Castles nearby

So yesterday and today we visited some castles near our house with my parents. Yesterday we went to Berg Nanstein in Landstuhl. We took a nice little hike up the hill, and walked around the castle, which, unfortunately, was not open. There's a very nice view over the city. The castle is popular site for family photos and such. We took some, but they're not so great! They have a little cafe that serves light food, but it's only open in summer.


Today we went to the Potzberg castle, which is very nice. It has a hotel inside it, and a very nice restaurant. It was a nice drive, and when you got into the forest, suddenly it was white. They had a heavy frost the night before that had edged everything in white. It was stunningly beautiful. And it wasn't just on the edges, it was like miniature icicles, only they must have had a good wind, because they were perpendicular to the ground, not hanging down. It was so cool! We tried to hike around a bit, but Stella started freaking out, so we had to cut it short. I think she was either cold (it was much colder up there than at our house), uncomfortable (a big, puffy jacket stuffed into our hiking backpack can't be very nice), hungry (it was lunchtime) or all three (most likely). She was crying quite angrily and loudly by the time we got back to the castle (I swear it was only 10 minutes, but it seemed like forever!). Poor thing! So we stopped in at the restaurant and had a very lovely meal.

The inside of the castle is very nice, exposed beams and thick stones and all. They have medieval banquets (kind of like Medieval Times, just without the horses, knights, and fighting) and murder mystery dinners. Now that would be a great setting...

After lunch, we went out behind the castle, where they have a zoo.

It's not like a regular zoo, with monkeys and lions and such, but just different kinds of deer, horses, goats, pigs, and birds. Some of it's a petting zoo, but really it's just like a series of pastures. Stella, of course, LOVED it, and the views of the valley would be beautiful, if not for the fog. We could just make out the hills beyond. They have all kinds of birds, especially birds of prey, like falcons and eagles and stuff. They have a big outdoor stage where they must have bird shows in the summer. We even saw a bald eagle. It will be a very nice place to go for picnics in warmer weather, when Stella will be able to just run amok.

Rothenberg ob der Tauber

While Nick's mom was here in October we went traveling a bit. This post will cover our weekend trip to Rothenberg. If you haven't heard of it, it's a medieval walled city. When we walked in, Sue said something to the likes of, "I'm in Europe!" It's absolutely beautiful, quaint Germany. We got there a little late, just in time for dinner, so we stopped at a potatoe restaurant. Sounds weird, but it's really good. We had different sorts of au gratin potatoes, and they were delicious! Then, we went to the city center to catch a tour with the town night watchman. If you ever go, and it's reasonably warm outside, you should definately go on the night tour of the city. One time is in English, the next on is in German. It's very informative and he's got a great sense of humor.


If you think he's a horrible guide, you can tell him to go to hell, and meet him at the local pub. (I stole that line from him, so don't think it's my own wit!)


The next day we took a walk around the town and stopped in some local shops, as well as the local torture museum. Sadly, for some reason Nick took no pictures here, but it was really cool. It's amazing how many different things they had there. My favorite was a stock-like thing where you put two people facing each other, with their hands locked up, too. It's made for quarreling women, so they have to walk around together. Ha! I think Nick's favorite was the shame mask they put on musicians who don't play well, with a clarinet like form coming off it that their hands would be locked to. They were so clever back then in ways to shame and embarass people!
Our time was rather short there, as we were planning on a stop at Domi's house again, so we didn't see much else (so we can bring someone else there later). We had a lovely stay at their house, and Sue got to meet his parents (he was a foreign exchange student Sue and Gordy hosted in the States).

Black Forest

So we went to the Black Forest the first weekend in October. It was our first official trip in Germany (meaning more than just a day trip). We were asking around at church for ideas where to go for a 4-day weekend, and the Black Forest sounded great. One of the women is from Alpirsbach, a small town near Trieberg in the Black Forest. She knows a family that has an apartment in their house that they rent out for visitors. It was absolutely perfect, except that Jackson had to stay home.

On the way down we stopped for the afternoon in Baden Baden, a spa town on the north end of the BF. It was very beautiful, a lot of high-end shopping and pretty parks. We then continued on to Alpirsbach, trying to keep Stella content as dinner time approached. Our hosts were very kind when we arrived (a little later than we had hoped!) and the accomodations were perfect. They even had gummis on the pillows and animal crackers for Stella. AND, they went to their milk lady at 8 pm to get us some milk for Stella. Now that's service! We took a little stroll to the town center and had some supper at a nice Gasthaus. Mmmmm more spaetzle, please!

The next day we went on a nice hike, with the help of some trail maps our hosts had. The route they recommended was very scenic along the river that runs by their town, but was not as physically challenging, nor into the forest as we had hoped. We happened along some gorgeous traditional BF houses and farmland.


