Day Trippin' it to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

  

A couple Saturdays ago we visited Rothenburg ob der Tauber (red fortress over the Tauber river).

It's a perfectly preserved Medieval village with an intact wall that circles the entire city.  While rather touristy, it's still a great place to visit.  

And I learned that Hitler (I'm always interested in this era's history) hailed Rothenburg to be the "most German" of all German towns, so his cronies organized day trips for the Hitler Youth and other Nazis to learn what characterizes pure German culture.  It was bombed somewhat during WWII, but because the Allies knew of its cultural importance, they negotiated a surrender with the local military commander instead of shelling it.  The commander agreed to surrender even though Hitler had ordered everyone to fight to the death even if it meant utter destruction. 

So, anyway here goes.  Emily is always up for getting her picture taken.  She's such a cooperative poser.  And Caroline is getting better. 

You can walk along the ramparts of the city… super cool

There are several of these tower entrances into the city… I want to say seven??

Emily got slightly distracted with a bubble blowing machine.  She chased bubbles for like 45 minutes.  What ever keeps them happy.

The town hall.  Ben and the girls climbed to the top of the tower, can you see them??

And this made me super happy:  a man with an apple press right in the middle of the town square… selling freshly squeezed apple juice.  Reminded me of Dad.

Classic Caroline face

Honestly, while these pictures make the trip look idyllic, the kids were kind of a pain in the you know what. 

Case in point:

While we're admiring the gorgeous scenery in the town square it dawns on Caroline that she left her Nerds in the car.  Her world crumbles.  For the rest of the day she can only think about her Nerds and that she doesn't have them.  She finally conks out in the stroller.  Everyone breathes a collective sigh of relief.

Load everyone in the car to go home.  Caroline shouts she has to go to the bathroom.  Ben unbuckles her and hauls her off to find a bathroom.  Comes back 15 minutes later only to say it was a false alarm.  Then Emily announces she has to go (even though she had just said that she didn't). So Ben unbuckles her and comes back 15 minutes later.  Then J decides to fill his drawers.  

And it goes on and on.  And they whined a lot (except for the chasing bubbles part).  Thankfully Ben kept me laughing on the way home as he belted out "Let it Go" to keep the girls happy.  I mean, no inhibitions… just let it all out.  It was awesome.   

If we can't do one day in Rothenburg I don't know how we're going to do five days in Paris come May.