We're on a mission!

Saturday afternoon was so nice that we decided to venture out again to find castle ruins! We left home and first headed to our Parsberg castle. The castle itself is very pretty, with a cobblestone "street" inside the entryway. However, the castle was all closed up and the castle museum is only open for a couple hours daily. The museum gives you an idea of life in Parsberg from over 100 years ago - the different types of textiles made, furniture produced, their "handiwerk" and their religion. Someday we'll check out the history of Parsberg. We couldn't figure out how to get to the top of the castle where the ruins of an old tower are. So we moved on...

Off to Prunn to discover the castle ruins that were listed in our "An Hour or Less Away from Hohenfels" booklet. Apparently our little booklet is outdated because when we arrived the Prunn castle ruins were in the middle of further restoration! Anyway, on our way to Prunn we drove through (actually above) a beautiful city called Riedenburg. There was a lookout that Brian pulled off into and I snapped a couple of pictures. We'll go back to the area someday to check out their market square and see if there are any restaurants over looking the city and the river.



As I mentioned above, the Schloss Prunn was undergoing a makeover. However, you can enter the castle for 4 Euros and tour the museum and see historical pieces throughout. There is also a restaurant on one of the castle floors. We didn't stay - we were close to the castle closing time and besides, we were there for ruins! We'll go back another day. From Prunn, we headed to Essing and low and behold, we found castle ruins! Below is a picture of the ruins from the street below and a few up close. The castle looks amazing up close, you can see how old each and every brick is and feel the history. Unfortunately, this castle ruins has operating hours (who knew?) and we arrived too late. So here is are pictures from the outside and of the front door (original front door I might add).

What is this you ask? Well, it is the castle moat (bottom of picture) and the castle wall (middle) and the view of the river from way up high.

While we were in Essing we kept seeing people walking by us, all headed in 1 direction. Turns out everyone was going to the local restaurant up by the castle. So we decided to join them. We ate cordon bleu - made with pork instead of chicken - and schnitzel. The food was very good and the view from the restaurant was beautiful. I snapped a picture of the sun setting.

By the time we left the restaurant it was almost dark so ended our ruin finding mission. Next time we'll have to research operating hours - ha! Today we headed to Kelheim, land of the Hall of Liberation (remember that?) for a Trol and Floh Markt - which is an antique and flea market. It was at a huge lot along the river and there were many, many stalls. Once again, it was fun to walk the aisles and see all the wares people had for sale. We ended up with a German soup tureen and cups (made in West Germany! circa 1910-1940) and an oil painting. Both were a steal and we left pretty pleased.

The weather today was amazing, even better than yesterday. It was in the mid 60s and when we got home we all went to the backyard to play. Luke had a great time running around with all the neighborhood kids and there is an enclosed trampoline in the community backyard and Luke climbed right on up and in and bounced around with the other kids. Another great day in Germany.

A little bit of snow

Brian woke me up at 6:45 this morning to have me look out our bedroom window. The sun was slowly rising and the ground was covered in a dusting of snow. Our terra cotta roof tiles were covered with white powder and snow was swirling around sideways through the air. It was beautiful. By the time I decided to trudge downstairs to get my camera the sun was a little higher and the snow had stopped falling but it still looked pretty so I snapped a few pictures. All the pictures were taken from the third floor of our house. The view is great from up there. We can see the rolling hills and the town down the road, Lupberg. I also took a few pictures looking out our back window so you can see what the houses in our neighborhood look like. Do you like the way our windows open? They are only like that on the third floor because the ceilings up there slant with the roofline.

Pictures of Parsberg

Parsberg is the town that we live in. Just a short walk (1/2 mile) up the hill is the heart of the town. There are gasthauses, gasthofs, drugstores, bakeries, cafes, a grocery store and a multitude of little specialty stores. There is also the castle of Parsberg which is at the top of the hillside, at the top of the town. You take a winding narrow street through a neighborhood that is a mixture of homes and shops, to the very top passing by old homes and what looks like an old stone wall tower (see picture) at the top of a mountain. You then wind around an old dilapidated house and small barn to see the lookout onto the entire city and then you see the majestic old castle with an old lookout tower made of stone tucked behind the mountain ledge (see picture - the opposite side of that stone wall from on the way up). Apparently it is the city's castle, therefore the people's castle and you can go in it whenever you want. We plan on taking Luke up there to play sometime soon. But today, on our way to Regensburg, we first did a quick exploration of Parsberg and the castle at the top of the hill. Here are the pictures...