We got up early, had a full breakfast, and hit the streets of Rothenberg. We meandered through the old streets and outside of the old village walls of the town. We showed Nona the “man hole” to the big great door to one of the main gates and walked around the old castle gardens.  Mike and I decided that we needed to buy hats so we stopped off at a little boutique.  Mike found a gray hat he liked and asked the clerk if the store was unisex.  Well, after scanning from left to right, one would guess that it was not. The lady chirped that it was unisex. Mike hesitantly tried on the hat and the clerk said that Mike’s that the hat fit well and that he had a nice normal sized head…. um… okay? Moving on. We hit up the main Christmas stores and spent a chunk of time there. The Nona racked up on a cuckoo clock, a night watchman Hummel, and a bunch of ornaments. I got an Oktoberfest ornament. Sienna was totally amped about our Christmas town adventure.  Mike took Milan back to the hotel for a nap and the three of us stayed out window shopping.  We headed back and rested up before going out to dinner. We had dinner at the same restaurant in the square as we did the night before. We met the Night Watchman in the square at 8pm sharp! We got our photo op pictures in with him. Nona pulled out the jack-o-lantern flashlights and we were off for our 1 hour tour.

TIP: When in Rothenberg you MUST go on the Night Watchman Tour.  This is our second time doing it and it is worth the 7$.  The tour reflects on the history of the town, the Night Watchman duties, and also has a comedic twist. 

We met a couple that just moved from Washington State.  They had 3 children and we had ours, of course.  The kids were playing in the square after the tour and we all stood around and talked.  We decided to try and meet at HELL ( the oldest tavern in the town ) after the kids went to bed.  Mike and I made it out there a bit late but we still did it. We opened the door to the old tavern and saw Chris and her father in law at a table. We joined them and ended up closing the place down.  We exchanged e-mails and hope to stay in touch with them.  They were great people and we were glad to have the chance to hang out with them.

Mike and I walked home that night and got ready for Salzburg the next day. AUSTRIA!