Family Hike ~ Umleitung!

Gabe and I have a love for hiking. It's such a great way to spend family time together, get some fresh air and see something new. The weather is getting colder and the leaves are falling fast so we wanted to get one last fall hike in before the snow comes. After many web searches and numerous discussions we decided to go with the "Old Stand-by" and head down to Annweiler. It's a favorite of ours and although we've been there multiple times we have yet to hike the castle. Link: Annweiler Castle Hike (2.5 hours) I was really excited to check it out. It appears to be a fairly easy family hike with amazing views and it's only about an hour from our house.

We pack up and head out. We finally get to the road that leads to the castle and start the windy drive to the top.  A few miles in we see our second favorite sign in Germany (insert sarcasm): ROAD CLOSED

Second only to the "Stau" sign....which means "traffic jam"....the sight of this sign can almost immediately bring one to tears. It is NOT a suggestion. This does not mean PART if the road is closed and you may be able to SLIP through. This sign means EXACTLY what is stands for. The road is closed and you must now turn around. Now in the U.S. a road will be closed and an there is an alternate route made to your destination. In Germany, however, there may or may not be an alternate route and if you don't speak German there is no way to ask. So, unless you see our 3rd favorite sign: UMLEITUNG...you can throw your initial plans right out the window.

"Umleitung" means Detour route...one sign feels more like this ^^^ though

German's seem to LOVE putting these signs up in THE most inconvenient places and you encounter them at THE most inconvenient times! We have seen these on the way to the airport...you know, when time is already precious and you have no way of knowing any other route other than the one that is showing up on your GPS. I will now make a suggestion so that you do not find yourself in a panic...NEVER drive with less than 1/2 tank of gas because there is a really good chance you will encounter this situation on your way to the gas station and end up driving an extra hour longer than you intended to (this happened to my neighbor a few weeks ago going from our village to the base). 

We did not see the "Umleitung" which meant there was no alternative route to the Castle so we went with Plan B. It wasn't a total wash but it ended up being a hike we had more or less already done before. We did get some nice photos....even though it was a bit cloudy. 

Gabe showing the boys a cat-tail

Love these little guys!

Burg Trifels in the background

Big "D"

Out of focus but the only decent picture of Mia

My "FlyGuy"

Again, not in focus...I was worrying more about my camera's battery life :(

RyRy, Moi and DMan

My camera battery was dying but right before it did I got this shot. I was so proud of myself. I set up camera (on manual), placed it in a rock (I forgot my tripod), got the boys situated and set the timer :D

So, even if the hike didn't go as planned we still made the best of it and for me, getting this picture made it all worth it.

Saarburg ~ Bell Foundry

I had never heard of the village Saarburg before but Dylan's 4th grade class planned a field trip there last week to take tour through one the last remaining bell foundries in the world. We took the regional train out of Landshuhl at 9:15am and arrived Saarburg at around 10:45am. 

The kids had no problem keeping themselves occupied for the hour and a half ride...

We arrived Saarburg and took a short walk toward the castle to an area near the river to have lunch. The swans and ducks were eager to help the kids with their lunches. 

The kids started racing each other. They got their teacher, Mr. O'Connor, to participate...

 He was beat by a 9 year old...way to go, Hunter!

We then made our way to the bell foundry. The Mabilon Foundry has been in operation since the 1770's. The earliest remaining Mabilon bell in Germany was cast in the Sauerland during the time of the Thirty Years War. 

In 1770, Urbanus Mabilon settled in Saarburg and since then the art of their foundry has been passed on from generation to generation as a carefully-kept secret up until today.  Bells were still cast in Saarburg up until 2002 but today the foundry is carefully preserved in its original condition as a museum. 

Here is our tour guide. Guess what his name is?

 Wolfgang...of course!

I love shots like this. I've been really having fun with my Nikon lately.

The indoor shots are still a work in progress.

Bells are made from horse dung and calf hair. Oh, and copper and tin (bronze).

This bell has my name on it :D

 Me and my Dman.

He's not mad, he's just German.

Mr. O'Connor and Dylan

After the tour we all went into the bell shop and purchased our souvenir bells. Dylan got a little one (€7) and I got a bigger one for my kitchen (€18).

Then it was time to check out the castle. The hike to the top included quite a few stairs. I believe one 4th grader shouted out that he counted 262 steps...but worth it...the view from the top was gorgeous. You could see the entire village and all of the Riesling vines being grown all around the area.
(Wish the sky was clear for better pictures but then again, this is Germany).

  The Castle has quite the history. If castle history fascinates you...

Here's the class again...this time they gave us their best smiles...

As we hiked down the hill around the backside of the castle we entered into the downtown area. The Saar River runs right through the shopping area. There is an impressive waterfall and working water mill that can be seen from the streets.

Despite the weather, the class ordered some ice cream. Here are some boys with their "Spaghetti Ice".

We left on the 4:00pm train out of Saarburg and stopped in Saarbrucken where we quickly switched trains to Landstuhl, arriving at 5:45pm. 

Saarburg is a charming little village with a lot of history. It's just 20km from Trier, it's a trip worth making. I can't wait to visit there again and maybe next time I'll get to do some shopping??

Museum of the Bell Foundry Mabilon
54439 Saarburg, Staden 130, Phone: +49(0)6581-2336 
www.museum-glockengiesserei-mabilon.de

:D

Burg Lichtenburg Castle - Fall Pics

I really wanted to get some great shots of Germany in the fall. The colors here are gorgeous this time of year but with all the rain it was difficult to get out and capture some shots. We thought we'd head up to Litchenburg Castle since it's so close to our house and would be up high enough to see all the colors below.
Well, we didn't get the visibility we wanted but I managed to get some great photos of the boys...

 See. The visibility wasn't great.

 But the kids had fun...

 Love this shot...

 I cropped this one and had it printed on canvas...

So, not the colors of fall we were hoping for but there's always next year!