Sunday afternoon nothing is open in Germany, at least not where we live. And December 24 not many people were out window shopping – everyone was already home with family.

We took the opportunity to visit Staufen, which is about five kilometres from home. I had been through the castle on my first visit to the area a couple of years ago, but my wife hadn’t been on that trip. I’ll post some new castle pictures in a few days.

We took the opportunity as well to walk in the old section of the town. It was pretty deserted, and very picturesque, even though it was a little cloudy. There are so many German villages that look like this one, they have preserved their history well. We will definitely be back to explore more of this village that dates back to at least the eighth century.

For now here’s a few pictures to give you a taste of what we saw.