In the midst of all this, we've made three trips to a nearby town called Weiden. It's the nearest town to us with a decent amount of nice stores for shopping and a lot of really good restaurants. Like every other town we've been to here in Germany, it is quite pretty. I think the most surprising thing we (we, being Laurel & I) have learned from our time in Weiden is that H&M here in Germany is fabulous! It's not at all junky like the H&M stores in the states. In addition to H&M, we've found several other shoe and clothing stores that we really like, and we're looking forward to going shopping without the boys in tow! Thankfully that can happen any day after tomorrow because Don is buying his used German beater which means I get my car back and Laurel & I will have wheels again!
Here are some pictures from our trips to Weiden, including some of the fabulous food we ate there.
Here's some of the food we ordered at Ratskeller Gaststatte. We've eaten at this restaurant twice because it's just that good! That being said, this particular dish is probably my least favorite thing I've eaten since we've been here. It's goulash with dumplings, only these dumplings were somewhere in between bread and what I would call a dumpling. It was worth a try though.
This is their classic schnitzel with potatoes, and it is so good!
This is their "lumberjack" steak and potatoes, which we've had at a few different restaurants. Theirs did not disappoint!
The food here is just great, and we're all starting to learn what our favorites are, but we still like to branch out and try new things as well.
So that was a little bit about Weiden, and now to Waldeck...
This past Saturday we drove up to another castle ruin called Burgruine Waldeck in the little town of Waldeck. The first mention of this castle dates was in 1124. The castle had various owners and suffered great damage in the War of Spanish Succession, after which it was rebuilt only to burn in 1794 leaving the ruins that are there today.
The views from this hilltop castle were amazing! We spent a lot of time looking out from every angle and taking in the beauty of it all. Austin had an absolute blast climbing rocks and walls, and the best part was that we had the whole place to ourselves.
Here's a look at the castle and the beautiful panoramas it provided. This may be picture overload, but it was just SO beautiful!
This small flock of sheep was a lot of fun to watch.
Austin hates having his picture taken, but for some reason he was very cooperative this day. We decided that we'll have to do a portion of his senior portraits at some of these old castle ruins when the time comes, but I really don't want to think about that just yet!!
The remainder of the pictures are from a family cemetery at the base of the hill leading up to the castle ruins.
The great thing about being here is that, to us, everything is new and interesting and beautiful, so we can always find something new to do or see on the spur of the moment when we've been too busy to make any specific plans. The past three weeks may not have been filled with much travel, but we're making up for it in the next three weeks! I can hardly wait :)
