Searching for Rapunzel

 We arrived in Frankfurt, Germany on Friday morning at about 5:30 a.m.  The flight from Lagos was a little  very rough since Elizabeth really didn't sleep at all....like her dad, she needs a flat bed to sleep in.:)  We did arrive in almost one piece, though:)

First stop was to change over some money for euros so I could go out and spend some, right Guy!!!???:)

 Per Jeremy's orders, the next stop was McDonald's for some french fries. They didn't have any french fries that early, but he did end up liking the pan cakes with the syrup baked right in.:)

 We got our rental car to head to Rothenburg and were barely able to get the trunk to close ( I am not kidding!!)  We brought a few extra bags to fill up to bring with us back to Lagos, but we could barely fit the bags we had packed already into the car.  I think Elizabeth had had it with the car when she couldn't stretch out her legs in the back seat because the kids were packed in so tight with all the luggage. She yelled, "I don't like this car!!! It isn't a nice car!" Keep in mind that we rented a BMW!!!:)
I had to get a picture of this sign.  It means "exit" in German...but it makes me think of something else. I know...I do have some immature moments.:)

Not sure what this sign says, but I thought it was pretty.:)

There were so many of these little towns in the hills as we drove to Rothenburg.  The pictures I took really don't do them justice, but I thought I would try to show a few.:)

 Getting closer to Rothenburg...

 I guess when you see the German flag, you know you are in Germany.:)

 We did make it to Rothenburg.:)  Guy planned our entire German trip...well, really all of our trips.  He decided that we should visit this town because according to his travel guru, Rick Steves, it is the
"best preserved medieval town in Germany".  "Rot" means "red" in German and "burg" originally meant "shelter", and later it came to mean "castle" and in English it came to mean "town".  So, I am guessing the name means "Red Town"? Whatever the name means,  I would have to say that this town is exactly what I had pictured in my head of what Germany would look like when I did come to visit.:)

 This is a tower along the city wall.  In the medieval times, the wall was used to keep enemies out and it was manned at all hours of the day and night by soldiers and look -outs to make sure the village would not be attacked.
Of course, Jeremy and Elizabeth weren't too interested in that. They were more interested in seeing if they could find Rapunzel!! Yes, we looked it up, and Rapunzel is a German fairy tale.  Since the movie "Tangled" came out, they were so excited to know we were coming to Germany in hopes of seeing her somewhere.:)  As soon as they saw this tower, both of them were asking," Is Rapunzel up there???"

Jeremy: I think she's in this one!!! ( about Rapunzel)

 We were making our way to our hotel when we stopped outside the city wall to look down into the green area below.  That area was the moat which surrounded the city as another way to keep enemies from invading.

Elizabeth: " No, Jeremy, she's up there!!!"

Walking to the hotel through the streets of Rothenburg.:)

Are you seeing a theme with the architecture in Rothenburg? There are towers everywhere!!!  The kids were going crazy trying to decide where Rapunzel may be.:)

We arrived at our Hotel, the Goldene Rose which was established in 1778....it still amazes me how things in Europe are so much older than things in the U.S.

After checking into the hotel, it was time to go and find something to eat for lunch...

This store had so many cute Christmas things in it....to me, all of the things I saw in the window symbolize Germany.:)

Jeremy just thought this was "Too cool!"

Ok, so I am in Germany, and I thought. "What better way to celebrate my first day in Germany than with eating a huge sausage and boiled potatoes and ......saurkraut."  I had never eaten saurkraut before, but it had been offered to me many many times while I was growing up from all of my German heritage relatives.  Well, I am pleased to say that I did have it, and it was actually pretty tasty...who knew??!!!

After a big fat nap, we went out again and this time walked along the city wall.  It was built about 500 years ago and was restored a few years ago.  I can tell you that it is such a surreal feeling to be walking along that wall and know that watch men and soldiers did the same thing hundreds of years ago...

This was a small window where soldiers could shoot their arrows at the enemies without being out in the open...

This is the walk way used to walk along the backside of the wall...

Here are a few pictures of what you can see along the walk on the wall.

Okay, four towers in this picture....I'll give you one guess about what the kids said.:)

Jeremy thought he would try out what it would feel like to look out the window where the soldiers would shoot their arrows...

Here is another picture of the wall and the area that used to be the moat surrounding the city...

Here we are smiling after another great meal of schnitzel, pomme fritz, potato pancakes, and lamb shank...delicious!!!:)

On the way back to the hotel, Guy found a sign that was advertising a castle for sale....I think I'm worth it...it is only 1,450,000 euros!!!!:)

Walking through Rothenburg at night made me feel like I was walking through those winter villages that people collect and display at Christmastime....I loved it!!

The green building is where we ate lunch.:)
I really didn't know it was possible to have that many sausages in one place!!!  Our first day in Germany was so much fun, the food, the scenery and the people were so great! So, we didn't see Rapunzel but we saw things today that you can really only experience in person. I am so excited to see what we'll discover here tomorrow...maybe we'll even find Rapunzel:)