Weekly Winners – 25 July-8 Aug 2009 – France, Germany, Birthdays and Trachten

July 25 – August 8, 2009

It’s been a while, I know!  We’ve been busy with family from the States, festivals, parties and travelling.  I’ve taken a lot of photos over the last two weeks, so here’s what we’ve been up to…

Laaber Bürgerfest

Our village had it’s yearly “Citizen’s festival,” and I made my debut in my brand new Dirndl.  (I didn’t take these next two photos myself, but just had to share).

Oliver and I in traditional Bavarian clothing

Here we are, head to toe

Oliver turns 2!

My little man celebrated his second birthday.  It’s hard to believe he’s so old already.

Coloring and making bubbles

Blowing out the candles with help from papa

Fun with party favors, part 1

Fun with party favors, part 2

“Here honey, you’ve got a little chocolate on your face”

Amberg

We did some local sightseeing in the beautiful town of Amberg, here in Bavaria.

Reading the paper

Pfarrkirche St. Georg (St George’s Parish Church)

I wouldn’t want to run into this guy in a dark alley!

Burglengenfeld

On the way back from Amberg, we stopped for dinner in Burglengenfeld.  If only it had a train station, I would love to live here.

The Burglengenfeld Rathaus (town hall)

Pfarrkirche St Vitus (St Vitus’s Parish Church)

Johannesberg

We then took a trip to visit my husband’s parents, stopping along the way at the Catholic Bishop’s Archives in Würzburg to do a little family history research.  Ends up, my ancestor who emigrated from Johannesberg (9 km north of Aschaffenburg) to America in 1876 didn’t have a dad listed on his baptism record.  That was news to us!  His mom married who we had thought was his dad two years later, and our Franz was adopted.  We decided to take a short detour to see the town some part of my genes originated from.

Stained glass window in the church

Pfarrkirche St Johannes Enthauptung (Parish Church of St John’s Beheading)

Mandersheid

From my inlaws place in the Eifel, we took a short trip to Mandersheid in Bernkastel-Wittlich.

Visitor’s house of Niederburg (Lower Castle)

Steps in Niederburg (Lower Castle)

View of the Oberburg (Upper castle) from the tower of Niederburg

A view of the ruins from the top of the tower of Niederburg

Kloster Manderscheid (Manderscheid Abbey)

Bee in the abbey gardens

Echternach

Next, we headed over for lunch and some sightseeing in Echternach, Luxembourg.

Fountain in front of the town hall

The Orangerie

Basilica of St Willibrord

Inside the Peter and Paul Church

Another view inside the Peter and Paul Church

Nancy

Because we’re all Francophiles, we took a day trip to the beautiful city of Nancy, France, where we ate tons of delicious food and made our usual stop at one of the huge French supermarkets.

Place Stanislas

Oliver and my aunt Cherie in the Dominique Alexandre Godron Garden

I think this is a painted daisy (?) rudbeckia (Thanks, Kelly!)

And that this is a mum (?) dahlia

Shuttered window

Blue doorknob

Aschaffenburg

Finally it was time to head home, on the way back, we stopped to see Aschaffenburg.

Berries in the market

Bicycle in front of a half-timbered house

Basilica St Peter and Alexander

To see more of my photos, visit my FlickR page

For more Weekly Winners visit SarcasticMom.com.

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