After supper and a few liters of beer at the Brauhaus we headed towards the music festival. None of us had ever been to a musical festival, let alone a German one, so we didn't have any expectations, but figured that no matter how the festival turned out, it was a night to spend with great friends showing them what the city the Schnell's call "home" has to offer.
{Blurry cell phone pictures are all I've got to show from that night}
Eric and Eric
Shilo & Eric tried Grappa.
These perfect, yummy drinks may have been the sole reason Shilo and I weren't feeling the greatest the next morning, and why we didn't hit the road for Rothenburg until early afternoon.... but that's just a guess.
The music festival had live music on every block- a mixture of German and American- with alcohol and food everywhere you looked. We had a blast! And I felt like we had been doing a good job of showing the Stueckrath's the best of Germany... so far. We were able to show them how normal our life is here, and how incredible the culture is! We stayed up suuuuper late talking about everything that friends talk about- the kind of conversation that sustains the heart and soul of people who live so far from home. You know the kind I'm talking about?
One place that Eric and I thought they had to see to complete their German vacation was Rothenburg ob der Tauber- a perfectly preserved medieval city. This was mine & Isabelle's 3rd visit to Rothenburg (Row-ten-burg) and Eric's 4th. We were excited to show the Stueckrath family one of our favorite places in the world, but the week of vacation was starting to catch up to me. I was tired (and a little hungover), so it took a lot of gumption to get my butt up and on its way. But I knew that the cuteness of Rothenburg was calling our names.... and after my 3rd visit, I can confidently tell you that it is one of the cutest places you will ever see!
Rothenburg is big enough to keep you busy for a weekend, but small enough that if you stay inside the medieval wall, you can't get lost. Since we had been there before, and had interrupted enough of their family time, the Schnell's & Stueckrath's split into different directions and decided to meet up a few hours later, just in time for the Night Watchman Tour.
Honestly, I don't have too much to tell you about this visit to Rothenburg. We just spent our time wandering around the town, with no where to go, so I spent my time taking pictures. I had gotten my new camera and learned to shoot in manual mode since our last visit, and I think it's made all the difference in my picture quality! If you want to compare you can read about my first visit to Rothenburg... HERE. Tell me what you think...good, bad, ugly, I'd like to hear it!
I am pretty much all over my kid, all the time; I fuss over her constantly. I guess you could say that I'm a slightly over-bearing mother, but she's so lovey that I can't help myself! So a random picture in a parking lot is normal for her. This kid has had a camera in her face since the second she came into this world.
A whole lotta people waiting for the Night Watchman Tour.
We couldn't leave Rothenburg without doing the Night Watchman's Tour. The Nightwatchman has this way of talking that makes you listen. I can't really explain it with words, you have to see his tour to understand it. He talks softly then loudly, and he's funny! Watch this video and see what I mean (but it still doesn't beat seeing him in person):
Shilo's impression of the Night Watchman the next night in Berlin had us in fits! It could have been the wine, or that we were completely relaxed in an incredible apartment, but none of us could breath we were laughing so hard! Anyway.... if you ever go to Rothenburg do NOT miss the Night Watchman's Tour!
Any time that we have visitors we want them to decide on the vacation they want and we'll help in any way that we can. The Stueckrath's were open to just about anything, so Eric and I hoped to show them the best of Germany. With: train travel, Rhine River cruise, castle tour, wine tasting, the World Cup quarter finals, a music festival in downtown Kaiserslautern, and Rothenburg under their belts I'd say that so far, we weren't doing too bad.
To round it all out we were adding a little Nazi and Cold War history to the last part of their vacation! We were headed back to Berlin, the capital of Germany! *Stay tuned!*
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