The Play Book: Rothenburg ODT

What a gem Rothenburg ob de Tauber is! I think it's my favorite German village so far. Just the right size to do with kids, so quaint and friendly! We had a great time here on an overnight trip with Grandma and Grandpa when they were visiting last summer. I'm just now getting around to documenting all the fun, but I really wanted to remember... so better late then never. Here's our photo diary of the visit!

Every street and alley way could be a postcard! The painted metal signs are my favorite thing about the buildings. They show what each store sells.

This one happens to be one of our favorites :) Yum!

Rothenburg ODT is a medieval walled city that makes it easy to see how people lived long ago. And makes it so much fun to imagine what it would have been like to live here way back when.

And I already mentioned how quaint and scenic it was!

The houses have many medieval features like this bucket and pulley system.

Here is town center with a market taking place.

And the clock tower.

We explored the Rathaus...

all the way up to the top of the bell tower that was a little challenging to say the least. The staircase got smaller and smaller and required a few acrobatic moves, made even more fun by my little passenger.

And this brave little guy did it all by himself! What an explorer!

It made for fantastic views. We could see the wall all the way around!

Liam wasn't as crazy about the views, but he loved the snuggles from Daddy!

We had fun talking about how the houses and people looked like toys they were so small down there. And had fun trying to find different places we had already been while picking new places to explore once we climbed back down.

The bottom floor housed a neat museum where Benjamin, of course, was taken with the sword display.

Grandpa modeling the stone masks they used to poor hot oil out of to ward off intruders... ones like this graced the outside of the wall around the city.

Then it was down to the dungeon!

Benjamin led the way, because he had the sword of course :)

Daddy was a little naughty so he got placed in the dungeon.

Which turned out to be pretty cool, so the boys wanted a turn too.

Marching back out after having freed the prisoners.

And off to explore some more. Grandma and Grandpa were being silly here!

More marching by our soldiers... on a "find a good place for lunch" expedition.

This wine cellar was a great suggestion by our hotel.

They had real grape vines all around their courtyard.

Yummy lunch and fun beer coaster castle building session!

Then it was off to walk the wall!

Our littlest traveler didn't quite catch all the sights... but he was always comfortable :)

The tower where we accessed the wall, if you look closely you can see Benjamin, Marc and me halfway up.

Benjamin was prepared to protect the wall, and us, from bad guys!

Because he was the one with a sword of course.

And he made sure to be in front so he would see the bad guys first.

They wouldn't get passed him, no way, no matter what direction they tried to come from!

I know I sure wouldn't mess with this big tough guy :)

After our big wall expedition, we decided to check into our hotel... just about the cutest little hobbit room you could imagine, with tiny little beds and furniture!

It was the perfect family room. Grandma and Grandpa were right across the hall in a double.

The family run hotels throughout Germany are great! This one does a great job of catering to families with young children. This play area was right down the hall from our room.

After a big lunch, we decided to just have a sweet treat before meeting up for a night walking tour. Here are Ben, Grandma and Grandpa with Rothenburg's famous snowballs!