Happy 10th Anniversary Babe!

My wonderful sister Madeline watched all three of our boys over Memorial Weekend so we could enjoy our 10th anniversary together. It was a very welcome break that we desperately needed. We spent the first day together in the Frankfurt Temple, then drove to Rothenburg ob der Tauber to enjoy some RNR.

Rothenberg is the quintissential Medievil German town. We enjoyed holding hands or being arm in arm strolling through the streets enjoying the atmosphere of a slow paced life. As we were strolling, look what we found!

Our trip would not have been complete until we found a small way to pay tribute to Bruce's profession! We seem to find something wherever we go.

One great experience to be had in Rothenburg is to walk around the city walls. We desperately tried to document this with picture, but the camera wouldn't focus!

So we opted for a photo by a turret instead!

We booked a room at the Gasthaus Goldener Hirsch, but upon arrival, we were told that we had been "upgraded" to the hotel instead. I was a bit disappointed when I saw the room, and after further inquiry, we finally got a room with a soaking bathtub instead of a tiny European shower.

Bruce found it absolutely necessary to document the bathtub since it was so important to me. Hey, I'm on vacation withouth my kids and want to relax. Can you blame me?

After sleeping in later than anticipated and missing our window of opportunity to drive the 30 minutes to church, we decided that we would enjoy the Christmas Museum and the Kathe Wolfhart store. The first thing you see when you walk in is the nativity and hear reverant Christmas music. I truly felt the Spirit testifying of our Savior in this place. Bruce and I thoroughly enjoyed learning about the evolvement of the Christmas tree and the ornaments. In Germany, the children put out their boots to be filled by St. Nicholas on December 6. On Christmas Day it is the Christchild that brings the gifts. Is it possible to adopt a culture and leave your own behind? The Kathe Wolfhart Truck

Millie with her other man

Rothenburg has many beautiful fountains

These statues are right outside St. Jacob's Church. The statues depict Christ praying in the Garden while his disciples slept.

This alterpiece inside of the church is absolutely amazing. It was built to hold a holy relic of a drop of Christ's blood. The scene in the middle is of the Last Supper and traditionally, the figure of Judus Iscariot was removed from the scene after Easter.

These are the original windows of the church from the 1300s. It still amazes me how old things are over here and how young America is!

The receptionist at the hotel gave us great tips to followed. One tip was to visit on overlooked museum called the Imperial Museum that was housed in the old nunnery convent in town. We enjoyed learning about daily life in Rothenburg via the armory, nunnery kitchen, and the artwork. There was a beautiful set of paintings called the Rothenburg Passion from 1494. We decided against paying the extra 3 Euro just so we could take pictures. After walking through teh convent gardens, we stopped at a backerai to enjoy a light lunch. A passing German woman saw us sitting on the bench and volunteered to take our picture.

The following day (Monday, May 31) we enjoyed shopping. All the shops in town close around 6, so we had spent the previous evening window shopping. We saved a lot of time because we already knew what we wanted and where to find it! I found my Christmas ornament and the boys' pins and my favorite thing we found was a Wilkommen sign to hang on the porch of our new house. I can leave Germany a satisfied woman now. Having spent this time with Bruce ment the world to me. We needed to slow down. With all the business preparation and the moving, it was heaven to sit back and spend so much undivided time with my husband. Thanks babe!