Dinkelsbühl

My German teacher had told us about a medieval town called Dinkelsbühl that is supposed to like Rothenberg ob der Tauber but less touristy. If I haven't blogged about Rothenberg ob der Tauber (one of the cutest German towns ever) I will have to remedy that.

Dinkelsbühl is still surrounded by the old medieval walls and towers and is very typical for a German town of the 15th to early 17th century.

The walls have many towers.

We had ice cream here...

The Deutsches Haus (third house from the left) , the ancestral home of the counts of Drechsel-Deufstetten, is a fine specimen of the German renaissance style of wooden architecture.

St. George's church tower that we climbed allllll the way up.

Inside St. George's...

Door inside the church...

Closeup of the hinges...

View from the tower.

Another tower.

Roses!

Dinky Dinkelsbühl

Woernitz gate.

I would agree that it is less touristy...it seems a town that people actually live in and there are less "Schneeball" shops and "Knight" shop and trinkets and the like. There were some Potteries and a shop with wood carving and nativity figures that were of interest.

Huckepack Pick-Your-Own Farm

The International Women's Group had an outing to the Huckepack Pick-Your-Own farm, or as they call it, "experience harvests". We are surrounded by farmlands, but never knew I could get such access to fresh fruits and veggies. There is also a little "nature playground" where they seem to have an area for BBQ, a petting zoo, hay bales to climb on and the like.

Right now you can pick lettuce, strawberries, currants, raspberries, kohlrabi, fennel, cucumbers, bell peppers, hot peppers, eggplant, cabbage and beans.
We are going to go back for raspberries, blackberries and blueberries soon.



Cucumbers growing Vertically:





Cuke Close-up:



Tomatoes aren't ripe yet:



Lots of Lettuce!



A whole bunch of...some vegetable of some sort.




Now we get to the good part...Strawberries!



Also you can get fresh eggs:

You go into a little house and there are little bins that you can lift up the lids and see if there are any eggs there. Here is a blurry picture with the lid up and you can see where the eggs come out and chickens peeking at you!

Evidently there is milk available too. Even the cows are getting into the World Cup spirit! :-)

What we got:

Beans, cucumbers, a kohlrabi, and eggplant and:

You can just speak English if you want to....

I was at the local Edeka (grocery store) and there was a guy giving out samples of wine.
I tried some and wanted to say that it was "too dry".

So I said "Zu draussen?"...which really means
"Too Outdoors?"...
He said "You can just speak English" an I then said "too dry for me".

I should have said "zu trocken".

World Cup Fever- Bonus Picture!

As seen in the my neighborhood....

Who knew Santa (and Rudolf!) was such a DeutscheFußballfan!

World Cup Fever!

Germans are usually pretty cautious about outward displays of Nationalism since the end of the Second World War. On Reunification Day (the day West and East Germany were united), the closest thing to a holiday celebrating the German Nation, you will not see German Flags waving all about like you would on the 4th of July in the USA.

But when it comes to supporting their soccer team, it is a whole 'nother story!
The FIFA World Cup (of soccer) Tournament started on Friday and for weeks we have been seeing German/soccer themed merchandise for sale (and being worn):

You might expect bags and hats:



but you can also get flip-flops:



and I could decide if I should get the False Eyelashes or the Bunny Ears?




Many companies also allude to the World cup in their markenting.
One would expect beer companies to market (complete with Vuvuzela, the ubiquitous, obnoxious South African noise-making horn) with soccer.





but you can also get your German Soccer apples:


and giant Chocolate Soccer balls:

You can pick your favorite teams' Granola Bar:

and then have some Soccer Yogurt:

and have some soccer ketchup:

While watching the game you can munch on some some Black/Red/Gold Gummi Bears:

and after you could plant some nice Soccer Herbs??




and finally, you could end your day in the bathroom with your shower gel:

and then

For more info on the World Cup see:

World Cup for Dummies

Official FIFA page

Thanks to 50% of My DNA for the blog idea.

What we have here...

...is a failure to communicate! This is what happens when you take two people who's native language is not German and have them communicate in German.

Today I went to the new Thai Take-out place down the street for lunch. One of their specials was "Nudeln Box To Go" and you can get that in Klein (small) or Groß (large).
So I said to the lady at the counter "Klein Noodle Box To Go"....and she said "blah blah blah Groß Nudeln Box To Go?" and I said "Klein". So they start cooking noodles/veggies/chicken and then they said 'Ein Bisschen mehr" as they start to cook a little more noodles...that is when I notice that they think I ordered 3 Noodle boxes to go! Argh! I would tell them, no, I only want one, but I did that the last time when they thought I ordered 2 of the special! I don't want them to hate me so I decide why not have noodles for dinner too!

Nuremberg Tiergarten

Another cloudy/drizzly day, but the start of a 4 day weekend so once again I felt the need to go outside. Hubby was working (in Johannesburg South Africa) so me and the girls compromised on going to the Zoo. Nearby in Nuremberg is the "Nuremberg Tiergarten" (Animal Garden).


Seepferdchen (Seahorse)



Delfin (Dolphin)


Hirsch (deer)



When Otter's attack!





Zebra

The face made after the other one peed on it.

Look, ma, I have horns too!

Tiger

Löwe

Löffler (Spoonbill)

Wolf

Schneeeule (Snow owl)

Schildkröten (Turtles)

Tapir

weißköpfiger Seeadler (Bald Eagle)

Affe (Monkey)

Giraffe

Pinguin (Penguin)

Eisbär (Polar Bear)

Seehund (Seel)