Festival of Roses

Today we went to a festival of roses in an old German town.

The whole town is hundred year old houses and shops lining beautiful cobblestone roads.

We were waking down the cool (NOT the temperature cool) cobblestone streets between the cool houses looking at booths and stuff and after we ate lunch Rachel fell asleep while I was holding her so Sarah (my aunt) took the backpack, and we started to find our way to the castle, but the sun was getting in Rachel's eyes, so I put the blanket up over my shoulder so she could be shaded. (Oh! I should say, Germans LOVE babies!)

So I was waking around with Rachel (2 months old) and Ella (6 years old) a little ahead of Sarah and the other younger two, and I hadn't even thought of it, but it looked like I was nursing her. (Nursing in public is totally acceptable in Germany) but this German guy and his wife stop Ella and me and say "oh! Suß!" and "Klein!" and the husband starts saying something about the baby nursing. And it occurred to me that it did look like I was nursing her!  It was clear that nobody minded, and he was probably saying something like how clever to keep baby cool while she was eating or something, but I'm sure my face just went bright red!

And now I'm laughing really hard.

The end.

 At the edge of the town is the Burg Eltville castle. We spent more than half the time there. It was beautiful! The castle looks like a patchwork from different eras. 

This is the balcony overlooking the gardens.

This is what the balcony looks like from the big garden below.

Here's a view of part of the little garden from the bridge entering the courtyard. 

This is the view of the wall from inside the courtyard. 

There was a stone that had 1724 carved into it and the castle looked as though it had been well cared for, added onto and repaired since then.

When we walked down to the big garden the girls wanted to sit and rest, and Talmage didn't, so I took him to look around the gardens while the others rested for a little. 

Rocks! They're fun to play with, and of course, throw at the flowers.

All of the garden walkways were lined with these little bushes.

This is the door to the little garden. it goes under the bridge you cross to enter the castle.

This is the door from the other side.

In the little garden there was a little fish pond with one little fish in it, and Talmage loved that little fish!

After we were done exploring the gardens we all went out to the gardens and dock along the river.

On our way back through the town and back to the car there was a carousel, and Addie wanted to ride on it so bad she decided to give up getting ice cream so she could ride. She loved it!

Unfortunately she regretted her decision when Ella got ice cream instead of a carousel ride. 

Talmage also got excited about riding on the carousel... until he realized he had to give the ticket back.