Last Thursday, all four of us had the day off from our jobs, which is quite amazing, so we thought we better take advantage of it. After a forty minute drive we arrived in Worms, home to about 86,000 residents. Worms fights for the title of “oldest city in Germany” with Cologne and Trier. These first two pictures are of the Dreifaltigkeitskirche. I thought this church was very unique with its detailed wood ceiling.

This is a bit of an abstract shot of the Wormser Dom, and the second below is of the Nibelungen Tor.

These last two shots were taken as we were walking to the Nibelungen Bridge that goes over the Rhine. I did not get a shot of the actual bridge so here is one courtesy of Wikipedia, just for an overview. The door that Tyler and Antje are in front of is part of the tower.

This week I was organizing all the pictures we’ve taken since we’ve been here, and I came across a few “outtakes” that I really wanted to share.  It’s easy, especially with digital cameras these days, for photographs to get lost in the infinite space of our computers.  Thankfully, Jason took on the task a couple months ago of creating a bit of order for our photographs, and now I just have to make sure I keep up with it!
This first picture was taken in Kandern while we were going on a little walk after dinner.  I thought this Polaroid border by Andrea Rascaglia worked pretty well with it.

These next two were both taken at Tyler and Antje’s place.  Their home is on a quiet little street lined with tall, colorful home fronts–each one unique.  The second below is a picture I took as Jason was walking up the stairwell in their apartment.

This was also taken during our walk in Kandern.  There was a small church and I loved how the light was shining into this window just so.

This picture makes me smile!  A few posts back a I shared a photo Jason took of a ladybug in the garden.  Well, I also took this photo of him taking that photo, and here it is.  I love the concentration in his face and that the little ladybug can be seen on the leaf there.

This post is dedicated to the things I love about Deutschland. Now, I am certainly no expert regarding this land and have in fact not even been here for a month yet (in addition to having hardly traveled outside the Bundesland of Hessen); however, there are some items already that I have come to call endearing. My first and most loved thing is the beautiful churches. These first two photographs are of St. Augustine’s of Canterbury located at Frankfurter Straße 6 in Wiesbaden. I have already gathered quite a collection of church pictures, as you all have seen in our previous posts, and I’m sure many more are to come. Jason and I visited this church last night for Die Nacht der Kirchen, where fifteen of the churches in Wiesbaden opened their doors for an evening of music, psalms, hymns, and many other presentations and activities.

The second of my favorite things here in Germany is the large quantity of cobblestone streets and walkways. I absolutely love that this method of paving is used so regularly here. Even many of the parking spaces and sidewalks are made of some sort of stone or pavers. Plus, it is just wet enough here for the grass and moss to grow up in between the stones, and give even the most common of spaces an enchanting feel.

This next photograph is a prime example of a Fachwerkhaus, which I think is very beautiful. Fachwerk means framework and is clearly the right name for this style of architecture where the frame of the home is left exposed.

Now the location of this photograph is more important than the content, well as far as my favorite things list goes. Geese are not my favorite thing, and this one wasn’t particularly friendly, but I do love the little town of Kandern in southern Germany. Jason, Tyler, Antje and I traveled there a week ago to visit some family. Jason and Tyler’s aunt and uncle, Leigh Ann and Laird, live there with their son Joseph and daughter Jillian (who’s recently gone off to college in Seattle!). We were only there for a couple days, but I was struck by the beauty of Kandern with its rolling hills of green. The town is also a sanctuary for many storks, and these large birds can be seen atop the roofs of many homes here. It is a unique and lovely place that I hope to visit again soon. And I promise to get some actual photographs of the place next time we are there…