Castles and Ruins

I really believe that you could live here your entire life and not even touch half what the area has to offer. The entire area around Bamberg has walking and biking trails that lead to old castles and ruins. We spent 2 days finding just a few of these Gems, but there are so many more in the region and literally you could stay busy forver! The best part is that all of it is free and it is such a neat way to spend a day!

This "castle" is privately owend and was built by the same family that previously lived in the Ruins seen below. Can you imagine if this was your house?

such detail everywhere!

There are directional arrow all through the woods

There is something so calming about the forest!

Old ruins made out of stone - over 1000 years old!

When the family left this, they moved down into the village, where they built the Castle that is in the photo above

The kids enjoyed climbing all over...

For me, it was neat to imagine how they carved this stone so long ago (without proper modern day tools)

doorways, windows, and stairs

fun to imagine what it would have been like..

There was a board written with an old legend: An Orphan worked as a shepard for the family that owned this place. When the orphan moved here, his luck changed for the better.

Amazing!

And in the modern day village below... (Modern being 300-400 years old!)

it is still pretty darn cute!

The second day, we went to a "Felsen Labrynth", (a stone labrynth from 1000 or so years ago). We chose the "not so dry" route to get there - yikes!

And as crazy as it is for February in Germany, the first of the Spring flowers were popping up!

The Labrynth sat on the edge of a current day village. So pretty!

again, lots of stone!

This was a cool legend too (it must have been during the middle ages). There was a girl and boy of different faiths who loved each other. They weren't allowed to marry and then the girl eventually grew older and died. The rock that hangs over in the photo drips water all year round and it is said to be tears of the girl who loved the boy. Very sweet!

exploring a bit...

This was the "bear cave" - yikes!

Mia standing on the old Judges Bench - being silly!

The character is amazing!

I love the moss too!

Warning - Cliff!!!!

A "modern" barn, but I still love the character :-)

New Church (only about 300 years old :-)) , near the old barn!

So pretty!

Fasching Ferien (Carnival Vacation)

This week is Fashing Ferien, which means Mia has the week off for Carnival. Fasching is the time leading up to lent that people just let loose and enjoy. During Lent, people give something up for 40 days. We laugh at 2 different ways of thinking. We have friends that give up alcohol for 40 days, but in old times, people gave up food (and only had beer). In Germany, Beer is considered a food group - so funny! Mia and I went to Bamberg for most of the week to visit friends. Bryan was able to join us for the "Memmelsdorf Fashing Parade" which is one of our favorites. It is one of those experiences that makes you smile. It is just complete silliness and fun. 

We thought this was funny. A little guy with his toy gun. With political correctness, not sure how that would have been received back home :-)

Getting ready - the streets are starting to fill up in the little town...

Tempting all the kids with fun balloons...

This made me laugh...There is a poster on the base that warns you against suspicious people. The picture  on the poster looks just like this guy in his tall hat and trench coat. I guess maybe I should have reported him :-). 

People really get into it :-) These were just specators

and so the parade begins...

not only is lots of candy thrown...

but bananas, bread, prosecco, and this year Mia even got an onion plant thrown to her too!

such fun Music and silliness

handing out beer...

such funny and creative costumes! Somebody was even dressed up in a box that was decorated as a "porta potty" :-)

The big tractors coming through always make me a bit nervous (with the lack of liability), but somehow it always works out fine :-)

Leprechauns..

And instead of Pirates or as you would say in German "Piraten", here is "Bieraten" :-) Handing out more beer!

And at the end of the Parade, the local Mens club poured Cany out of huge buckets! 

After, we went across the street to a local Brewery with friends. Mia and her friend counted all of their candy :_)

And on the way back to the car, they still were sifting through looking to see if  any candy was left behind :-). The great thing is that within  2 hours after the parade, the city was back in pristine condition with everything picked up.

Brought a smile to my day...

We usually eat breakfast all together (not a big gourmet breakfast, just usually cerial or toast, but together none-the less). I had set the table and then ran upstairs to do a few quick tasks and when I came down stairs, I saw this in front of Mia's seat:

It seems like such a simple thing, but the process behind it warmed my heart. Camden and Bailey have been working very hard trying to keep up their grades for the end of the Semester. Camden had a huge German speaking test worth 20% of his overall grade. Mia was able to help him quite a bit with studying for it (In English, we say the word "the" in front of a noun, but in German there are about 30 versions of the word "the" and based on whether a noun is masculine, feminine or neutral, determines which of the variations that one should use. It is very tricky and in German 3 (the class he is in), it gets especially intricate. He studied hard with the help of Mia and then had his big test. He works one day a week, and it happened to fall on the afternoon after his test.  That night he went to work and bought this for Mia with his own money as thank you and token of his appreciation. It was such a simple gesture, but to me it was such a nice reminder that they are really growing up and turning into young adults (and pretty nice people too :-)). It brought a smile to my day.