Over the weekend my family met in Rothenburg, Germany for some festive family fun. We met on Friday night at the Guesthouse Eberlein and promptly headed towards the old medieval town for dinner at the potato restaurant. So called because of their flair with the much loved root vegetable. It was marvelous. Beer and potato cakes followed by pork shanks, Franciscan sausages, schnitzel and all kinds of potatoes were bought to our table of nine. We made merry into the evening and in a haze of powerful apple schnapps we wandered into the old town. It was like a winter wonderland with the perfect dusting of powdery snow. We cooed over the windows filled with handmade Christmas baubles and porcelain candle-lit houses. As it was after 8pm, everything was closed but the deserted streets made our first glimpse of Christmas-town even more magical, like it was ours alone.
The next day, after our breakfast of fresh, crusty rolls and a selection of cheese, meat and marbled cake we went into town again. In the light of day the snow-covered scalloped roof tops reminded me of sugar-dusted ginger bread houses. Our eyes were wide at the endless shops selling an amazing variety of colourful decorations made of glass, wood and china. The food shops sold sausages, lebkuchen, stollen and the ubiquitous Schneebälle – the local specialty of crisp-fried batter balls covered in chocolate or just icing sugar.
In the market area that covered the town squares, you could buy all kinds of sweets, frankfurts, hot dogs, mulled wine and my favourite – sugared nuts. I bought myself a little cone of mixed sugared nuts that included seeds, cashews, almonds, hazelnuts and various other nuts. I have discovered that almonds are not always the best nuts for this sweet treat. In fact I think the cashews were the best of all. There wasn’t the great selection of sausages that I was expecting and that I tried in Salzburg and the lack of beer halls meant that the town was rather quiet of an evening.
I’ve used photos taken by my brother, as my phone came to a rather watery end in the toilet bowl and I was left without the convenience of a phone camera. And for a food blogger I took strangely few photos of food – except for the gigantic knuckle of pork on the first night. But that is lost forever in my sodden sim. In hindsight, I think the trip was not ideal for two little boys but they tramped around in the freezing temps like little troopers and for the most part did very well. They enjoyed the scenery and our snow fight in the park. Poor little LT couldn’t aim his snowballs as well he hoped (kindly made by his grand father), but after many failed attempts managed to scone me right in the mouth. I took it on the chin – literally – and offered my praise for a great shot. Not the gluttonous blow out I was expecting but a whimsical moment in a fairy winter wonderland.