Germany

I am in the Air Force and we went to Germany in Aug 2000 for a 4-year tour. We lived on base for a year but it was like Little America and if you are going to live in a foreign country you should live on the economy, and really experience the country. We moved off of the base and moved into a house to our selves (on base it was 18 family apartments) in the town of Wolfstein. The kids all have their own rooms and we have a yard and a small fishpond. Germany has hiking trails all over it and Wolfstein is right in the middle of a lot of intersections. So we decided to take up hiking. Most of the trails are wooded but come out in little towns and villages often so we get to see allot of Germany that most tourist don’t see. We bought packs and camping gear and hike every chance we get. We also like to go to the medieval fest and to regular tourist attractions. We have been to Holland to see the windmills and Amsterdam. We have been to Triberg and the Black Forest to see the Cuckoo clock factories. We have been to Austria to see the Alps and the Salt mines. And we have hiked the Alps. We have been to Roman ruins, castles, Amusement parks (Holiday Park was boring, Europa Park was like Six Flags) and we have been to Luxemburg. We have been to one of the few remaining Walled cities that survived from the Middle Ages. This past August we went to Italy to see Rome and Pompeii. These are some interesting sites we have seen while here.
But now it is time to move on. We received orders to Hawaii and in Aug 2004 we moved to Honolulu.

Wolfstein Castle

An old wall we found in the woods.

The Entrance to an Old Mine

Neuschwanstein Castle - The one Disney was modeled after

Rothselberg village (5 kilometer hike from Wolfstein)

A lone Tree standing in a field of Mustard

Das Boot - 2 Liter beer I had at the Warsteiner Pub

The legal drinking age is 14 with a parent. Cody and I having our complementary beer at a medieval dinner. They had minstrals playing and we were served on slices of wood. We had turkey legs and soup and bread with lard. I was chosen to compete with another person at the dinner for knighthood. He beat me at sawing through a log and at singing but I won the drinking contest. We were both knighted and given certificates to hang on our wall.

Frankenstein Castle (there are 3 Frankensteins in Germany)