Back to the Hay Hotel (and canoeing too :-))

I dragged some friends of ours back to stay at the Hay Hotel with us (it is now only about 30 minutes from our house :-)). Bailey, Mia, and I joined them, while Camden and Bryan stayed home (Poor Bryan had to work and poor Camden has allergies - but I don't really think that he was that disappointed ;-)). The premise of the Hay Hotel is so simple, yet so brilliant. There is a clean bathroom and a heated room with 2 huge beds of hay. We fit 4 kids and 3 adults in our "bed of hay" and the other side had other hotel guests too. I think it would make for such a fun business to run. The kids LOVE the animals and also the river that flows through. The town is adorable, and has several little restaurants to choose from, and the local bakery is something out of Mayberry (remember Andy Griffith?) - the lady that runs it, also runs the Metzgerei (butcher shop) next door.
The river that runs through the Hay Hotel is called the Pegnitz. It is a great river for Kayaking and Canoeing, and when we woke up in the morning, we rented 3 Canoes and went Canoeing for the day. It was such a great time - I just wish there were more Summer days to do things like this!  *A really funny side note.... There is a huge sign on the door to the Hay room that has a picture of a lighter with an x through it (obviously, meaning no smoking or lighting of matches) - yet 5 feet away from the sign is a cute table set up outside with candles (for guests to enjoy by in the evening). Next to the candles are a box of matches, just sitting there. Kids are the obvious draw to sleeping at the hay hotel, but even with kids running around and matches sitting there - there are no problems at all!!!

Hello Little fella!

So nice to wake up to the sounds of animals :-) Hee Haw!

and a cute little duck family...

Mia called herself a "Bauernhof Maedchen" (a farm girl). She is definitely our German girl - Bailey would not have walked so happily through lots of potential poop without shoes at that age :-) Nor I for that matter :-) Mia could care less though- she was loving every minute!

Little guys everywhere...

Our walk to dinner - such a cute town!

Our walk home from dinner - still so cute!

a part of the river - quite cold, but beautiful!

Mia - all nestled in her sleeping bag in the hay :-)

And in the morning, the kids had a big party in the hay!

And the bunnies were fed...

And these little birds were getting ready to fly (it was funny, because last time they had baby birds too!)

Mia feeding the donkey...

Covering each other in hay!!!

Thanks little guy for another fun stay at your place!

Fränkische Schweiz / Burg Rabenstein

A couple of weeks ago, we met some friends in the Frankische Schweiz (the translation is "Franconian Switzerland). It is a beautiful region, about 30 minutes from us, that has oodles of outdoor activities - hiking, rock climbing, canoeing, camping, caves, swimming etc.). We met at Burg Rabenstein (one of the castles there) and then went for a long hike. It was a really nice day. I know it sounds funny, but to me, one of the best parts about the outdoors here, is that there never seems to be any bugs. The woods seem to be mosquito and gnat free - it makes for very nice hiking :-)

This is the castle, but the best views of it came later...

There were lots of cool rock formations...

and caves...

Down below, the view of the castle got much prettier...

a little climbing...

lots of cool caves to walk through

and stone to climb...

This was the prettiest view! Amazing how they built these castles way back in the day!

A little chapel on a cliff - so cool!

I Love this girl! 

More caves! If I were a Nomad - this would be a perfect place to sleep!

The little chapel again...

The kids all found a crab in the river (very exciting for the landlocked Germans :-))

I thought this was the coolest thing...when we got back to our car, a wedding party and all of the guests were getting their picture taken in front of the Sunflower field - what beautiful memories!

What a beautiful field!

A great day!

Morning run...

Because running has not been at the forefront of my daily routine since our move, I have had to really motivate myself a bit to get out there. The other morning though, I decided to take my little camera with me and reaffirm to myself that we moved to a beautiful town with oodles of character.  While it is not Bamberg (yes, we have already been back there to visit 4 times - is that a bad thing? :-)), Amberg is a really pretty city!

There is a city "wall " that wraps around the entire city - definitely helps in the character department!

Die Stadt Brille (The city spectacles) - you can see what looks like a pair of glasses :-)

Lots of cute doors and entrances to get into the city

And then there was this cute little fella...

The morning sun makes everything look good!

They have covered bridges also entering the city...

trails all around the outside...

stone and brick together....

old and new together (cobblestone and pavement)

The Mariahilf pilgrimage church sits up on the hill in the distance...

Beautiful flowers...

More bridges and towers...

Total schon!!

It is pretty amazing to think of the history...

I bet this tower has seen quite a few runners over the years!

Postcards

I probably have already done a post about this, but if I have, I have to mention it again - sorry :-). Postcards are such a common thing around here. I love it! We have a mail slot in our door, and it seems like each day, I walk by and there is a postcard laying on the floor sent by one of our friends (mostly Mia's friends, really :-)). This is vacation time too - so that is why the postcard numbers have increased dramatically. I find it such a simple, yet thoughtful thing to do. Here people are, having a great time on vacation, yet they take the time to send a handwritten postcard to let you know that they are thinking of you. It reminds me of the old days before the internet and I just get the biggest kick out of it. So sweet!
 * as a side note too, when my kids were in the U.S. I asked them to send a postcard to my special 86 year old friend. He spoke to me about the postcards for days and wanted to know all about where they went and what they did. It meant the world to him - yet such a simple gesture on the kids part!

Lots of Postcards!!!

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Schwimmbad

Camden's friend came to visit this week and we went to the Schwimmbad (swimming pool) that is near our house (Have I mentioned, I love being able to walk everywhere ;-)). One of the things that is really neat at some of the indoor pools over here (including the one in Bamberg), is that they are self sufficient with regard to energy. They build the facility and then as soon as the building is paid off (within 20 years or so), the facility actually turns a complete profit using alternative energy and of course ticket sales are a bonus (which are very reasonable by the way). They use Solar and Geothermal energy to run the place - really a "no brainer" of a concept! Anyway, it was the first time we went to this pool and found it to be a really fun. The highlight was the slide. Not only because the slide was fun, but because they add the competitive component with a timer. Most people were at the outdoor pool, so we had the place virtually all to ourselves - a great day!

They have lots of different "lagoons" so you don't feel like everyone is right beside you..

You can swim indoors and outdoors

The outdoor area is heated too, and it is fun because the water pushes you around this area (like a river)

You can see all of the natural sunlight that makes you feel like you are outdoors (but also helps heat the place)

lots of different type of swimming spots - both indoors and out

They had lots of huge hot tub pools too, where you can just lay and relax

This was the gathering spot to watch the time as people go down the slide...

And a little kids area...

And this was the highlight...after each turn on the slide, the top number tells you how fast you went. The bottom right tells you the fastest time for the day, and the bottom left tells you the fastest time ever. The competitive spirit in everyone came out! So funny! (oh - and none of us even came close to breaking the days record - but we had a lot of fun trying :-))