We set out for Rothenberg, a short drive away. Rothenburg was recommended as a great place to wander for a day, exploring the medieval ramparts and checking out the Christmas shops and museum. We realized that it was definitely a more touristy town than Seiffen had been as there were bus loads of tourists doing their shopping, souvenir shops everywhere and restaurants advertising their menus in at least Japanese, if not a couple different languages. Having already done our shopping in Seiffen, we were able to just window shop and enjoy the town itself. We were really glad that we had already bought our decorations as there was not nearly the selection of wooden ornaments as there had been in Seiffen. It was quite cool out so we decided to wander the town, check out the Christmas shops, walk the ramparts and then get a coffee to give us breaks from the chilly air. Before we set off, Anoop decided he was peckish and needed a snack. He opted for the apricot poppyseed cake which he thought was quite tasty. We did the walking tour around town and really enjoyed all the different winter planters we saw. There were lots using heather and greenery and it certainly brightened up the town. We stopped off at the herb garden which had stone walls all around it. There was a poisonous plant section with the more poisonous plants getting a 3 skull & crossbone sign. We then walked out into the gardens through one of the gates and got a great view back on the town. We decided to go warm up a bit and then continue our exploration.

We visited the Käthe Wolfhart shop on one side of the street which seemed to carry some of his decorations and then also carry decorations from other areas. We thought there were some neat ones and enjoyed looking at them all. We then headed out, feeling a bit warmed up and walked around the ramparts for a while. We had some nice views and enjoyed seeing some neat buildings. We then decided it was time for a coffee break and found a nice shop that was quiet and had good looking treats in the window. I went for the apple strudel and Anoop decided to try the Schneeballen, a local treat. Anoop describes it as a deep fried ball of dough which is then coated with different toppings. After making his way through a large ball, about 3 inches across, he decided he should probably have gone for the mini size.

Once we were warmed up we headed over to the other side of the Käthe Wolfhart shop which had over 30 000 Christmas decorations and was like stepping into a Christmas wonderland. The shop was 3 storeys and had corners dedicated to different types of decorations. They had trees everywhere and a huge pyramid. Unfortunately we weren't allowed to take pictures! We decided to visit the Christmas museum upstairs which was a private collection and traced the history of Christmas and various traditions. We enjoyed the displays of glass balls, many of which were hand blown originally. We saw all sorts of candle clips, mini trees, santas, tree stands and pyramids. The displays were quite well done and we really enjoyed our visit. We then continued perusing the decorations downstairs. They had some really nice table linens which I quite liked, but decided not to get. Instead I picked up an embroidered doily which we thought would be nice under our new nutcracker.

Afterwards we set out for our campsite which was only about fifteen minutes away. It was out in the middle of the countryside and we weren’t really sure that we were heading in the right direction until we happened on a few signs. We did find the campsite although there was no reception that we could find. We settled in for the night and decided we could find it in the morning. The next day, we woke up and still couldn’t find a reception. Anoop eventually asked the lady who was cleaning the washrooms and she said we could just pay her. She charged us a bargain rate of 10 euros for the night and off we went.

We spent the day driving to Mulhouse, about 4 hours away. We found our campsite in the early afternoon and then headed off to a nearby shopping centre to find some camping gas since we had run out. We found it without any difficulty (being glad that we were able to ask for it in French rather than German) and also noticed a Speedy Glass next door. We had acquired 2 small chips in the windshield that we figured should be filled and they were able to do it right then. We headed back to camp for an early evening and puttered away on our scrapbook and blog.