ELI5: Explain Like I'm 5

German Timber-Frame Road

A long time ago in Germany, people used to build houses out of wood. They would take big pieces of wood and cut them into smaller pieces. Then they would fit them together to make the house frame. The frame was like a puzzle with all the pieces fitting perfectly.

These wooden houses had walls made from something called wattle and daub. That means they would weave thin sticks and branches together and then cover them with a mixture of mud, straw, and manure. This made a strong and sturdy wall that kept the wind and rain out.

To make the houses even stronger, German builders came up with a special way to join the pieces of wood in the frame. They used something called "half-timbering". This means that they cut part of the wood away from the middle, leaving a "half" of the original piece. Then they would fit the half pieces together at right angles to make a strong joint.

The German timber-frame road is a special road that goes through Germany and has lots of these old wooden houses along it. People come from all over to see the beautiful buildings on this road. They are like a trip back in time to when things were simpler and made by hand.