Summer Fun

"Oh, what do you do in the Summertime when all the world is green?"  That's how a childhood song we used to sing begins.  This Summer has been extremely dry here in Germany and the past few days have reached highs around 100 degrees!  But we have still been busy, and having fun this July. Here are some of the things we've been up to since our castle day-trip: 

*We've been going to the neighborhood pool to stay cool.
*We had some friends over for a tea party- lemonade style. One friend even brought macarons straight from Paris!  The kiddos were thrilled!
*We've been doing Summer reading through the library and attending some of their events like kite flying and making candy parachutes after learning about the Berlin Airlift.
*We spent several days doing what was needed for my minivan to pass inspection and get re-registered. (New windshield mainly, and a few other little things.  Now we have begun getting Rob's truck's work done- including removing the crash bars from the front, since after four years here those are suddenly not permitted.)
*The kids have been playing video games together.
*We've been visiting lots of playgrounds off-base and on-base.
*We made homemade ice cream one night.
*We have been picking blackberries from the yard and made a big batch of jam.
*We went to the movies to see The Incredibles 2.
*We went to IKEA for lunch and had schnitzel and meatballs.
*We've done almost all of our back-to-school shopping.

And what do all of these things have in common?  I haven't taken any pictures of them!  Just everyday life is so busy with four kiddos at home, that I have been doing my best to just enjoy it, and not think so much about photographing every moment.  It has been a productive and fun July.

Here are a couple of pictures that I did take this month while we were out and about:

 

We went to the Vivarium one day.  

I love this little zoo in Darmstadt and we have been coming here for years!

 

Another shot at the playground at the Vivarium... of the little one who was throwing a tantrum and wouldn't have her photo taken with the other kids by the owl statue at the entrance.

I took a look and found this photo of walking to the Vivarium from our old house in Traisa with my niece Leah, and my little bitty Charlotte and Toby way back in 2009!!

 

While my car was in the shop in Wiesbaden one day, the kids and I spent the morning playing at a playground in the park nearby.

 

And back in Darmstadt, we celebrated the 13 year anniversary of the day Rob proposed, with a family lunch out at this really lovely Biergarten that had great food and a small playground. 

We have some more fun, and some more work, planned for August but no big trips in the next month.  We are happily soaking up our last German Summer and looking forward to some cooler weather this Fall!

Castle Hopping

On Saturday we decided to knock out one of the items on our "Summer Fun" list and visit Berg Hohenzollern and Schloss Lichtenstein. These two castle are only about 30-40 minutes apart, about 2.5 hours from our house. That makes for a pretty long day trip, but do-able. We sat in an additional hour of traffic on our way there which made us wonder if these castles would be worth the hassle... but they totally were.

 

I knew from researching ahead of time that Hohenzollern was the larger of the two and that it was a hike (or shuttle ride) high up from the parking area, but I was still awed by the commanding presence of the castle on the hilltop. This is the ancestral seat of the House of Hohenzollern and the first castle on this hill was built in the 11th century, but the current structure was built in the 1800s. The building was also used in the 2017 adaptation of The Worst Witch.

 

The hike up the hill was no joke.

 

Still climbing.

 

Nearly there.

 

Finally!  We reached the gate and learned that this was only the beginning of a spiral drive like none I have ever seen before.  We continued to climb up and up over drawbridges and around courtyards.

 

It was really cool.  We could just imagine horse-drawn carriages driving up to the upper most courtyard.

 

When we reached the top, we strolled around the ramparts and took in the view of the countryside. 

 

Then we found a shady table at the restaurant in the courtyard and enjoyed a nice lunch.  I literally took this photo from where I sat eating lunch.  I could have happily sat there for hours.

 

We poked in the little Catholic chapel on the grounds (There is also a Protestant chapel, and I am sure many a wedding takes place at this castle.)

 

When I think of fairy tales, this is pretty much what I envision.

I knew it was not a great plan to try and tour two interiors in one day with all of our kids, so I researched and decided this was clearly the more impressive interior and the one we should tour.  We didn't want to wait for one of the English tour groups, so we went on one of the German ones. And they didn't allow any photos inside, but here are a few I pulled from the internet:

 

The first room is absolutely covered in the Hohenzollern genealogy... to the present day.

