My view home from work

On Tuesdays and Thursdays I drive out to a town called Waldenbuch.  It's about 45 minutes from my home.  The town is a small town and it's so nice to see the scenery; it's such a relaxing time.  The other day when driving home I saw a sheepherder and his flock of sheep out.  It reminded me of my dad and wanted to share the photo.  

Cinderella had a nice pad...

Over spring break (I know I am really far behind) I accompanied some friends to do some exploring.   For two days we saw three castles; it was a fun experience.  These castles are such a neat part of the German history.  

First castle on the list was Schloss (means castle) Solitude.  This was not really what I expected from a castle although I do think it would be a nice place to have a picnic lunch.  Here is some history I got offline:  

Schloss Solitude was originally designed to act as a refugium, a place of quiet, reflection and solitude (thus the name). Construction of the castle was plagued by political and financial difficulties. Karl Eugen had taken Württemberg into the Seven Years' War on the losing side against Prussia. The building exceeded the budget allocated by the duchy of Württemberg. Further, political wrangling between the duke and influential Stuttgart land barons led to the duke moving temporarily from Stuttgart to Ludwigsburg. In the long run, the castle was prohibitively expensive to keep just as a temporary residence. In 1770 it housed a high school founded by Duke Eugen. In 1775, the Karlsschule academy moved to Castle Solitude. It served as an academy of arts, a military academy, and later a general university for children of the elite. Eventually, maintenance costs led to its closure as a school after the Duke's death late in the 18th century. Between 1972 and 1983, the Federal Republic of Germany restored the castle.

I could enjoy a picnic lunch here.  Couldn't you?

We thought that this passage way made it look like you were crossing over into another time.  It seemed magical, by any means it sure looks beautiful.  

I could live in this little house.  I just thought it was really neat.  Some of the current students live here.  

The second castle is called Lichtenstein castle.  This castle was pretty, this is what I expected from a castle.  Here is some history I got offline about the castle:

Lichtenstein Castle is situated on a cliff located near Honau in the Swabian Alb, Baden-Württemberg, Germany. Its self-descriptive name in English means "light (colored) stone."

Historically there has been a castle on the site since around 1200. It was twice destroyed, once in the Reichskriegs war of 1311 and again by the city-state of Reutlingen in 1381. The castle was not reconstructed and subsequently fell to ruin.

In 1802 the land came into the hands of King Frederick I of Württemberg, who built a hunting lodge there. By 1837 the land had passed to his nephew Duke Wilhelm of Urach, Count of Württemberg, who, inspired by Wilhelm Hauff's novel Lichtenstein [1], added the current castle in 1840–42. The romantic Neo-Gothic design of the castle was created by the architect Carl Alexander Heideloff.

Today the castle is still owned by the Dukes of Urach, but is open to visitors. The castle contains a large collection of historic weapons and armour.

The view walking up to the castle.  

Looking at the side of the tower and the town below.  On this side of the castle there is a secret door.  Can you see it in the cliff? It's a black door. There used to be a road that went right up to that door allowing guests of the castle to escape through a secret passage way.  

You may be able to see the door better here. 

Nice security.  Being built on a cliff sure does limit un wanted guests.  

The last castle that we went to on our 2 day stint was Hohenzollern castle.  By far this castle was my favorite and when you see the pictures you will know why.  It's just so beautiful.  I still can't believe that they were able to build these fantastic buildings with the tools they had at the time.  The amount of detail given is amazing.  

Here is some information I found online:

Hohenzollern Castle (German: Burg Hohenzollern) is a castle about 50 kilometers (30 mi) south of Stuttgart, Germany. It is considered the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family, which emerged in the Middle Ages and eventually became German Emperors.

The castle is located on top of Mount Hohenzollern at an elevation of 855 meters (2,805 ft) above sea level, 234 m (768 ft) above Hechingen and nearby Bisingen, both located at the foothills of the Swabian Alb. It was originally constructed in the first part of the 11th century.