After about an hour we decided to change routes, and thus begun uphill. The forest was beautiful and we were blessed with gorgeous, sunny weather for the morning, so it wasn't too dark. We were hiking to Schoemberg, the next town north. When we arrived it was clouding over and starting to rain, so we ducked into a cozy little Gastehaus for some lunch, instead of picnicking outside on our bread and cheese. A MUCH better choise, I might say. A little hefeweizen, some hot knudels, and we were ready for a nap! But we had to go home, instead. As we were leaving the restaurant, we happened upon the fire dept. preparing for a little party that night in celebration of the apple harvest. They were pressing cider, so we got a first taste of apfelmost. Yum yum! Even Stella approved.


Then, we decided to take a different route home, and Stella finally conked out on the way. It was somehow uphill on the way back, at least until about 15 min. before we arrived home! My Achilles was feeling it and was sore for a few days following. We absolutely crashed, and vegged out for the rest of the day.

The following day we visited another open air museum, this one about the culture in the Black Forest. It was very interesting, and Stella enjoyed watching the animals and playing on the carved wooden play areas. We also stopped in Trieberg for a look at the waterfall, which was quite beautiful. We had a taste of black forest cake (Unfortuneately this one was not so great. Our landlady's is MUCH better!) and a walk around the downtown area, checked out some cuckoo clocks, and piled back in the car.

Our last day was spent in Alpirsbach exploring the city. We did not have enough time to see their brewery, or even their cathedral, but did stop in their glassblowing place. It was very cool, and I am now in love with Schwarzwald glas. It is the coolest, handmade, glassware I have seen. It's a shade of green somewhere between sage, celery, and olive. I want a whole set! But it is a little pricey. I resisted the temptation.

We then headed home, and just as I was doubting the route our GPS was giving us, happened upon this:



Our first view of the forest from above. We stopped to take a photo and noticed this:



Paragliders! We ended up sticking around for about an hour (Stella was napping in the car), talking with a guy named Mike (stupid Heather didn't take his picture!) He is German, but speaks great English (as most do!) and used to be in bands that played on the military bases back, I think, after the war. He was really cool and super nice and very interesting to talk to. A very nice way to spend a gorgeous sunny afternoon in Germany. He told us all about paragliding (some people even use it to travel-Germany to Switzerland. You "hop" clouds. Crazy!). But, then we had to be on our way. We planned to stop in Strasbourg on the way home. It's a very nice city just over the border into France. Can I tell you how hard it is to remember languages when you're learning different ones? It took me 10 minutes to remember how to say "please" in French. AARRGgghh. Sometimes I feel like my head is going to explode! We enjoyed a baguette, some coffee, and some French pastries (I managed to convince Nick we couldn't leave without them!), but couldn't stick around long enough for supper. The French don't eat till like 8, which is Stella's going to bed time, so eating at 6 would have been a little difficult. We ended up at McDonald's about an hour later, having no luck with anything else on the way home. I must say, not eating at McDonald's for a LONG time makes a Big Mac quite tasty when you're hungry. It hit the spot!

Christmas is coming!

Here it is, our Christmas tree (Weihnachtsbaum). It's pretty cool, the next village over, Miesenbach, has a small place where you can go cut down fresh trees. It's basically a regular farm with about an acre of trees. It's just nice to be able to go 5 minutes from your house to get a tree. The folks who own the farm were really nice, and we were able to communicate with a combo of broken German and English. Stella was very interested in their dog, Bonnie, and their ponies.

It had a really nice spike on the top, perfect for the tree topper, but we had to cut it off in order to fit it in our house. This is still the biggest tree we've had yet, though. Stella and Jackson had a lot of fun checking it out. Then, after 3 trips to the store (yes, 3!) to get lights (500 in total, though I could have used 550. sigh.) we were ready to decorate it. I think this was Stella's favorite part!



She really enjoyed playing with all the "non-breakable" ornaments, and actually managed to break a few! (We now have a few headless straw angels.) I have these little pedal car ornaments that she really liked pushing all over the floor (ca! ca!) Now it's just a matter of seeing how many times a day I have to put ornaments back on the tree!

What IS it?

Whoa...Check it out!

Oh, wow!! What is it?

I don't know...but it looks vaguely familiar.

Yeah, it does...like one of those gismos, devil boxes one of my teacher used to say.

Hmmm...could it be? You mean, there's actually one here?

Yup, looks like it.

Well, by golly! Look at it isn't it beautiful?!

Ya know, it really is...



