The Hills Are Alive...

Even Marty broke out into this song and he doesn't even like The Sound of Music. Haha. On Saturday, we spent the day in the alps of southern Germany. First we went to Fussen, home of the castle that inspired Disney, but we didn't go there this time. Instead we checked out what was going on down in the center of the town.


There was a parade that started with guys in plaid playing bagpipes, followed by a line of Morgan cars.





Then we enjoyed lunch at a little sidewalk cafe, and in honor of Sharayah, I took a picture of my yummy food; a pork tenderloin in mushroom-sherry sauce.


Next, we walked around and checked out the quaint little shops of German-made goodies. I think my mom will appreciate this pic. They are so cute.


I found this set of armor most amusing because of the matching accessory: the trashcan.


We took a walk down by the river. Rivers flowing from the alps are extremely clean, clear, and cold!


We explored some ruins we found in the surrounding woods.


We checked out the castle, with it's sundial on the wall.


There was artwork on some of the walls made from... wagonwheels... no less. I got this picture of Marty as if he were holding it up, and a British couple was walking by at the time. They chuckle and the lady calls out, "It's a cheat!"


We turn to follow them into the castle courtyard and she notes to her husband that most of what appear to be balconies are "painted on!" I respond, "It's a cheat!" and we all laugh.



We also admired the church tower before we worked our way back to our car.


We drove on up into the alps to the little town of Oberammergau. This is where the world famous Passion Spiele is being performed this year. It's only presented once every 10 years, but more on that later. We saw some cool artwork.


We had dinner, and this was our view of the nearby mountains.


A closer look reveals a cross on top of the cliff. Cool! This is like the focal point from everywhere you walk around in the town.


I found the Germany version of little cherub angels to be amusing.


After getting our tickets for the play in a couple weeks, we headed back home. Along the way, we crossed this cool bridge.


It's nice not being on any type of tour schedule, because it means you get to just whip off the road and go for a walk. We walked back over the bridge and took pics of the view from each side.



Later on down the road, we were driving through this tiny village and Marty caught sight of a drive behind some houses that went right down by the river. So we pulled off and enjoyed a little time with some geese. The mommas all seemed to be keeping careful watch over their little ones and herding them away from us. But I did get close enough for a few fun shots.


And finally, I got this great shot of Marty standing on the rocks down by the river. God always presents the most beautiful artwork to be seen.


On Sunday, we went biking. The weather is beautiful, sunny, and in the low 80s. We also went to Circus Luna, a little circus traveling through town. It was interesting. I'm sure at circuses in the U.S., you never get so close to an african elephant, brown bears, and bulls, with nothing between you and them. We could reach out and touch them, and the elephant almost smacked us with her trunk as she came prancing around the ring doing her tricks. Amusing ;)

We watched Germany rock England in the World Cup game, and then the little town of Memmingen erupted into celebration. People were partying and dancing in the streets. They were driving their cars around waving Germany flags, and wearing them like capes. Car horns and those crazy soccer horns were blowing constantly. We enjoy living right in the heart of the city and getting to lean out of our 4th floor windows and yell, along with everyone else, each time they scored. The roar in the inner city was so loud, it was like being at the game. There's alot of spirit and pride here.

Now we're watching Argentina vs Mexico. Go ARGENTINA!!!