Rothenburg

Rothenburg ob der Tauber, a beautiful little town on the "Romantic Road," is the epitome of German cities. The Altstadt (old town) of Rothenburg is a patchwork of cobbled lanes lined with picturesque half timbered houses.

The town's medieval wall still stands and offers a great panoramic view of the city (when it's not so foggy!)

What makes this city even more exciting is its reputation at the town of eternal Christmas. Not only is it home to the Deutsches Weihnachtmuseum (Christmas Museum), it also has shops offering beautiful handcrafted Christmas gifts and souvenirs all year round.

The Christmas museum was absolutely fascinating. It's amazing how much of the world's current Christmas tradition originates from Germany - specifically Christmas trees, cards, gifts and even St. Nicholas himself.

Back out into the non-Christmas world, we paused to taste a famous local confectionary - schneeballen.

Our last adventure in this renowned Medieval City was to experience some "Medieval-ness" by visiting the old Town Hall and its infamous dungeon (with torture chambers).

A funny story - as we were crawling down into the dungeon Matt was trying to explain the concept of torture to the little girls. He said, for example, a prisoner might have valuable information so the guard might threaten to cut off one of the prisoner's fingers until he tells all his secrets. Just at that moment, we entered this next room and Emily noticed the blonde mannequin's hand, then declared: "It looks like that guy didn't give up his information!" We laughed for a good long while. Life is so literal when you are 3 years old.