Burg Lichtenberg's Medieval Christmas Market

Like I said in my last post - more Christmas markets are in our future! We made the short trip to our castle (yup, it's ours now) for the medieval Weihnachtsmarkt. I've written before about how loads of folks that attend these really get dressed up for the occasion. Well, this was no different. It was smaller than the summer medieval festival held here, but still nice.

We went just in time for some lunch. Red brats, white brats, and pork steak over a wood-fired grill = delicious. And finally some gluwein for me. Catherine and I agree it is an acquired taste. And I've acquired it.

The kids each got to pick something special out for themselves. Ian chose a sword, and got his name burnt into the hilt. I don't think he's put it down except to climb into bed. Leah chose a princess hat - in pink, of course!

We discovered a new favorite treat to look out for: baumkuchen. Basically it is a dough that is rolled over a wooden roller that is then suspended over a wood-fired grill and then spun to give it an even toast. The get-up would be awesome for s'mores, but I digress.

My parting shot is of the very tail end of the castle-ruin grounds, where many small tents with vendors were set-up. Just to kind of get the feel for the place. We have had snow, but not much. Mud was the larger obstacle today.

Have a wonderful day out there. We head to England here in a couple of days for our (early) Christmas trip. Wish us luck!

Marc

Finally, some decent weather

After a solid week of cold, wind, and rain, we finally caught a (brief) break in the bad weather. Since Catherine was in Paris for a bread baking class, that left me and the kids. So I loaded them up in the Mini and we headed to the castle.

I, of course, also brought my camera and flash. Unfortunately, the battery on my wireless died and I'm still waiting for the replacement to get here in the mail. My other method of triggering my flash wirelessly doesn't work so great in direct sunlight, which is what we had today.

The kids had a nice time playing at the playground at the castle.

While I took advantage of snapping away at them mostly while they played. Below they are taking a quick break before we head out into the rest of the castle grounds.

They also had a nice time climbing on some rocks . . .

. . . which you can see them here below in action prior to taking their photo, above.

All in all, a very nice day. Hopefully yours is as nice. Tschuss!

Marc

Mornings in Germany

Early morning is easily my most favorite part of the day. All is quiet, except of course Ian and Leah ;-) . I've been wanting to get out and photograph some of the countryside here, but until this morning the skies haven't cooperated.

I pass some really cool areas on my way to work in the mornings, unfortunately they didn't pan out as far as photography goes. Gorgeous to drive past, but nothing compelling through the camera viewfinder. As I was driving to my locations, I passed this view from the road (about 2-3 minutes from our house). On my way back, I stopped on the road and took this photo.

I drove back into Thallichtenberg and decided to drive up some of my running paths prior to heading home. The fog was rolling in and out of the area, and the sun was just lighting things up beautifully.

Same photo here below as with the one above it, only the fog has rolled out just a bit. Probably less than a minute separated these two photos.

That's the view from our neck of the woods here in Germany. Enjoy your day, we are here!

Tschuss!

Marc