We probably would never have ended up in this particular corner of the world if it weren’t for our host daughter Kristina (who lived with us for the past year in Milwaukee). It’s hard to find on a map, and even harder to get to. But, it turns out that Riedenburg Germany is a beautiful little Bavarian town on the Altmühl river. Our stay is made even more enjoyable with Kristina as our companion and tour guide.
Our sightseeing began in earnest on Saturday. We started the day at Schloss Rosenburg, the castle at the top of the hill above the town of Riedenburg. This is the second castle we’ve visited, and we’ve only been here for two days… and we’re in the middle of nowhere! It seems like you can’t throw a rock without hitting a castle around here. There are actually two words for castle in German. “Schloss” (or Schloß) is a palace where someone of some rank lived at some point. “Burg” is more of a fortress castle for protection of an area. Many of these castles have been converted to other things. Schloss Rosenburg is now a “Falkenhof” which is a museum and rescue center where they house and train large birds. We saw the falcon show during which extremely large falcons, eagles, vultures and other birds flew scarcely inches above our heads.
From there we walked through the woods down to the town of Riedenburg. We ate lunch at an outdoor café, and strolled down to the river where we treated ourselves to some ice cream. On the way, I stopped in to greet the baker who brings us fresh rolls every morning. In German, I talked to them about mixing up the rolls that we get so we don’t just get the same thing every day. I’m not exactly sure what I asked for, so we’ll se what shows up on Monday morning!
We headed home for naptime, after which Kristina took us to St. Agatha Lake, where people swim and play. It’s like a beach except without sand. The opposite side of the lake has stunning cliffs, which 
lit up in the sunset behind us. The older kids swam like fish while Henry sat at the edge and threw rocks into the water, his absolute favorite thing to do. It was a perfect day.
Sunday was more relaxed. We played at the Speilplatz in the morning, where we have invented several moves on the zip line including the “tornado” and the “daddy big swing.” We had lunch at our local castle next door where there was live Blasmusik (traditional German oom-pah music; a quartet with tuba, accordion, trumpet, and clarinet) in the outdoor beer garden. Then we headed to the Kristallmuseum and Fasslwirtschaft in town. The crystal museum features the largest natural quartz crystal grouping in the world (7.8 tons). Yes, there are random tourist attractions here too! Oddly, the crystal grouping was originally found in Arkansas.
We went to Kristina’s parents’ house where we had our first reliable Internet access. While Joe and I got caught up on our computers, her parents fed and entertained our kids with German TV and their pet quails. (We now have 15 more quail eggs to eat with our fresh rolls). They also sent us home with some German games and children’s books. Riedenburg is great, but the best part is having such sweet and generous friends here. Check out some more pictures from the weekend in our gallery.