Rothenburg, Germany

The Downers drove us to a wonderful little city north

of Stuttgart, Rothenburg.

It's also a very old city with a lot of charm.

You enter the city through the archway under that

tower. I'm looking backwards, so we are in the city.

Walking down a street to the marketplace.

All over Germany there are plaques that have

been placed to memorialize those who suffered and

were killed during WWII.

This plague was really cool because the "shadow angel"

just under the star is not an angel, but an oil stain.

How awesome that it formed an angel.

Tom and Ron taking a stroll.

I love this city, it so quaint.

Keri and I had to buy these Birkenstocks. I don't think

anyone in the states will have these.

The Glockenspiel in the middle of the marketplace.

The two windows on either side of the red clock open

up on the hour and there is a guy in each window drinking

out of a beer stein.

One of the huge attractions here is the 

Käthe Wolfardt Christmas store.

This truck is parked on the street outside the store.

Another part of the city.

The alleyway that leads to the city wall.

There's a wall that surrounds the city where

the soldier walked to guard the city.

The wall is very high up off the ground. We had to

climb a lot of chairs to get to the walkway.

You can see some white square plaques

on the left side at the top of the wall. Those are

plaques that have names and where they are

from of those who have contributed money to help

preserve the wall.

These holes are along the walkway. It's where the

guards would shot their arrows out of to protect

the city from the enemy.

This city is also known for their storks. It is their "city bird."

You can see one of the nests at the top of the roof.

Closer view of the storks. They are a 

really interesting bird. I always thought they were

make-believe baby deliverers.

Photo-op

We went into two large churches. This pipe organ

was incredible. I wish I could have played it.

This is a Lutheran church. You had to pay to

get in further and we were short on time.

We went to a park south of town and this is a view

of Rothenburg from the park

Me and Keri

Another entrance into the city from the park.

One of the highlights is driving on the autobahn.

Ron loves his BMW and loves to drive fast.

He was going 200 km/hr, which is 120 mph.

At one point he had the car at 220 km/hr or 135 mph.

You really get to your destination quickly by driving fast. 

Tomorrow after church we will fly out to Barcelona.

We are excited about going to church because a boy from

our Loveland ward is serving in this German ward right now

and we will get to see him. His mom told me she was really

jealous that we were here.

See you all in Barcelona!