A Day on the "Romantic Road"

On Saturday, March 12, the sun was shining and we decided to get out and explore a bit.  We really needed to shake the winter dust off our walking shoes and hit some old towns.  The best preserved medieval city in all of Germany is Rothenberg, lucky for us it's only a two hour drive from our house!  Once in Rothenberg the main attraction, especially for 7 year old boys, is to walk around the entire city on the well preserved city wall.  There are also numerous shops to look into and a relaxing garden to run around.  We enjoyed the warm weather and the historic scenery.

A view of Rothenberg from the city wall.

Emerson and Townsend pose for a photo on the city wall.

Townsend "hanging out" on the city wall.  They can make even the most historic locations jungle gyms!

A vendor was selling fresh pressed apple cider.  We bought one glass for the boys to share but they all loved it so much we ended up buying two more glasses of the delicious juice!

We decided to take a drive on the "Romantic Road" between Rothenberg and Dinkelsbühl.  According to our favorite guide, Rick Steves, "The Romantic Road winds you past the most beautiful towns and scenery of Germany's medieval heartland...Wander through quaint hills and rolling villages, and stop wherever the cows look friendly or a town fountain beckons."  The drive was certainly beautiful.  I loved the sunshine on all the hills and driving through all the small towns where they have family run butcher shops and bakeries.  Our destination was Dinkelsbühl, a town we had heard of from other people but we had never visited ourselves.  Dinkelsbühl is another preserved medieval town with a moat and town wall circling the city.  Unfortunately you can't walk around on the wall but a stroll through the city was lots of fun.  We found a fun playground for the boys to run around and get some wiggles out before we headed home.

The cute town of Dinkelsbühl.

Mommy and Emerson pose on a bridge that crossed over the very deep moat.

Hyrum walked over to Townsend to take his photo and Townsend said, "Daddy, I just need some time by myself right now."  I think he was worn out from all the walking and just needed a little break.

Julian playing at the playground, he loves trying to run and climb like his big brothers.

We had a great day exploring old and new things and just spending time together outside in the sunshine!