Sundays in my city

This is our third year experiencing autumn and I honestly feel it is the best....

The first year I was too overcome with sorrow of having left our loved ones behind, the new country seemed all strange..... I seemed to have overlooked the changing colors.

The second year I waited, but autumn was wet, gloomy and too cold. We really could not experience a good rustle of the leaves as they were always wet..

This year, autumn is at its best!! Perfect in every way....truly!!!

Ahoy captain!!!!

Tomorrow, it's Sonny's first halloween party ever. There are no words to describe his excitement...

Halloween is something he has loved to read and dream about considering the fact that we do not celebrate it in India. So, when the school sent a note home saying there would be a celebration, he could not contain his excitement. 

With the note came dread(for me)....It meant he would have to dress up appropriately, to suit the occasion, all fearful and scary!!!!

Why don't you dress up as a ghost, said I... All I got to do is cut big circles as eyes on a big white sheet and then, you are ready to go!!!

Ohhh, thats too easy a costume for you to make Mamma declares he...

I wanna be a PIRATE!!!

Oh captain Jack Sparrow, why has my son a fascination towards you, oh why??? 

Gone are the days when I would jump at the opportunity to prepare such costumes for my kiddos..

All my enthusiasm seems to have....gone with the wind!!!

So, here I am with needle, thread, paper, glue and scissors to make my boy the perfect pirate!!

Still, a little girl..

When it comes to movies, I am a kiddo at heart...:) I love giving my kids company or rather the kids love it that I watch along with them.......:D

Sci fi.....I never understand it..

Murder, violence, lies, deceit.......gosh!!! How can somebody ever enjoy all this??

Fairytales, romance.....I love them all.....

The knight in shining armor, the trapped princess.......

I never tire of them.....

If there's a dash of humor, then even more merrier!!!

There is no count as to how many times we have watched our favorite movies, over and over again.......Many of them during my childhood and now all over again with my kids....

What kind of a movie person are you??

A warm welcome to all my new followers. I love having you over and hope that you enjoy my space..:)

Are you waiting for old man winter?

As the leaves change color.........

The days get shorter............

and colder too .............

(LEM photo challenge 'anything')

What do you do? 

How do your prepare for old man winter?

Are you glad to greet him or want to run away from him?

Tuesdays around the world

The next few months, sunshine will be a rare treat.

What's your corner of the world like? We are eager to know. Link up with us at Communal Global and share your today...

Farmers market in Lohr am Main

Today, I thought I would give you a peek into our farmers market held every Wednesday and Saturday at the marktplatz(market square). As I told you before, ours is a very small village, hence the market too is very small. Twice a week, a few farmers from nearby villages come to sell their fresh produce of veggies, fruits, dairy products, fresh pressed juices, conserves, wines, fruit liquors..... It is encouraged to buy from these farmers not only to help them in their daily living, also that their produce is fresh and chemical free(bio as the germans call it).

Did you know that there are so different kinds of apples? At first I found it weird, but then remembered that the Indian mango is also of so many varieties all with funny names. So, why not an apple too? I have yet to learn either the names or the purpose of each apple(juice, jam, wine making??). 

Want to quench your thirst with some freshly pressed apple juice? Its available too!!!

Flowers for your loved one??

Remember the nightwatchman's tour? Guess who we bumped into?

The last countess of Lohr!! She was on her guided tour of Lohr am Main with tourists. 

My little one didn't feel it right that I clicked pictures of her when we weren't a part of the tour.

Wanna know how the weekends are in the rest of the world? Visit Unknown Mami for you will find a plenty there!!!

Memories of the leaning tower...

It's been almost two months since we were on our 2 week vacation in Italy and I never got around to posting either our pictures or stories about the wonderful time we had there. Last year we decided that we would have one big vacation driving around a country and Italy was our pick. So with months of reading, planning and trying to gather as much information as possible we eagerly set out on our trip. Its pretty hard trying to plan a holiday keeping the entire family's interests in mind. The leaning tower was on sonny's list and pretty much in our's too. Little did we realize that our visit to the leaning tower would be the most memorable of all.

Since we lived a mere 20 kms away from the leaning tower and all the information that I gathered told me that it would be open till 11:00 at night, I chose for us to visit it at around 6 in the evening. I figured that the setting sun would give us a much cooler atmosphere and also it would make for some pretty pictures too. Now all the planning must have gotten into my head cause I forgot not only my book of maps, also all the instructions required to get to the leaning tower from the railway station( we travelled by train) Now remember, we are on holiday, so there is no blame game at all so that everybody's spirit's are high and continue to be sane...:D Our nightmare began when we pretty soon realized not a soul could speak english to us nor could we figure out which bus could take us to the tower. Trying to understand whatever Italian we could and recognizing fellow tourists we got into a bus after an hours wait. The moment we got out, the first picture was the sight that greeted us. The beautiful baptistry, dome and the leaning tower gleaming at us against the setting sun. Our woes didn't end there. We pretty soon realized that the cathedral and baptistry were closed and the climb to the top of the tower was another hour and a half hours wait. So how much longer can the family stay without blaming me......not any more!!!! So while I was there thinking to myself that maybe this is a sign of our just begun holiday going wrong, we clicked more pictures against the tower, tried pushing the tower back...;D, walked around the lawns, visited the cemetery, sat on the lawns feeling the evening Pisa breeze....

