Steve and Rachel Visit : off to Rothenburg ob der Tauber

Rothenburg is a famous walled city east of us.  It is where portions of "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang"were filmed.  LOTS of people visit there.  And all of them were on the A-3 with us the day we drove over. We unexpectedly got a van for a day or two so that made the trip possible.  Lots of road construction, closed bridges and summer vacation traffic turned a 1 and 1/2 hour ride into almost 4 hours.  So we stayed for a long time. . . .

The kids favorite place was the playground built down in the moat outside the city wall

Heading into the city

Heading up to the walk around the top of the wall

E got closer to the edge than some of the rest of us

The roof was so low that Grandpa got tired of ducking and took L down to the ground.

See the storks.  Live storks feeding their young.

The teddy blows bubbles

The kids pop the bubbles

. . . and look at stuffed animals that cost €50 or more each.

Last time we were here they were restoring the facades of the buildings so it was fun to see that done.  Last time we climbed that tower on the left, but not this time

Houses are probably from the 13th C.

 Rothenburg is the home of Käthe Wohlfahrt, a famous Christmas decoration store

Kathe Wohlfahrt's trademark red truck

There was a big wedding at the church so we couldn't go in and see the carvings.

This is the Church of St James or Santiago so it is a stop on the famous Camino de Santiago.

Here is the building : below is what we didn't see this time around.  

 

 

All these photos inside ST James By Tuxyso / Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=34804304

Notice how the street goes right through the church.  The old carved altar is displayed above that arch, right behind the organ pipes.

Two blocks away is the old Judengasse, or the only street where Jews could live in Rothenberg

E and A wanted to go back up onto the wall so we agreed to all meet at the playground and off we went. We found Ivy growing though the arrow slits. . . 

. . .lots and lots of interesting roofs, . . . 

. . . and ivy growing all through the roof.

A&E found it fun to read the signs, which are about every meter, with the names of the people and businesses who donated to the rebuilding and reinforcing of the wall and roof.

When we got back to the playground,  A&E discovered the flower "daisy" is called "das Gänseblümchen" in German, literally "little goose flower"

We made a circlet for Rachel.  Then we drove home.  It took 1 1/2 hour.  Just like it was supposed to.