We have a computer. Yes, you read correctly. We have a computer. And what's more, it works! After our former computer's main board completely frying (don't ask me how, I don't know how that happens. They're dual electric, so it's not because we're in Germany!), our insurance covered the cost of the repair. Much like cars, when their engines go kaput, it was to our advantage to "fix" our computer by buying a new one. Jason M, you can be jealous, we got a new MacPro. After a little more drama (what Mac store doesn't take credit cards? Darned EC card!), and a bit of rudimentary German translating to set up our internet, we are online as well. I will back log some of our more eventful trips of the last...dear me...when did I last blog...I can't even remember. two and a half months maybe? Doesn't matter anyway. We hope you all had a very thankful Thanksgiving, we know we sure did. Cheers!

Poor Stella

So Stella has been having a rough week. First, as you can see in the photo at left, she had a run-in with a rose bush. More like a tumble, actually. I was right there, and she fell over, like she does often, only there was a little down hill and she rolled/flipped into the garden (mostly small bedding plants, except for a few long rose branches--oops!) and proceeded down the slope. It all happened so fast, it's crazy how they move like lightning sometimes. Anyway, she had scratches like an Indian warrior on her face, and a few on her legs. She was such a trooper and only cried for like a minute, and not a peep when we washed and fixed them up with some ointment. Now those are gone, BUT...
apparently she was next on the mosquitos' list. Poor thing. And, trust me, it's not nearly as bad as it looks in person! See, we hadn't seen but one mosquito the whole time we'd been here. Well, I guess it was probably because it was no more than 65-70 degrees until last week. Not to mention rain everyday at some point. You'd think we'd have figured that one out. Then last week it got warm. Everyone knows what lots of rain and then warm weather will do. We left her window open a crack (like an inch!) for fresh air because the nights are nice and cool here. Ah, but there aren't any screens on the windows. In our temporary place there were. BIG difference, as you can see. The poor thing. Nick and I got a few bites that night, but she must have sweeter blood (of course she's sweeter, look at her!), because they had quite the feast. Thankfully, they don't seem to bother her much. I've never seen her scratch them or seem uncomfortable because of them. What a trooper, ya know? We bought one of those canopy things for her, and we're looking for screens to put on the windows. German windows are much different than ours, and we love them--Nick will have to tell you about them, he thinks they're the best thing since sliced bread--but there's no screens. We'll get those little buggers...just wait and see! So as for Stella, she's hanging in there. Really, she's having a great time right now, because where we're living (housesitting) there are 3 dogs (including Jackson), a cat, and three rats (they're not as gross as you'd think, though Jackson keeps trying to eat them). She's plenty busy!

Weekend with Domi and family

Guttentag! Last weekend we spent our 4-day vacation with Domi, a foreign exchange student who lived with Nick's folks in SD for 1 year, and his family. They live in Michelfeld, a small town near Schwabisch Hall. It was really great to see Domi again, and fun to meet his parents and brother. Barbara and Bernd were wonderful hosts, and cooked some killer German food for us, not to mention supplying ample coffee, tea, wine or beer, and playing with Stella to boot! (For future reference, to anyone with kids, staying somewhere with people who love kids is awesome!) Their home was really cool, too, as they designed it themselves and have lived there for 19 years. And with a beautiful garden on top of it all, it was a very relaxing stay. Domi played tour guide for us and brought us to downtown Schwabisch Hall Saturday to see the market and just walk around and see the town (Dena-they had an H & M!). It's a classic medieval downtown area with modern shops built into the old buildings, with more modern areas elsewhere, and beautiful views everywhere, especially since it's a quite hilly location, right in the vally of the Kocher River. As Nick says, I could live there. We visited St. Michel's church, with some of the steepest front steps I've seen. They have shows (theatre and music) on the steps and everyone sits down below in the square. The altar was a huge carved wooden fold-in tryptych. My art history is failing me as to what you call those things. Anyway, it was the biggest one I've sen. They also have a little window back behind the altar down into the crypt where you can see stacks of bones. The craziest thing to me about this church is that it's Protestant, not Catholic. It feels just like a Catholic church, with the artwork and stuff. Pretty cool. It was one of the places Luther used to frequent. Later on we went to St. Nicholas' church, which is inside an old castle. That was really cool, as we could walk all around the battlements and see gorgeous views of the valley. Next day we went to the open-air museum in Wackershofen, which is a rebuilt old Medieval town. They brought buildings from all over Southern Germany and reconstructed them. It was really cool and would be a fun place to hang out longer and eat, but with a fussy one year old (hungry and in need of a nap!) it's more difficult. Above all, it was just fun to hang out with Domi and fam and just talk. We also played a lot of 6 nimmt, a card game we'll definitely bring back with us. Tschuss!

Virgin Blogger

So here it is, our first blog. This is meant to keep family and friends updated with our travels and some everyday experiences while we are here in Germany. We hope you enjoy it!