They had us put on little slippers over our shoes in this room so that we wouldn't scratch the floors in the castle.

 

This room was modeled after St. Chapelle in Paris and it was apparent.  Absolutely gorgeous.

 

Princess Victoria (first daughter of Queen Victoria of England) was married to Prince Friedrich (Hohenzollern) in 1858.  She was an accomplished painter and painted the a portrait of her son that hangs in this sitting room. I liked the blue velvet couches.

After a very, very long downhill climb, it was time to drive to our next castle: Schloss Lichtenstein. 

 

Similar to Burg Hohoenzollern, a castle has been in this location since the 1100s, but the current structure dates from the 1800s. We opted to only pay the few Euros to walk the grounds rather than take a guided tour here.  The grounds were beautiful. This building is the "Outer Bailey."

 

The catle itself sits on a stony escarpment.  There is a footbridge to the door.  It looks very precariously situated, and is actually quite a bit smaller than I thought it would be.

 

Castle selfie.  Ussie?

 

And a family photo in front of another outbuilding.

 

After walking the small castle grounds, we headed out on a trail nearby for some forest walking.  It was a beautiful day, and the shady woods were cool and lovely.  We would have walked much further if we didn't have four tired, hungry kids.  They are cute though:

 

 

Mallorca Mini-break part 3

 

Our flight home from Mallorca didn't leave until 8:30 pm, so we had most of the last day left to explore Palma. (The kids were lobbying hard for another beach day, but I just didn't want sandy wet kids on the flight home.)

 

Downtown Palma was really lovely. The architecture was very Spanish and reminded us of Barcelona and Ibiza.

 

We made our way to the area near the cathedral and walked around outside the Royal Palace of La Almudaina which dates from the 1300s.

 

I still don't know what this shallow pool would have been used for, but it was lovely.

 

Then we found a playground right between the Palace and the Cathedral, so of course we spent some time there. 

 

The Gothic cathedral is called La Seu, and was begun in the 1200s, but not finished until 1601. 

 

 

The central nave is the 8th tallest in the world.  (We've now visited 6 of the top 10 if anyone cares.) We actually opted not to wait in the line and tour the interior because it was such a beautiful day out and we have seen so very many churches. The exterior was quite interesting enough for this day.

 

We spent a bit of time just strolling the downtown and enjoying a leisurely morning. We ate lunch of sandwiches and pasta in a restaurant near the cathedral that was surprisingly good and chatted with a couple from California that were there on a cruise. They pegged us as Mormons, and I didn't know how, until he pointed out Amelie's BYU t-shirt!

 

 

There was a street performer in this enormous panda bear costume (see Rob for size comparison) dancing with the little kiddos and we sat and watched him for a while.  He was very entertaining.

 

And we also stopped for ice cream.  Rob and I split this bowl of cheesecake, dulce de lece, and "incomparable" which was chocolate and nutty.

 

And ALL of our other kids had cones of Straciatella (chocolate chip) and chocolate.  Everyone was happy.

 

We still had loads of time before we needed to go to the airport, so we headed up a hill above Palma to see the Castell de Bellver. It was built in the 14th century as a home, but was rarely used and is now open to visitors and hosts events.

 

We found a trail outside the castle walls and explored that for a little while, but didn't want to hike all the way down the hill and back up so we turned around and headed back to the castle.

 

The round interior was neat and was set up for an event of some sort.

 

We couldn't go into the "Rapunzel tower" but it provided a nice backdrop for a windy photo. 

 

Sometimes Rob takes pictures too!

 

After the castle touring, we bought some cold drinks and drove to the edge of the Platja de Palma beach to watch the kite surfers. Then we drove to the airport, returned our car an waited for our flight.  The departures board said our flight was delayed until right before the scheduled boarding time when it suddenly wasn't delayed anymore, so we rushed to the gate.  Somehow, they still took off late, and we didn't arrive in Frankfurt until 11:30 pm. 

