Neuschwanstein Castle

We've been to Neuschwanstein Castle before, but who can resist seeing the fairytale castle again when family requests to go?

We parked at the foot of Hohenschwangau Castle. This was "Mad" King Ludwig's boyhood home.

The castles are located right by lake Alpsee.

Love.

Beautiful home in the town of Hohenschwangau.

We rode the bus up and walked the few minutes to the entrance to Neuschwanstein. The super cool Marienbrucke is closed so we didn't get one of the classic views of the castle this trip. Sorry, Tom, Margi, and Nick! You'll just have to come back! 

You can tell that this castle was designed first by a theater-set designer and then by an architect because it is so classically fairytale-esque.

Looking through the entrance up to the main castle.

Ludwig loved the mountains and he picked a gorgeous setting to build his dream castle in.

Since the kids and I had already gone on the tour back in October 2013, we walked down to the viewing area with some shops and snacks while Chris and his family took the tour. 

Wow.

Every angle of the castle is cool.

We walked down the hill and found a restaurant to grab some dinner.

Down south they love painting their buildings and I love that they love that.

How much wood could a woodchuck chuck if a woodchuck could chuck wood.

Details from barn doors.

Then we drove to our cute hotel in Reutte, Austria. Our next activity worth a recap was sliding down the Biberwier Rodelbahn (or, Alpine slide) in the Alps!

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Füssen, Germany

We've been to this part of Germany once before but we didn't walk around the cute town below the King's Castle then, so that was the plan for the afternoon! Approaching the Bavarian Alps:

Füssen has a rich history and some very charming sights, including the lovely and restored PINK Hotel Hirsch. The hotel opened in 1904 and has cool art nouveau styling. My future home. Just sayin'.
On Kaiser Maximilian Platz is the entertaining "Seven Stones" fountain, built in 1995 to celebrate Füssen's 700th birthday. The stones symbolize community, groups of people gathering and coming together.

The coolest part? They spin! The spinning stones aren't connected and spin with waterpower.
We let the kids splash around a bit, then walked along the medieval town wall.

Cute!
The historic cemetery of St. Sebastian is a peaceful oasis of Füssen history. It was established in the 16th century and fills a corner between the town wall and a Franciscan monastery.

From up near the monastery is a great view of Füssen. The Church of St. Magnus is the spire on the left with the High Castle on the right.

Germany's famous Romantic Road ends right here in Füssen.

#ihavethisthingwithflowers

Because, texture.

Deutschland ist sehr schön.

The Lech River rolls by town. In its heyday, the Lech River was an expressway to Augsburg 70 miles to the north and was used heavily to transport goods.

The back of a former Benedictine Monastery.

Up hill from the river a little bit is the Church of the Holy Spirit. This was the church of the rafters who transported goods on the river so their patron, St. Christopher, is featured prominently on the façade.

Fox and Jane being Fox and Jane.

We continued up to the front of the Benedictine Monastery that was secularized in 1802. Today, it houses the city hall and a museum.

Courtyard of the old monastery.

Bread Market Square.

On the square is a fountain honoring the famous 16th century lute making family, the Tieffenbruckers. In its day, Füssen was a huge center of violin and lute making with about 200 workshops. Today, two such workshops still survive.

Give me all the colors!

Pink door = perfection.

Around the corner from the old monastery is the St. Magnus Basilica, dedicated to the saint who in the eighth century worked miracles all over this area.

The Evans Family in Füssen, Germany on Tuesday June 28th 2016.

I'll never get tired of these ornate wrought iron signs.

Reichstrasse is the main shopping drag connecting the castle to Kaiser Maximillian Platz.

We strolled along enjoying the wonderful sunshine and stopping to let Nick try some German treats like pretzels (Brezels) and ice cream (Eis).

Fun stop!

Next: Neuschwanstein!

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Wieskirche, Germany

Chris' parents, Tom & Margi, and his brother Nick (whom he hasn't seen in over 5 years! So this was his first time ever meeting Jane!) came to visit so as soon as they rested up for a day we hit the road - first stop: the Wieskirche.

It was a lovely three hour drive down through sunny Bavaria to the church. I love all the flower boxes in windows all over. I think I may have mentioned that once or twice before... :)

We parked in the nearby lot and made our way through the small town.

So Bavarian in the best possible way.

Follow the yellow brick gray cement road!

Cool and also simultaneously creepy haystack things.

After admiring the countryside we arrived at the end of the path at the Wieskirche - Germany's greatest Rococo-style church. This recently restored "Church in the Meadow" looks as brilliant as the day it floated down from heaven. Overripe with decoration but bright and bursting with beauty, this church is a divine droplet, a curly curlicue, the final flowering of the Baroque movement.

Wow. Jaw. On. Floor.

High on the ceiling is the resurrected Christ before the Last Judgment. This is the most positive depiction of the Last Judgment around. Jesus rides a rainbow, a symbol of forgiveness, giving any sinner the feeling that there is still hope and time to repent with plenty of mercy on hand. 

The church is a pilgrimage church built around a much-venerated statue of a scourged Christ which supposedly wept in 1738. The carving, which was deemed too graphic for the local church, was the focus of worship in a peasant's barn. Miraculously, it shed tears, empathizing with all those who suffer. Pilgrims came from all around and a tiny chapel was built to house the statue in 1739.

Bigger and bigger crowds came so two of Bavaria's top Rococo architects, the Zimmerman brothers, were commissioned to build the Wieskirche that stands today.

Incredible.

Cases flank the doorways above the side aisles and hold handkerchiefs and other items that people left after they were healed and no longer needed them.

The Evans Family in the Wieskirche, Bavaria, Germany on Tuesday June 28th 2016. 

Then we drove down to Füssen!

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4th of July 2016

We had a fun 4th of July!

 Since my mom couldn't bring all her patriotic Polish pottery back with her, we used it :)

 The temperature was PERFECT and Margi (Chris' mom) and I have been working really hard to get the backyard in tip-top shape (I SO do not have a green thumb but I'm honestly trying to learn and figure nature out!) and Chris cooked the burgers to perfection and it was just a super fun and cozy evening. We definitely need to eat outside more! 

I love the USA and we're excited for the next chapter in our lives when we move back to the states next summer. But we love Germany too! It's all bittersweet :) 

HAPPY 4TH OF JULY!

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Stitched States

I was going to turn this into a layout and I tried, but the pictures were covering too much of the stitching so now I think it just needs to be framed and hung on the wall. Done and done!

STITCHED STATES by Paige Evans

DESCRIPTION: I promise this will be my last stitched heart ;) Now that the kids are older and more self-sufficient during long road trips, I find myself stitching more and more to pass the time! I made this on our trip to IKEA a couple weekends ago - it's supposed to take an hour to get there, which it did, but then on the way back we hit a major stau (traffic jam) and it took three hours... so happy I had this project to calm my nerves.

HOW TO: Download the states heart cut file and then use a pen or pencil in a Silhouette Cameo to draw it (instead of cutting it) onto patterned paper.

Pierce a hole around the states and then backstitch through, changing the color of thread for every state.

SUPPLIES: Patterned paper: Fancy Free by Paige Evans / Pink Paislee; Thread: DMC; Die cut machine: Silhouette Cameo; States heart cut file: Paige Evans

Happy 4th of July weekend and 240th birthday to the good ol' US of A!

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