Huismans in Helvetica: Germany Road Trip

We had breakfast, packed up our Munich apartment, and then headed out to try to find another part of the Deutches Museum that had more airplanes since we had gotten free tickets the day before. However, even with the aid of the GPS, we were unable to find the museum, and the route had taken us an extra 45 min in busy traffic which was not fun :(. Oh well. We then continued on to Rothenburg ob der Tauber, which was our destination for the next couple of days. The drive there wasn't fun as it was raining hard when we left Munich (which caused speed limits!), and then somehow we were routed off the autobahn due to construction which added quite a bit of time to our route. Here's a picture of Carsten kissing his foot while we were driving:

He won't appreciate this photo when he's older.

We arrived in Rothenburg and were a bit confused to drive in what seemed like narrow quaint streets. However, this was where we were supposed to be and we did find our hotel. We had gotten a family room hotel, which had 2 bedrooms and a bathroom. The only downside was that we had to walk through Mom and Dad's room to get to the bathroom, but hopefully we didn't bother them too much :). Our hotel turned out to be only 2 blocks from the main city square, which was super nice, and then we realized that most of the city could be walked in about 20 min from where we were (it was quite small). On a side note, I loved being able to just walk around the city instead of having to figure out public transit or driving. Once we got checked into the hotel, we set up Carsten's bed and then attempted to get him to nap. When I say attempted, it was just that. He pretty much cried for an hour straight. And then we gave up on getting him to nap and went out to see the city instead. While he was crying some of the crew went out and got us pizzas, so we did have lunch :).

The incredibly large bear in our hotel room.

We stumbled upon the main square, and basically stood there and said 'Pretty.' :)

Oh the cuteness.

See that tall tower in the back. We climbed that. Story in next paragraph.

Carsten actually put a coin in their case. And then he tried to take it back out. :)

Loved it here.

And then we did one of the more idiotic things that I've ever done in my life. Dad, Andy, Carsten, and I climbed up a tower without any prior planning. So we didn't have a carrier (this is the dumb part), which meant that Carsten was either climbing or being held by us which effectively meant that we didn't have the use of 1 or both arms. At first, the stairs were nice and wide, so it wasn't a big deal, but at the very top, we were effectively climbing ladders and the very last step up to the tower was about 1.5' tall. Yep. Incredibly unsafe. And they made you pay 2 Euro/person right before you climbed the last ladder. As if you're going to go back down without seeing the view. And Carsten did not appreciate the view. At all. The wind was getting to him, so he mostly just wanted to go back inside. So we didn't stay long (although you were only supposed to stay a maximum of 5 min anyway). So, here's some photos from our little idiotic adventure:

This photo doesn't do the steps justice. So STEEP!

The view from the top was quite nice :). Love the red roofs.

Main square.

Carsten was not enjoying himself.

This church was a lot pretty on the outside than on the inside.

See, pretty church.

We kept walking around the town to see what we could find, and we stumbled upon a gate that had a really tall tower. There were a few things that were interesting about the tower. If the large door was closed, they could still open a smaller door within the door that allowed 1 person in. Also, if you were an enemy, they could pour hot tar out of this mast looking thing to ensure that you did not come in. A bit harsh, but I'm sure it got the point across. Here are the photos of the gate:

The crew at the gate.

The door within a door.

See that mask? That's where they poured out the tar.

I really love city walls. Almost as much as I love castles.

Our no nap wonder child.

They must have been shorter back in the day.

We found a nice restaurant right off of the main square to eat at for supper. The food was SUPER good. I really like German food. It probably runs in my genes :). After supper, we let Carsten run around in the main square, and he was hamming it up by running around the different poles and looking at us (we were chasing and/or scaring him as well). He was very loud, but there was no one around, so it was ok :). This was pretty much his favorite thing all day. Here's a few photos of dinner and running around:

Waiting for our yummy food. Carsten always gets to start with applesauce.

'I found you!'

'You found me!'

After we put Carsten to bed, my parents stayed with Carsten in the hotel so Andy and I could walk around the town. We stumbled upon a gelato place right around the corner from our hotel, so of course we shared a cone. The tiramisu ice cream was amazing :). We enjoyed wandering around and seeing more of the town in the evening light.