Medieval Charm

We decided to start our day with a town we've visited before (and knew how to find good parking in), and take a walk around Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  This little medieval town is a bit of a tourist trap for good reason - there are pretty views around every corner and hardly a modern building in sight.

A tower in the town walls.

Kisses in the town square.

How do you get up to enter through that doorway??

In particular, we wanted to visit the Castle Garden, a small park space built outside the original castle walls but inside the town walls where Noah and Catherine could run and play a bit.  It took us a while of walking up and down the higgdly-piggdly cobbled streets to remember where it was but in the end the kids were glad we did.

Gate from the Castle Garden to walk outside the town walls.

View of Rothenburg from the Castle Garden.

Noah and Catherine watching koi swim in a fountain.

 After a yummy lunch at a little Italian (I know, on our first day in Germany, too!) Cafe sitting out on one of those pretty cobbled streets, we took our squirmy (and very tired) children back to the car for the hour-long drive to Nördlingen.  

Nördlingen is one of three towns in Germany with its medieval walls still completely intact - with 5 gates and 7 towers incorporated within the wall - Rothenburg ob der Tauber and Dinkelsbühl (which we visited on a previous trip a few years ago) are the other two.  Nördlingen's other claim to fame is that it sits within the Ries Crater - a crater made 15 million years ago when a 1km wide meteorite hit the earth driving 1km into the earth, it wiped out all life in a 100km radius and created the 25km wide crater that you can still see today.

Nördlingen street from the walk along the town walls.

We started our visit with a walk around part of the town's walls - you can walk the whole way around the town on the walls but it takes about an hour and the kids would never have lasted.

The walkway along the town walls.

 A great focal point of the town is the tower on St. George's Church, which sits right in the middle of the circular town.  We could clearly see the church tower for quite a long way across the flat bottom of the crater as we approached Nördlingen.

Nördlingen is a pretty town but it doesn't have quite the same medieval charm as Rothenburg.  The streets are still higgdly-piggdly and cobbled but aren't quite as narrow and there weren't as many half-timbered houses and flower boxes as I had expected to see.  Still it has a lovely town centre and is much more peaceful thanks to there being a lot fewer tourists wandering around.

Stunning fan vaulting inside St. George's Church.

After a little walk around town we stopped for a long-awaited Cappuccino for Doug and a promised chocolate ice cream for Noah ... Catherine and I may have indulged a little bit, too.

Noah with his chocolate ice cream.

Yep, Catherine and I ate that whole ice cream sundae - it was yummy!

Love the playground equipment installed next to cafes in the pedestrian zone!

We may have gotten a little lost on our way out of town.  Thankfully, this very cool model of the town outside the information centre helped us figure out where we needed to go.

After getting a little lost on our way back to the car (entirely my fault I'm afraid), we had an opportunity to walk around the outside of the town wall for a short way.  It was really interesting to see how people with houses that were up against the walls on the inside had expanded their homes outside the walls with pretty little gardens and small additions.

Playground and park outside the town walls.

Walking along the path that runs around the outside of the town walls.

Little patio addition built outside the walls from a  house inside the walls.

After that it was time to head home for supper and some much-needed play time before bed.  Both kids fell asleep very quickly tonight and I expect Doug and I will do the same.