This weekend we drove to Shweinfurt to spend the day with my aunt and uncle. We had a wonderful time. It was our first real excursion on our own, and it went off without a hitch. Nuvi (see previous entry) guided us to our destination and home again without any problems, so driving wasn't stressful, the weather was beautiful, the kids were well-behaved, and it was wonderful to spend time with family.
We spent the morning at a truly beautiful park. It has playgrounds, sprinklers to run through, a mini-golf course, a HUGE petting zoo and kilometers of beautiful walking paths through the forest. We spent most of our time looking at, feeding, and petting the animals. What could be better than bunnies nibbling your fingertips or goat saliva coating your palm?
We spent some time hunting the white stag. Do you think that if we had chased it long enough it would have led us out of Narnia and home to our friends and family?
Look - we caught him on film! Do you think our wishes will be granted? In all actuality, this is an albino stag - he really is completely white. He is very, very tame. He walked right up to the fence and let us (and the kids) pet him.
After the park we had lunch (hooray for yummy German bread and cheese!) and rested. I was able to visit with my aunt while my uncle entertained the kids (he is amazingly good with children) and my husband slept. (Someone had to be alert enough to drive us home!) We then headed downtown Schweinfurt. Schweinfurt was one of the most heavily bombed cities in the war. It was targeted because of its 2 ball bearing factories. Unbeknownst to the Allies, Hitler moved the factories out of the town and into the countryside, so, tragically, the city was destroyed and the factories remained intact. As a result, the city is newer than a lot of German cities. It is still a beautiful town, however, and the residents have really made the most of what buildings were left. (For instance, they turned an old stone warehouse into a beautiful library.)
Note the subject of the sculpture - this is after all Schwein - furt (pig-crossing)!
9 comments:
What a fun weekend! That's great that you got to visit Alison and David and do so many fun things. I love the pictures!
The weather does look beautiful. It's too hot here, but of course, you know that! It sounds like a really fun day! You sound very relaxed, I hope things are getting a little less stressful!
How did you manage to fit such a pleasant weekend into the chaos that has been your summer??? Nicole just filled me in today. So how are your van, your furniture, Naomi's feet and your thumb? (Not necessarily in that order...) And is Ben back from Schweiz yet? After what he did to your new van, I kinda hope he comes home with a (minor) case of poison ivy. (Sorry Ben, but we girls stick together!)
Oh my gosh those pics of you kids on the cobble stone streets take me back to when I lived in France! What a great opportunity for you and your children!
Julie
At the San Diego Zoo, they have this petting zoo section, where the kids are just walking around among goats and sheep.
One goat kept sneaking up on Annika and when she'd turn around there was a goat in her face. She'd quietly freak out--it was so funny.
PS It was nice to hear from you! Email me you info and I'll pass it along to Inga. She said she'd love to say hi since you're in Germany.
I didn't know you had any family out there! I'm way glad that you do.
Emma, oh Emma, where art thou?
I see you've returned to commenting. Is your thumb well enough to return to the blogosphere in your own right? We need an update!
Chrysta
P.S. Our fence is up and we have a behemoth of a swing set in our backyard as of Thursday. Almost there...
Chrysta, I'm sooooooooo glad you FINALLY have your swingset! Sooooooo glad. I have a bunch of stuff to post and it's coming soon. The van is better, the thumb is healed (as are Naomi's feet) and we're making claims on the furniture. So, blogosphere, here I come!
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