Off the Beaten Path

We started today with a visit to Schwäbisch Hall, a town about an hour southwest of where we are staying.  Schwäbisch Hall has a lot of the higgedly-piggedly streets and half-timbered charm that Rothenburg (where we visited yesterday) but has only a fraction of the tourists as it is out of the way of most of the major tourist attractions in this part of Germany.  Almost the entire town is pedestrianized, which made it heaven for a 3-year-old who was dying to walk on his own.  Oddly, a few blocks in the very centre of the town have been completely modernized with concrete sidewalks and a flashy new mall.  Stay outside of this small area, though, and the town is all quaint half-timbered charm.

The weekly market in Marketplatz.

 Wednesday is market day in Schwäbisch Hall, and we took advantage of all the fresh produce to pick up some local berries for the kids.  Noah thought to pick up something for himself and tried taking a peach from one of the fruit stands.  I quickly caught him and put the peach back but the vendor saw and with a laugh offered him an apple instead.

Noah shows off the apple he got from a fruit vendor after trying to steal a peach.

Half-timbered houses radiate quaint charm.

 We spent some time wandering up and down the side streets of town enjoying the quiet and pretty buildings.  Although quiet might be an understatement as Noah spent most of the day actively chasing every pigeon he laid eyes on.

A half-timbered medieval tower on one of the side streets.

Noah chasing yet another pigeon.

Half-timbered houses stretch along the river.

 Walking out of the centre of town, we wandered along the river towards a pretty stretch of half-timbered houses and eventually a park.  In the park, we happily found yet another creative playground where Noah and Catherine had a chance to burn off some energy.

Catherine enjoying the playground.

This is the biggest (and thankfully slowest) slide Noah has ever been on!

More half-timbered houses along the river.

Catherine loved riding on Daddy's shoulders as we walk through town.

 After a lunch of cheese spätzle and bratwurst at an outdoor patio, we piled our tired kids into the car for a nap while we drove a little over an hour north to the Frankish Wine Region.  In another less traveled part of the country, the Frankish Wine Region is a little area with many pretty little wine towns surrounded by vineyards.  Doug immediately fell in love with the first town we visited (and in the end the only one we had time to visit), Volkach.  Roughly the size of Mahone Bay, Volkach consisted of one (relatively short) main street and numerous little side streets all filled with window boxes overflowing with flowers.

One of the two remaining gates to Volkach.

Although wine is the name of the game in this little town, we stopped at one of the four Eis Cafes (Ice Cream Cafes) along the main street to wrap up our afternoon with yet another Cappuccino and Ice Cream Sundae.

A pretty, flowers bedecked side street in Volkach.

Then it was back in the car to head 'home' with a quick stop at the grocery store for supper supplies.  Coming back to explore a few more of these quiet little towns is high on our list for the last few days we will be in this part of Germany.