Sunday at the Nürnberg Fruhlingsfest (Spring Festival)

Yesterday we left Parsberg fairly early, well, after a somewhat lazy morning, with the Nürnberg Fruhlingsfest as our destination.  It was sunny and warm and it definitely felt like Spring was in the air when we arrived at the parking lot for the fest.  Because these fests can get somewhat packed and somewhat crazy, especially on nice days, our plan was to get there right when it opened in order to avoid the crowds.  We didn't have much of a plan other than ambling around, checking out the sites and enjoying a little fest food for lunch - along with taking some pictures, of course. 

The festival grounds in Nürnberg are located adjacent to the NAZI documentation center, the only large structure left from Hitler's NAZI Rally Grounds, his dream for the center of the NAZI universe.  The history of the area is absolutely fascinating, especially when you come to realize the immense scope of Hitler's plans for the huge tracts of land in the area.  The area now is mainly a large park consisting of a few large lakes, the easyCredit Soccer Stadium, the Documentation Center Museum (a must see) and the Nürnberg Conference Center.  If you're interested in learning more, this is a great site with pictures from the past and present of the area:  http://www.thirdreichruins.com/nuernberg2.htm  I sat and went through these for an hour or so after we returned home yesterday.  Dawn and I have been to the Documentation Center museum but still have yet to explore, even after a few visits, the full scope of the park and grounds.  Click HERE for a google satellite view of the grounds.

We had a lot of fun yesterday but did return home early in the afternoon.  We were both beat from a long Saturday.  I should say all three of us, as Osu was quite tired himself.  I think he wore himself out at the festival trying to decipher the thousands of different smells emanating from the various food booths and tents.  His little legs just couldn't keep up with his nose which was constantly pointed at the ground, seeking out dropped pieces of pretzel or accidentally dropped chunks of bratwurst. 

Here are a few pictures from the day.

              

              

On a Bench at the Castle

Just a couple of pictures from this past Friday evening.  It's too nice of a day for a longer post right now.  We need to get outside and take advantage of the sun - and soon!

       

      

Cesky Krumlov Weekend

Well, it seems I have finally made it to the computer to do something other than frantically looking for plane tickets, hotels, and recipes. I was supposed to write about our trip to Cesky Krumlov about a week ago, but it somehow slipped through the cracks. So, now that it's 4:30 in the morning and I'm making breakfast for my friend Sarah's birthday today, I thought I'd take time while the dough is rising.

Nate and I have been trying to go to new places, as Germany has become a bit stangent for us. We've been to many places, but are a little sick of the same ol' thing. I was gone to Schweinfurt for work, so Nate and I were trying to find somewhere to go over the phone. Nate told me near the end of the week he had found a cool place to go and what to pack. All I knew is that we were going about 3 hours away. I made a few guesses, non of which were right, as I'd never heard of this place before. Cesky Krumlov. I was helping with the directions when we got nearer, but there was no way to pronounce that name if you can't read Czech or haven't heard it before.

We arrived into a cool Medievil walled city. Of course there was a detour, like Minnesota, there are only so many months to do road construction. The lady from the hotel came to pick us up and take us to the hotel, as this town does not let cars in the city center. We pulled almost right up to the castle and walked down just a few stairs to our hotel.

Our hotel was just below the castle, and you could see the tower from our door. The room we had was huge, with lots of space, a table, and Osu enjoyed the little couch that was in the corner which he claimed for his bed.

We got the camera gear all ready and headed out to walk the town. It was great! Just down the steps we found a Czech version of mini donuts, a cinnamin and sugar covered dough wrapped around a wooden dowel to bake in an oven. They spin bake, then get tapped a couple times to fall into your napkin to pull and eat on the go. Yummy.

Down the street was the bridge that opened up to the river and a full view of the castle. We stopped here to tale many pictures, as did many other tourists. It was great heading through all the tiny streets, some with very few people, others heavliy traveled. We made our way into the square and found a little market and some guy making fresh potato chips. We decided to try some, since we typically don't eat out much or eat chips. They were HUGE! It was almost like half a bag of chips from the store. We did not eat them all, not even half, but a few were good. Osu was kept far from them, as oil makes him sick and he had already eaten some lost soldierson the ground which made him throw up in front of a bag stand I was looking at. And of course, you have to pick that up too. I bet Nate was glad he went to get the chips.

