Germany 2016 – Part 3

OMG we did SO MUCH on our 3rd day in Germany!!!  I narrowed down my photos for this day and STILL had 125!  I worked really hard to narrow them down even further to a more reasonable 40 50 [absolute best I could do].  We started the day in Nürtingen by taking a walking tour with Daniela, Joachim, their son Tristan & his wife Illi.  It was very overcast so my photos are all pretty dark, but it’s a beautiful city no matter what the weather:

I loved the many window security measures I saw on my trip:

        

Nürtingen is so picturesque:

       

          

Joachim took a pic of us in front of many fountains, this was my favorite.  From left to right: Illi, Daniela, me, Jim [making a face], and Tristan:

        

Then we drove back to their apartment for a late breakfast.  Jim ate buttered Swabian pretzels [SO AMAZINGLY GOOD] but Joachim had a special surprise for me – a big slice of authentic Black Forest Cake.  CAKE!!!  I wish I’d taken a picture – it was heaven.  Soon thereafter we were joined by Joachim & Daniela’s other son Dastin, his fiancé Sanja, and their English Terrier Penny.  Penny is AWESOME.  She’s so full of energy and curiosity.  Here’s a short video Joachim made of Penny playing with Daniela a few weeks before our visit [posted with permission]:

She did the same thing to Jim – leaped straight up in the air over his lap – so funny!

Here are some shots from after breakfast while we got ready for lunch [another mysterious orb seems to be checking Penny out]:

       

Carlos went into hiding the second Penny arrived, so they closed Penny in her cage briefly so we could give Carlos some love.  Jim tried to pick him up… he didn’t succeed:

        

Then it was off to lunch at an incredible Chinese Buffet.  It was very different from the Chinese Buffet’s I’ve been to around here.  The food was super fresh, much of it made to order, and the selections were incredible.  We all ate very well [one thing I love about Jim is he never fails to express himself]:

        

        

That was just the start of our day.  After lunch we headed back to Castle Hohenneuffen, where we’d had dinner the first night.  It was amazing to see it during daylight hours, versus just at dusk/nighttime.  It’s such a beautiful spot:

        

        

        

        

       

And finally a group shot – Joachim, Jim, me, Daniela, Illi, Tristan, Dastin, Sanja, & Penny:

Tristan & Illi had to drive back to their condo, but the rest of us headed 15 minutes up the road to a very cool open-air museum at Panorama Therme Beuren.  It is a group of very old houses which you can walk through, as well as gardens, farm animals, a turtle/koi pond, beautiful scenery, a snail garden [!], and a cafe where we relaxed and had beer/coffee/tea.  You can see Castle Teck in the background of the 2nd pic:

        

       

       

        

        

      

        

Penny studied the koi quite intently – good thing Dastin is holding on tight!:

       

       

Refreshments as the sun started to set:

        

By that point we were SO TIRED [at least Jim & I were!].  Dastin, Sanja, & Penny headed back to their house, and Joachim & Daniela dropped us off at the hotel.  They stopped on the way so we could try “Döner kebab”, which is Turkish vertical rotisserie – sooooooo good!  I had a pocket sandwich with shaved beef, veggies, and sauce [Jim had the vegetarian version]:

        

Here’s 2 more shots of our hotel – the front [which included a covered restaurant we never ate at], and the back showing our little balcony.  I think our room was the only 1 of the 5 that had a balcony – I really enjoyed sitting out there in the early AM or the late PM.  A few times when I woke up at 2am due to jet lag I sat our there and listened to the sounds of the city:

        

Then we completely CRASHED.  It was only 8pm but we hit the sack and slept till morning.

We spent 48 minutes in the car & drove 20 miles on Day 3.  Here’s our route from Nürtingen to Castle Hohenneuffen to Panorama Therme Beuren & back to Nürtingen:

Stay tuned for Day 4!