Rothenburg ob der Tauber, Germany

One day in October my friend, Michelle, and I went to the quaint German town of Rothenburg ob der Tauber.  The town name is quite a mouthful, but means "Red fortress above the Tauber [River]" in German.  It is a major tourist destination because it has mostly remained unchanged from its major growth into a bustling town in the 15th century.  For example, the wall surrounding the whole town is completely intact along with other major buildings.  Rothenburg is just west of Nürnberg (Nuremberg), so it took us about four hours to get there, but it was well worth the drive!  What an adorable town!

The cute town of Rothenburg ab der Tauber

Our first stop was to get some lunch.  We didn't have any recommendations for a restaurant, so we just stopped in the first one that looked good.  We ended up having a great meal at a small restaurant off the main tourist path where it seemed all the locals went.  We enjoyed all the comforts of Germany including hearing high German and eating inexpensively.  At the end, we shared a delicious apple strudel.

Our delicious dessert

After lunch, we climbed up some steps and walked along the outer wall for a great view of the town.  We finally went into the main part of town where all the tourists were.

Part of the town defenses

Enjoying the chilly, but sunny day in Germany

Cuteness all around

Heading towards the main square: Marktplatz

Another goal of the trip was to find the famed Christmas store that people talk about visiting in Rothenburg.  Michelle had done a little research before we left and had read about this famous Christmas store, but did not know exactly what it was or where it was.  So as we toured the cute town, we kept our eye out for any Christmas stores.  Near Marktplatz we finally stumbled upon what we were looking for.  The Christmas store is called Käthe Wohlfahrt and let me tell you, this store did not disappoint!  This is *the* Christmas store of all Christmas stores.  First of all, the store is so big, it takes up three floors in one store and has two floors in an overflow store across the street!  I don't know the history of the company, but I do know that these Rothenburg stores are their main (and maybe even original) stores.  They sell all kinds of Christmas things including traditional German Christmas decorations, such as straw ornaments, nutcrackers, Schwibbogen, "Christmas pyramids", and more.

The overflow store entrance

The entrance to the main store

These stores were just incredible and magical.  They decorated them so beautifully, but you can't take pictures inside, so visit the website if you want to see.  Michelle and I went nuts in the store and wanted to buy everything in it.  I bought one ornament, but I want to take Darren there soon (they have other locations) so we can pick out more things.  Overall, it was a great day trip!  It really is a fantastic town to visit and I'm glad Michelle introduced me to it.

Fall Leaves in Zurich and Halloween

I took lots of walks in the beginning of October when we had great weather to capture the leaves turning. The leaves aren't as beautiful as in Northeast, but they are still pretty great.  I walked through my usual parks like Rieterpark and Belvoirpark the first day and found some great trees.

Ivy leaves changing color on a wall by Rieterpark

It was still early in the season, so only some leaves were turning

Not a fall color, but my first encounter with a native holly tree, they grow all over here

The beautiful arches at Belvoirpark still feel like summer, but a hint of fall is up ahead

Some other pretty berries at Belvoirpark

 I also went to a new park in downtown Zurich behind the Swiss National Museum that we have driven by many times.  The park is fine, but has a bit more sketchy people in it than the parks by me so it was just okay.  I still took some pictures anyways.

Some nice colors in the downtown park

The Limmat river running out of downtown Zurich

There is another river that runs right next to Darren's work building that I don't know if I've ever mentioned before.  Those who have visited it might have seen it.  It is called Sihl River and it has nice walking/biking trails with great trees along it.  I think it is a really pretty area, but I can never take pictures to do it justice.  Here are my attempts, though.

The Sihl River

A pretty view of Sihl River from a bridge

Another attempt at capturing the river and the great fall colors

Some were asking, from the last post, if Switzerland celebrates Halloween.  Switzerland does not traditionally celebrate Halloween, but it is becoming more popular.  My friends who live in more residential neighborhoods might get five to ten trick-or-treaters on Halloween.  The American ladies from our church put on a big Halloween party one Saturday in October each year for their kids to celebrate Halloween.  Darren and I helped out with the bean bag toss at the party this year and it was fun.  Who can resist little kids in cute costumes?

My homemade cat costume

Jucker Farm

In the beginning of October, Darren and I went to a farm just 30 minutes away from us called Jucker Farm  I love visiting farms and I have such great memories of going to the Ardenwood Farm in Fremont as a kid with my family.  I had been to Jucker Farm one day during the summer with friends and I wanted to go back to get some fall produce.

Visiting Jucker Farm on a beautiful fall day

Jucker Farm is also fun in the Fall because they build displays out of produce that surround a certain theme.  Luckily, this year's theme was Switzerland!  I took picture of most of the displays because I thought they were really cute.

A Swiss cow made out of butternut squash

Heidi, her grandfather, and Peter the goat herder

They had some really large, but cute rabbits, though you couldn't pet them

We had heard that the farm could be very crowded on the weekends in October, so we were preparing for the worst, but it wasn't overly crowded like we thought it would be.  The weather was also fantastic.  We spent some time admiring all the different kinds of squash they had grown.  Some of them I had never even seen before.  I really like butternut squash soup, so I picked out two to buy and take home.  We also bought some fresh apple juice and it was delicious.

Thousands of squash

I can't remember what this one was supposed to be, sorry

Swiss army knife!

The three leaders swearing allegiance to each other to form Switzerland

Petting the fat goats

Not sure how this one got up here, but we think he couldn't get down

A man with an alp horn

Walking around the farm and pretending to pick apples

Sorry, I forgot to take a picture of Darren, but I promise he came with me.  I had a great time and the butternut squash soup I made later on was delicious.