wonderful weekend, this one.

Saturday, we went to the Wartburg Castle, which was awesome. massive castle after a long climb up a mountain. yay for burning Achilles tendons!got a bunch of pictures, the best ones to be shown soon on the right, and one not really funny anecdote: we get to the tour. we walk in the first room, and the guy tells us pictures are fine (assuming we paid the fee and got a sticker, which is still on my camera) but what i didn't understand from his German was NO FLASH! pretty dark rooms filled with art, and no flash. awesome. so what do i do, not knowing about this no flash rule? right after he finished saying it, i took a picture with the flash on. The whole room collectively turns to me and scowls. crap.

we also climbed the watchtower in the corner, got some pretty good pictures from up there, although i'm not sure why there way so much smoke...whatever, the view was great. i wish my pictures could capture the magic that i see from these heights, i wish i could make a giant 3D panoramic bubble for you to show you the majesty of what i have seen, both at the castle and the watchtower today (yet to come in the story), but alas, i cannot, and much of what i see cannot be captured on camera. The majestic beauty of small villages tucked into corners between mountains and the rectangular quilt of fields. The beauty in rectangular patches of trees, between these fields, or even a plain field of grass. no animals, no crops, just a field of grass. only a couple words could possibly describe it: majestic. magical. spiritually uplifting.

we also went to a watchtower today, as previously mentioned. we walked a ways to get there, climbing a small mountain from the base to the top, watching for the many flowers still beginning to bloom. White flowers tucked between purple and yellow, hidden behind green leaves of other budding plants. (got some pictures, but mostly blurry...master photographer here :p ) the landscape was flawless, and i was surprised by the pristine quality of the environment. only one piece of garbage, from a couple kids, and they brought it with them. i say it again: pristine. majestic. in a couple weeks, the flowers bloom and the trees grow leaves, and the whole forest comes to life. can't wait to see it.

earlier tonight, after our visit to the watchtower, i went for a walk around Kathus with Björn's parents. Kathus is the village we live in, near but not in Bad Hersfeld (similar to Sherwood Park to Edmonton). population: 1000. this town is 600 years old. this town was made by 28 people, 600 years ago. that is awesome. hard to believe that this tiny town is older than my entire country...but a walk around the beautiful village at dusk is awesome. all i could think of was how i want to see a German sunrise. maybe one weekend i'll wake up really early and catch the sun emerging from the hills...don't know when though.

not really sure why, but i turned down an invitation to a party yesterday. according to Björn it was pretty awesome, he had a great time, i just didn't feel like a party. i sat at home watching movies, which was also fun.

big day tomorrow, details to follow.

i have a new thing to collect: shirt buttons. I will come home covered in them, just you wait.

Canadians still enjoying the snow? oh wait, it's 2 degrees outside, should be melting. It was 25 today. we ate lunch outside. I sat in a lawn chair reading a book outside for an hour. wonderful sun.

time for be, ich muss schlafen. bis morgen!