November 15th, Lichtenstein

Less than an hour from Stuttgart, in the town of Honau, is the fabled Lichtenstein castle. Originally built in the 12th century, this castle was destroyed a couple times, and was later rebuilt as part castle, part hunting lodge. The grounds tell the story of medieval defenses, and inside are many centuries-old weapons, suits of armor, paintings, and some real oddities such as an original death mask of Napolean Bonaparte and the largest champagne glass in the world. Unfortunately, pictures are not allowed inside the castle.

The kids start the walk up to the grounds

A better view of the outer castle

Bill and the kids crossing the moat into the courtyard

Bill and the kids check out the view from the cliff's edge

Erin says she wants one of these too!

Nolan demonstrates how the castle is defended by archers and special windows

November 11th, Sensapolis

November 11th is Veteran's Day, an American holiday not celebrated in Germany, which makes it a great day to go places that are normally crowded. Sensapolis is no exception to this. I'm not sure exactly how to describe the place... it's 50% playground, 50% activity center, 50% children's museum, and 50% confidence course. Oh, and the gourmet restaurant is pretty nice too.

Katie and Nolan experiment with magnets

Protecting the ship from asteroids and space pirates

Billy races down one of the near-vertical slides

Katie and Nolan get showered with foam balls

Billy on the high ropes course

Bill and Billy scaling the rock wall

Katie and Nolan try dancing in the big shoes

October 31st - November 2nd, Sölden

First trip of the season for the Sitzmarker ski club, of which Billy is a member and Bill is a chaperone. The club drove to Sölden in the Austrian Alps. This early in the season, the only places with snow are the glaciers, and our destination was Tiefenbach glacier at an altitude of 3000m. It was snowing and windy on the first day, then sunny and warm on the next two days. Conditions were great with all the new snow!

View up the glacier from the bottom

Bill does a little advertising for Uncle Kevin

Billy at the top of the world

October 13th, Neuschwanstein

We drove about 2 hours south into Bavaria, to the town of Fussen in Germany where Kind Ludwig built his castle Neuschwanstein, built in the 19th century. He built a castle for his wife about a half of a mile away. The castles are astounding and the drive there was beautiful. We still can't believe we live here!!!

Neuschwanstein from a distance

A beautiful autumn day

Ludwig's wife's castle..... I want one!!

On the way up, it was quite a hike up the mountain!!

Up at the top before our tour

This picture was taken from a bridge behind Neuschwanstein

Bill found us a Rodelbahn about a half of a mile from the castles

Volksfest, October 12

This is a huge festival every year in Germany. Munich has Oktoberfest, Stuttgart has the second largest festival every fall, Volksfest (people festival). It runs from September through October 12th. Bill and I went one night with our friends while Billy babysat and I can say that I haven't had that much fun since college! Today we went with the kids for the rides, games, and food!! It rivals disney for the rides.

Barrels full of beer.....good beer!!

They have lots of corn here, Dad you wouldn't believe it!!

Nolan and Katie share a chocolate covered banana

Billy gets ready to get whipped around and turned upside down, he's glad he came for once

Just our kind of ride!!!

We LOVE Volksfest

What is the legal drinking age here???

Can I have a sip?

??

Anyone else ready to go home??

Bumpercars Rock!!!

Pumpkinfest, October 5th

We drove about 40 minutes north of Stuttgart to the town of Ludwigsburg. It is here that Duke Eberhard Ludwig built a baroque residence in 1704. It was a beautiful palace and we could not believe how big it was, it just kept going. There must be over 500 rooms in this place. Every year they have a pumpkin festival. This years theme was space (Nolan was in heaven!!)

Out in front of the residence

Pumpkins and squash made into the solar system

Pumpkin Jambalaya & Curry pumpkin Soup....yummmmmm

A Boat Ride

A neat game where you have to step across the lily pads before the frogs squirt you...Nolan got soaked!!

Katie playing in the hay pile

On the carousel, Nolan loved the golden deer

We couldn't decide if this was a swing or a contraption, but it was a lot of fun

Nolan and Katie standing watch in the guard booth

Legoland, September 6th

Located about 20 minutes from Ulm, in the town of Günzburg, is Legoland. After dragging the kids through the church in Ulm, the rest of the day was dedicated to having fun for them.

Legoland is a cute theme park targeted at little kids, ideal for ages 5-10. Teenagers will get bored with the lack of large roller coasters, but there's enough fun to be had by them. Billy was a good sport and helped Nolan get the courage to ride the faster rides, and Katie enjoyed climbing on everything that could be climbed on.

The weather forecast was for rain, but we went anyways and were rewarded with a light crowd and short lines for the rides. The rain came eventually, but only just when we were leaving the park, so it all worked out perfectly.

Park entrance

Billy and Nolan on the roller coaster.
Click the picture to see Nolan's "Face of Terror"

Katie gets a "pony ride"

Nolan gets his license at the Kinderfahrschule

Billy gets tossed around by the Bionicle mechanical arm

Erin hangs tough and gets a picture a fraction of a second before getting doused by pirates... Argh!

When the kids tire out, it's time to say...

And the predictable result on the ride home