RothenbUrg not RothenbErg

We decided to spend Karen's last day in Europe in Rothenburg, Germany.  Everything I had read described it as the quintessential German town and people raved about it.  I knew I wanted to get there at some point, so it was the best fit for Karen's last day!  We got in the car around 9:00 and put it in the GPS, which said we would get there around noon.  Sounded about right, so we hit the road!  Around 11:30, the GPS had us get off the highway and we soon entered the German countryside.  This sounded about right since everything I had read said that Rothenburg was surrounded by farms and countryside.  I started to get a bad feeling about it though because I didn't see any decent sized city.  We soon saw a sign that said "Rothenberg" but all that was there was a little bed and breakfast and some houses.  Not what I had been reading about.  We quickly realized that the town we were looking for was spelled with a 'U' not an 'E' and that we were about an hour away from where we wanted to be.  I was hungry and Karen needed to use the bathroom, so have a quick pit stop, we hit the road and headed for RothenbUrg.

When we finally made it there, we were ecstatic.  Guys, Rothenburg is the cutest little German town!  It's old town (where all of the good stuff is) is surrounded by ancient walls, so you have to park outside and walk in.

We were so hungry that we stopped at one of the first restaurants we saw, which was fine because we ended up with this as our lunch view.

After refueling, we finally hit the town.

The cathedral at the heart of the town is beautiful on the outside and on the inside.

An older man came and told us that the stained glass windows are from the 1500s, which "is older than America"

After admiring the church, we set out on a walk along the walls.

We found an old monastery...

and explored the convent gardens...

We walked along the park some more and then found the entrance to the park

Stefanski.  Karen Stefanski

The park was beautiful and springtime had definitely arrived in Rothenburg.

We couldn't go to Rothenburg without going to the original German Christmas shop! It was huge and had every type of Christmas decoration imaginable.  If I had an endless bank account and a huge suitcase, I would have gone crazy in there!

They have a museum as well, but we didn't have time to get there before it closed.  The store itself was like a museum though!

Our last stop of the day was to get a Rothenburg original, the schneeballe (snowball). They have all kinds of schneeballes, but the original is one with powdered sugar.  We split one and it was the perfect way to end the day, light and sweet.

We ended the night (and Karen's trip) with dinner at Chili's because why not?  I'm so thankful that Karen got to come and travel with us for a month.  Not only was it eye opening for her, it was so nice to have a friend and someone to keep me company in Germany.  I honestly don't know what I would have done without her.  We had so much fun traveling together, as well as just hanging out and being room mates again.  I know not everyone can come for a month, but having Karen come was the perfect distraction during this whole evacuation mess.