We continued wandering the town to find different corners and cool photo spots. The castle ended up being last on our list, since it was up on the hill near the hotel. We walked up to the bears in the moat area and only saw a cat. We figured he was dinner and walked the castle for the view from the bridge. It was nice walking through at the end of the day, most tourists had left by then and gone back to Prage or where ever they traveled from for the day. On the way out we saw the two bears, in seemlying seperate cages in the moat below--and the cat was gone. We headed back to our hotel to drop off Osu and head out for dinner.

Dinner was at a place not far from our hotel. We wandered around a little before settling at a place that had a patio haging over the river. It was quiet and nice. The protions were pretty big and it was so cheap. Nate had a rissoto and I had veal, it was good! We packed up some veggies that were left from our plates and headed back to the room to give Osu a treat and head back out for night pictures. We went back to many of the same places as we did throughout the day, with a lot fewer people. I also had a hot chocolate that was thick as pudding. How can you go wrong?

Up early the next morning, Nate and I were out by 7 to wander for morning light shots before breakfast. If you couldn't tell already, the town is small. We walked the whole thing again that morning before breakfast at 8. Shortly after breakfast we headed home, Nate's back was hurting pretty good.

It was a great weekend! Great surprise. And now we have a new place we'd definately take visitors to see. We're actually heading back in about two weeks with some friends. This time we'll take a little more time to relax and enjoy the time.

Now, time to get ready for work with the monkey bread rises. It's all rolled in the cinnamon and sugar now, almost time for hot gooey yummy!

Our weekend in Cesky Krumlov, Czech Republic

I really can't type all that well right now, so Dawn will finally have to make another post.  Here are a couple of pictures in the meantime.

The first two are where we stayed Saturday night.  The rest are scenics of the town.  All of the pictures can be found on my Flickr Site also.

                           

Back to the Czech Republic

When foreign becomes familiar, the abnormal becomes normal and the exciting becomes mundane, you often have to push a little farther or take the path least traveled to make things exciting again.  This is not necessarily a bad thing.  I realized on Thursday, while trying to think of somewhere to go this weekend for a short trip, that the area where Dawn and I live has become a bit stagnant to us.  Trips to Nurnberg and Regensburg have become routine, we've thouroughly checked out our surrounding area, have visited many of the quaint villages contained in the region where we live, and have done most of the things normally targetted at visitors. 

After sitting and trying to think of something unique to do over this weekend, I remembered a webpage that I had stumbled across a year or two ago describing a medeival village in the Czech Republic.  The village, Cesky Krumlov, is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and just a little over three hours from the house.  I figured it was finally time to go and check this place out. 

It's been EXACTLY one year since I was last in the Czech Republic and I think most of you know how that turned out.  Over the past year, I don't know how many people have asked me, "Will you ever go back to Czech or Prague?"  I always answered them, "sure, why not?"  Well, here we go.  I'm really looking forward to the trip, especially since Dawn has no idea where we are going.  I don't keep this information from her for her benefit or to not worry her, I just want to keep the destination a surprise because I do think she will love it.  We're both pretty easy-going and knew that we'd have no problem going back to the Czech Republic when the time came.  It would be silly to think otherwise.

We'll have a full report when we return.  Frohe Oster! (Happy Easter)

Quickly from Winter to Spring

This past weekend may have been the last hurrah for winter here in our neck of the woods.  It snowed nearly all day on both this past Saturday and Sunday which made for an interesting frozen-slush-on-the-road drive to work on Monday.  Ah, but how quickly things change.  Today temperatures reached the low 50's and there was a little hint of spring in the air.  Most of the snow on the ground is gone now, the grass finally reappearing after spending nearly four months tightly tucked under a cold, white blanket.  As we usher in a new season here in Germany, I'll fondly think back on this past winter, the first real winter I've experienced in four years.  Yes, I do realize that most people think I'm a bit off in my longing for cold and snow, but in a week or two, when the inevitable and nearly constant rains return, I'll inwardly chuckle at the fools who curse winter when their complaints begin regarding the dampness and 'bone-chilling' wetness that marks the German spring.  Ah, yes, it's springtime for Hitler in Germany, indeed.

A few pictures from last Saturday morning and one from this evening to illustrate the quick change in the weather.

Sunrise this past Saturday

   














Then the snows came and came hard

The front yard today (Wednesday).  Good bye snow!

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