We then had to go to the train station to head home, where we lost track of Toby during a change of platforms, (Rob found him, but it was traumatic) and we ended up missing our train. At this point we were all just completely exhausted so we hailed a cab and arrived home around 1 am. This trip seems to have been ill-fated from beginning to end, but the middle part of actually being in Mallorca was wonderful.  It has made us re-evaluate some of our future travel plans for the year that we have left in Germany, and some things will be nixed, while other trips will be made longer to allow a slower pace. We also plan to spend more to fly with the nicer airlines and leave our Ryanair days behind us as the stress, delays, cancellations, and inconveniences far outweigh the cost savings for us at this point in our lives.

Mallorca Mini-break part 2

Our second day in Mallorca we headed north to Cap de Formentor. I had read that the road out to the lighthouse at the end of this peninsula would be long, windy, and treacherous, so I was a bit concerned about a repeat of road trips like we've had in Ireland, Italy, and Idaho.  In comparison to those, this road wasn't bad at all.  It was wide enough for two lanes, unless a bus was in one of those lanes, well paved, and traffic in the morning was light.  We really enjoyed it!

 

We drove straight to the lighthouse and then stopped at the different viewpoints on our way back inland, which was a good plan as we easily got a parking spot, but there was a long line of cars waiting for the few spots available when we left the lighthouse.  The lighthouse itself wasn't all that exciting, but the views from the cliffs were awesome.

 

  

 

There were goats free ranging all over the place out here and they seemed thoroughly used to people.  The kids thought they were great.

 

On the way back we stopped at this little lookout point with just a few other people around and thought we would enjoy the picnic lunch I packed.  

 

Well this Billy goat heard the grocery bag and came running- right at me and Amelie!  Rob realized he was after the food, so I tossed the bag to Rob and he disappeared it into the car.  I held up my hands to show the goat I didn't have anything, but I was still holding my phone from taking photos, and I guess he thought it was food.  He came at me and nipped my arm! By now all of the kids were in the car, so Rob shook our lunch bag to draw the goat away from me so I could get to the car.  Once we were in, the goat still was coming at my side of the car and I was worried he'd jump up on the rental car.  I snapped this photo of the rogue Butt-head as we backed out of the parking area.  This event also sealed the deal on us NOT going to Formentor Beach, where we were likely to be accosted by goats again.

 

Anyway.... the next viewpoint we stopped at was pretty busy with a snack bar, restrooms, and a large viewing platform you could walk out.  This was the last viewpoint that the tour buses could stop at,  as they didn't drive the road past Formentor Beach.  There was even a guy busking with his guitar! We walked around this area for a nice long time and took a ton of photos before enjoying a goat-free lunch at a table in front of the snack bar. (We did buy drinks there as well.)

 

 

 

After we left there, we drove the rest of the way back down the peninsula to the town of Alcudia, which is in this photo on the Bay of Alcudia.

 

I wanted to stop here to see the Roman ruins that have been unearthed just outside the town.  The Roman town of Pollentia was founded here in 123 BC. We walked the paths and viewed the residential area, forum, and theatre of what was once an outpost of the Roman empire with hardly another person in sight.

 

 

Over 2,000 years ago, people not only lived here but had commerce, entertainment, politics, philosophy, and so on.  Granted, they also had slaves, which probably accounts for their ability to have free time for those pursuits, so it wasn't all fun and games.  I just find ancient civilizations fascinating.

 

And finally it was time to spend the rest of our day at the beach!

This time we visited Cala Millor. This was a much more touristy beach area.  Like, if Es Trenc was like Chincoteague, than Cala Millor was like Ocean City. There were lifeguards, bathrooms, chairs and umbrellas for rent, nearby parking, and basically a boardwalk area with shops and restaurants.  The water was still crystal clear, but the waves were a bit more pronounced here and Rob and I were able to swim out to where we could no longer reach the ground without going too far.  The beach was pretty full of people, but there was plenty of room in the water.

 

 

This is our little sand weirdo enjoying herself.

All of our kids love the water, and are super happy at the beach, but Amelie also loves the sand like no one else I have ever met! She rolls in it, scoots around in it, and here she was lying on her back and dropping it onto her face while wearing her goggles.  I'm glad she had a good time!

 

Finally, I am so glad that we purchased shoes like these for everyone.  We only brought backpacks on this trip and having shoes that easily went from walking and hiking to beach was a space saver and just made life easier.