When the family split into two branches, the castle remained the property of the Swabian branch, which was dynastically senior to the Franconian/Brandenburg branch which eventually acquired an imperial throne. The castle was completely destroyed after a 10-month siege in 1423 by the imperial cities of Swabia. A second, larger and sturdier castle was constructed from 1454 to 1461 and served as a refuge for the Catholic Swabian Hohenzollerns during wartime, including during the Thirty Years' War. By the end of the 18th century, however, the castle was thought to have lost its strategic importance and gradually fell into disrepair, leading to the demolition of several dilapidated buildings. Today, only the chapel remains from the medieval castle.

The third version of the castle, which stands today, was constructed for Frederick William IV of Prussia between 1846 and 1867, under the direction of Friedrich August Stüler, who based his design on English Neo-Gothic style as well as the castles in Loire.^[1] Because the castle was built as a family memorial, no member of the Hohenzollern family took residence in this third castle until 1945, when it became home to the last Prussian Crown Prince Wilhelm; he and his wife,Crown Princess Cecilie, are buried there.

Among the historical artifacts of Prussian history contained in the castle today are the Crown of Wilhelm II and some of the personal effects of Frederick the Great and a letter from US President George Washington thanking Baron von Steuben, a scion of the House of Hohenzollern, for his service in the American Revolutionary War. The castle is today a popular tourist destination.

The town below

The side view of the castle

Walking around the castle

Inside the castle walls

The original Catholic chapel from the Middle Ages

A picture from the castle on our way up the mountain.  Looks like something from a fairy tale.

This was in the secret passage way.  This was found when workers were trying to fix the sewer system.  This had been covered up by rocks.  They are still finding tunnels that lead you out of the castle through the secret exit.  

We were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle but the crown was beautiful.  There were so many jewels and trinkets left there by former royalty it was amazing.  There was a dress there that each of us girls wanted for ourselves, absolutely amazing.  

There is a road here in Germany called the Romantic Road along this road are 150 castles.  Don't think I will get to all of them, but isn't this just an amazing thought?  Puts our modern houses to shame!  

Palm Sunday

This was the palm that I received for Palm Sunday.  This palm isn't like an other I have had before so I wanted to share.  I hope you all enjoyed your Easter.  My husband and I didn't get to spend our Easter together this year, but we were both lucky to spend time with friends!

Johannes Church on Fire Lake

Johannes Church was constructed between the years of 1865 and 1876 in the new gothic style under the supervision of architect Christian von Leins. Erected on an island in the middle of the Feuersee (Fire Lake), the protestant church was modeled after the French gothic sytle at the time. The destruction of the Second World War caused the loss of the polygonal spire and the gewoelbe. Both was not reconstructed in the reconstruction of the years 1948-66.

This church was a very important trademark for me to see.  In my family ornaments are a big tradition.  Every year my Grandma has an ornament painted for us based off of the past year or something that is happening in the coming year.  The woman that paints our ornaments came to Stuttgart as a child and remembered this church.  Rick and I had been wanting to come here but just hadn't gotten around to it.  A friend of mine wanted to check out the church so we took a girl's trip.  Here are some of the pictures of the beautiful church!  

Okay so this picture just makes me laugh.  Look at the detail on the gutter system!

Daily life

Well it didn't take us too long to get into a routine here and start sprouting some roots.  Rick and I are both enrolled in school so there is a lot of homework happening in this house.  I am continuing my respite work with the two little boys I mentioned before.  They are both making some big improvements and I am so happy to be involved in helping them.  I have been working more hours for both families which is nice.  I get more money and get to be a little bit busier.  Right around New Year's they started a Lose to Win competition here on the base.  Last month I was working on my diet and nutrition.  This month my goal was to work on my cardio, this morning Rick and I went on a run at 5:30.  Crazy?  I think yes!

Last weekend, we went to the spring bazaar.  They have this on the base.  I think there was at least 70 vendors there.  Rick and I purchased some knobs for a night table that we painted, a bottle of wine with some spicy salami, and a candle holder that used to be used for sugar molds.  Good finds!

The weather has been very nice here.  Sunday Rick and I went on a walk through the vineyards.  We are lucky to live in such a beautiful area!

A walk through the vineyard!

Munich

A couple of weeks ago we went to Munich to celebrate Rick's 28th birthday.   Rick is a huge history buff and especially WWII.  We are in the perfect place for him, so we took advantage.  We visited the Dachau concentration camp, Hofbrauhaus, and went on a walking tour of Hitler and the Third Reich.  I will try and explain the experience and post some pictures.

