlösschen which is a small medieval castle-like building built by Heinrich Toppler in 1388 for a get-away outside the city. Since 1861 it has been owned by the Boas family who rented it out as a holiday home until the 1960's. We stopped by the farm to see if we could see it but the farm gate was closed. We just saw it from the road.
Here's a painting (I got online) of the Topplerschlösschen from 1915.
We ate another delicious meal in a really cool restaurant and then toured the Crime and Punishment Museum. It was a very informative museum and pretty gruesome to think they actually treated people that way! The last event of the day was the Nightwatchman Tour. It was an hour long tour with the Nightwatchman who's been doing the tour for years. He gave great history and told great jokes! Highly entertaining!
Trying to decide on dinner and we were caught on camera by Naomi :)
Our last day in Rothenburg we had to catch a train by 3:00pm so we read scriptures in a cemetery and walked around the town outside the walled city. On the train ride back we didn't have seat reservations and the train was packed! We stood for the hour and 45 minutes in the train doorway. Naomi just watched movies and Fiona did really well for the first hour. Always an adventure!
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