(Camposanto Monumentale - The cemetery, Pisa)

I had made it clear that I did not want to climb the tower, once again thanks to all the reviews that I had read on the net..:D(Apparently you tend to feel yourself losing balance as the tower is not straight but leaning). Once the trio were on top, they began to thank their stars for all that went wrong before.........the picture below will tell you why!!

(Sunset glow over the town of Pisa)

Not only was the sight spectacular, they regretted the fact that I wasn't there with them. So the lesson they learnt from this experience was that hence forth make Mama climb Italian towers too, lest she misses the fun. Hubby dearest clicked plenty of pictures for me, simply breathtaking indeed. 

We got to see the leaning tower not only by day but by night too. And were we glad!!

For the record, there was no bus at all to take us back to the station. We found a couple who were angels in disguise to help us walk back to the station. However, we missed our last train back to the place where we were living and hence had to take a taxi back which did cost a small bomb...:D

So we were back to square one again....blame it all on mother!!!!! :D :D

P.S: The bus line Lama Rosa takes you directly to the leaning tower from the railway station. 

Jing a ling a ling......

The candy and fruit are finally a soaking. They will be for the next two months. 

How do you prepare for Christmas??

I ♥ Pinecones

I LOVE pinecones, oh so very much!!

I  love collecting them on my walks. Since most of the time I am without a bag, my jacket pockets will be filled with them. Now when I think about it, pinecones will be missed terribly once I return back home to India.

The hidden vineyards

Remember the walk I wrote about yesterday. So while we were at it, at some point the path diverged into two leading to another trail. Knowing very well that it was something to do with wine( we came home and found out that lehrpfad translates to trail...lol!!!), after the ruins, we decided to find out where this path led to. 

We are surrounded by quite some vegetation. The children slowly begin to doubt out loud as to where are we headed... In sonny's mind he knows that we are walking away from the point where we have parked our car...:D

and then the path opened up to this!!!

Rows and rows of vineyards!! Now my trio felt they hit the jackpot(cause since quite some time I have been wanting to go walking in vineyards followed by wine tasting) I too would have thought the same if I could spot some grapes.

(The year of planting and type of grape is noted down for easy recognition)

With not a grape in sight, I wondered whether it was too late. All the plants were bare and pretty soon the leaves would fall too, which meant I would have to wait another whole year for my lovely walk in a vineyard full of grapes. Walking further down, we realized that the vineyards were beginning to be enclosed by wires and then we saw why?

My beauties were still there...:D I am guessing the wine growers remove the enclosure as and when the fruit is picked. So, these grapes were still protected from photographers like me. There were plenty of rows with fruit on them and we could also sense the strong smell of very ripe grapes in the air!! Since it was getting pretty late and with the sun setting we had to get back to our car through the dense path. But not before I got a few more clicks.

I envy the family living in the house below with all my heart. Imagine waking up to sights of lush green vineyards!! But then somebody may be envious of me too waking up to the sights of the beautiful Main Spessart...:)

Our first autumn walk of the year!!

Last week on our way to Nürnberg by train, I was surprised to see the pretty autumn foliage around Ruine  Karlburg. These ruins are just a 20 minute drive from home and every time we pass by, we really do not give a second glance towards it. So the autumn colors did take me surprise. Today with the sun playing a game of hide and seek with us, we decided to head over to the ruins and see the autumn magic for ourselves. 

Once we parked the car and followed the sign which led to the trail, we were greeted by this gorgeous sight of fallen leaves and colors of yellow and orange above. It was hard to contain my excitement!! All the while I kept thinking that such pretty sights are indeed hidden from the world. 

Eventually it became a tug of war for the camera between the husband and I. As we climbed further on, the town of Karlstadt looked picturesque. Those are german windmills high up on mountains far away.

The climb actually exhausts you, but once on top, you are treated to some gorgeous sights or "blick" as said by the germans. There isn't much of the ruins, pretty small in size, but its actually the view that compensates for the climb.

The lovely autumn foliage with the river Main in the background. Somehow, I feel that autumn is at its best this year. Does anybody else feel the same way?

The town of Karlstadt.

More of the ruins.....

Our walk didn't end here. We were in for more surprises. Come back tomorrow, I have more to show you..:)

Nürnberg Zoo.

I have mentioned many times before as to how in Germany we plan our outings and excursions depending on the weather. At first this methodology seemed very strange to me, but now I must admit that when it comes to weather forecast and planning I am half german...:D Last weekend was one of such days plus the added advantage of a long weekend meant a day out at the zoo in Nürnberg. When you have kids you have to expect umpteen visits to say hello to the animals. While each one seems different to them, to us adults they are all the same!! This is our third visit to a zoo in Deutschland, and personally till date I feel the Stuttgart zoo numbers one. 

Nürnberg Tiergarten boasts of a dolphin show, something different from the other tiergarten's. I must say that it indeed was very impressive and delightful especially for the little children to watch. For us, it was our first time with dolphins. Having read quite a few articles on them, they are know to be very friendly creatures.

I loved the way the trainers communicated with them. It must be a pretty interesting job to work with animals and be able to understand and talk to them.

All along they obeyed and performed marvelously. The actual thrill was when they began these leaps and somersaults in the water. The gasps of delight from the children in the crowd was equally pleasing to hear.

The dolphin show is worth the visit . You will not be left disappointed. It helps to go early and take the best seats for an enjoyable show cause it can get pretty crowded!!

(waiting for their treats after the performance)

Do not forget to visit and say hello to Unknown Mami and all my other bloggy friends.
HAPPY SUNDAY!!!