When walking into Dachau there is a small sign in the metal gate which translates to, "work will make you free."  Very similar to Auschwitz.  As soon as you walk through the gate you are on the roll call grounds.  Roll call was held every day.  Role call could take hours because every prisoner had to be accounted for.  Many mornings prisoners had to bring the deceased to roll call; this concentration camp was affected with Typhus and they could not keep up with the deceased.  Dachau was originally constructed to hold only 6,000 people.  Before liberation there were over 60,000 people and at liberation there were 31,000 people. There are a group of nuns that currently live on Dachau.  They were the Carmelitan which lead the lives of hermits.  They came to Europe in the 16th century; the donor of this church was a survivor of the Dachau concentration camp.

The entrance

The church on the grounds

Today you will find many monuments and tributes on the grounds; they are beautiful tributes.  The hardest and most emotional part of the camp was the crematorium.  Outside of the crematorium were mass graves.  There was a walkway outside of the crematorium that were lined with mass graves as well as the execution sites.  We were able to enter the crematorium and see the incinerators as well as walk into the gas chamber.  This building was very emotional and had very few dry eyes.  As I said before the camp was stricken by Typhus and the Nazis could not keep up with the bodies.  The gas chamber was not used like in other camps, but it was used at least once to let Hitler know that it was working.  The Germans actually changed their word Bathhaus due to the negative experience many had with the concentration camps.

The crematorium 

The bathhaus/ gas chamber

During our walking tour we were able to see the headquarters of the Nazi party, a local cafe that Hitler would visit, the guest house that Mussolini would stay in when visiting, art museums, bier houses that Hitler would address his initial speeches.  I had no idea that the start of the Nazi party was in Munich.

Hitler's office was located above this balcony.  

Nazi headquarters

We did get to do some fun things while in Munich.  We visited the Hofbrauhaus where Rick celebrated his birthday with a liter of Dunkel bier (dark beer).  We got to eat at an Indian restaurant, and a German restaurant where we ate knuckle.  The kunckle was a pork dish that they roast for hours.  It was delicious.  We hope to make it up to Munich again and enjoy more of the history of this great town!

A Miller Update

I can't fall asleep again so I have decided that I should update our blog instead of tossing and turning.

We haven't taken any trips since Ulm.  We have been working around the house and we have even painted some furniture.  I am starting to get cabin fever and it's Rick's 28th birthday on Saturday so we are off to explore again.  I think we are heading to Dachau Concentration Camp and Munich.  This was the first of the WWII concentration camps.  I think that this will be really hard for me, emotionally, but I think it's such an important part of history.  Munich should be a nice little break from all the sadness and seriousness of the concentration camp.

A couple of weeks ago we headed over to the Porsche Museum down the street.  It was a neat museum but we did notice that they did not include anything from the Nazi era.  Please note that I am not the huge history buff; Rick is so I report these things as straight regurgitation.  Anyways Porsche created tanks for the Nazis and the Volkswagen even started because of Hitler.  He wanted a car that could be created for the people.  "Volks" means folks/ people.  The "v" in German is pronounced with an "f" sound.  They also have the volksfest, people's fest- big party.  It was pretty interesting to hear some of the history from Rick.  It does pay to have a history buff in the house.

Look at me in my new car!  Ha!  

Rick got really excited when he saw this car.  "I had a car like this once."  "What are you talking about Rick?"  "Well, I had that car just as a Hot Wheel."  "Ha!!!"  

Well I start my master's tomorrow.  Eek!  I can't believe I am going back to college already.  I'm sure that this time around will be a lot different than the first time around.  I doubt that I will be partaking in Thirsty Thursdays!  ;  )  Wish me luck.  

I have been doing some respite care for two wonderful boys.  I am really enjoying my time with them and I am seeing a lot of progress with each of them.  It's neat to be able to work with them in a 1-on-1 setting.  This week I will be checking on my sub application, again.  I finished watching Waiting for Superman this week and it re-charged my batteries a little bit.  Hopefully I get nice assignments!