Rothenberg ob der Tauber

On Saturday we went to Rothenberg to visit the Christmas market there. Every town in Germany has a Christmas market of some sort-- but I wanted to visit this one because it is in Bavaria (it's like they invented Christmas here or something) and we hadn't been there yet (due to my goof-up back in June of getting directions to a different Rothenberg) and I really wanted to see what I had heard was the cutest little medieval walled city around. :)

Very life-like (almost creepy) Santa Claus sculpture.

This is one of the gates in the wall around Rothenberg.
It really is like an enchanted place from a fairy tale.

The view over the edge of the wall on one end of town.
(You can see the wall continuing to wind around the town.)

The ultimate "time out" chair. ;)

Music playing in the square near the giant Weihnachtsbaum. It was around the time we got here that the snow started falling! It was very Christmas-y magical. :)

Brats for everyone!
(Rob made an attempt to get us some non-alcoholic apple cider, but kept getting drinks that smelled (and cost) like the alcoholic ones and so we finally gave up on that.)

Happy little madchen--
with a Santa hat and a giant gingerbread cookie necklace.

One ride on the mini-carousel before we leave, as promised to the kiddos.

Toby was ECSTATIC about this.
He threw a fit when I pulled him out at the end of the ride.

Medieval German cuteness.