Alsacian Travels

To celebrate Switzerland's National Day (August 1st) we left the country to tour the Alsace Region.  Our first visit was to Europapark in Rust, Germany.  Here's the group, rather soaked after our Whale Watching Trip in Finland:)

The boys, a bit scared on the Pirate Ship in Iceland.

Tobogganing in Switzerland

Swinging in Austria

Knighting in Spain.  Guess which one of my knights this is.

Super Splash in Portugal, just before they all got soaked!

It took Ryan awhile to get us all to dinner at the Food Loop but we finally arrived.  We ordered our meals on a touch screen then...

they arrived after sliding down the various railways to arrive at our table.  Fun dining!!

We stayed at a little B&B near the Park--Gästehaus Maier.  We had time to enjoy the garden and play some games before crashing in bed.  Our hostess was charming and spoke a very understandable German :)

Day 2 was spent visiting castles and animal parks.

This is inside the Haut-Koeningsburg Castle which dates back to the 1100's.  The Alsatian region is very interesting with the local history of the area bouncing back and forth between France and Germany.  It is currently part of France but most of the city names are German.

Another view on the inside.  The castle was restored in the early 1900's.

Lifting the small keg to serve with dinner.

View from the north tower.

Love the castle chimney.  (lots more but you'll just have to wait for my coffee table book of chimneys :)

We enjoyed an eagle and raptor and other birds of prey show at another nearby castle.  It definitely hadn't been restored but that added to the charm.

Nathan holding a hawk.

Quick ice cream treat.  Kent didn't know he shouldn't swallow the whole thing!

Then a visit to Monkey Mountain where we fed the Barbary Apes.  

Erin feeding the rather large monkey sitting on the fence.

It was most interesting to watch the monkey social dynamics.  This baby would ride all over on the monkey's back then imitate picking the sunflower seeds out of the water and then cupping the hand to drink some water.

This pic is not in focus but it was cute to see the mom pinch the baby's toes to prevent him from running off somewhere else.  The mom thought she was being rather sly but we noticed her coercive antics (the kids were nodding their heads as if they could relate :)

Of course, there was a family competition to see who's hand the monkey would choose to eat from first.

We loved the flower tree but it was really a combination of lots of flower pots.

Then off to Auberge Hazemann in the Vosges Mountains for 2 nights stay.

The sheep in our backyard.

The cows in the nearby field with very interesting markings.

Travels on Day 3

We shopped at an open air market in Rothau and found this memorial for the liberation of this area by the US Army from the Germans at the end of WWII.

Then to a pool in Bellefosse where one would have never thought to find a public pool.

Nathan has become quite the diver.

Then back to the auberge with an afternoon of horse riding.  They were very small horses but nice for Nathan's first ride.  We all brushed our horses...

then learned how to attach the saddle.

A quick trip around the corral and then off into the woods.  We covered a lot more distance than Dan and I did on our early morning run (if only we had already known all the trails).

Nathan loved it!

 The forced family picture in between our lodging and where we rode horses in the Champ du Feu region.

Day 4

We drove to Colmar, France to attend church.  Colmar is where Bartholdi, the designer of the Statue of Liberty, was born.  So the north entrance to the town has the largest replica of the Statue of Liberty (12 m)

We had a quick lunch after church then walked around the old town for a quick look.  Not quite as cute as Strasbourg but a close second.

 Home again, home again, happy are we!