Wilkommen!

We spent two solid days in Iceland, and I've only posted about one, but we've already been in Germany for over a week. With a once-weekly post schedule, I'll get way  behind pretty fast if I give you all the details instead of the highlights.

Here's my solution: highlights now, details later, when my life is a little less interesting, and I have a real keyboard.

Welcome to Germany! We stayed with The Girl's cousin for the first two days. He showed us Erbach, Michelstadt, and he happens to be a hobby pilot, so we GOT TO GO UP IN HIS PLANE AND I TOTALLY FLEW IT!!

Erbach Castle was home to a local duke. When it was built, they incorporated this tower of the old fortress. 

I didn't crash or anything! He said I was a natural! ...he may have been being polite.

don't worry: he had the controls when I took pictures.

The old town hall of Michelstadt (back side)

Decorative tile on Elefanthaus.

Sunday night we moved to her aunt's place for a few days. They live in a little village in the countryside, surrounded by fields. The house is right at the edge of one of those fields, and I spent a lot of time during our visit watching a hawk who patrolled that field.

The fields are owned and worked by farmers, but they allow people to walk along the paths between them. The Girl and I spent a lazy afternoon wandering along those paths, passing through small wooded sections, and walking through another nearby village. From one of the numerous hunting platforms, I spotted a fox, but my zoom lens was insufficient to the task.

Germany needs more predators. This mouse has zero fight-or-flight response.

A quaint German country village, with towering crane and a Thunderdome.

That afternoon, we visited an old Roman watchtower.  It has been rebuilt near its original site along the ancient Roman limes (an earthen battlement stretching across Europe).

A cluster of chainsaw carvings stands guard outside the tower.

Many more German adventures await, but that's all I have time to report tonight!