Happy Halloween 2010

We spent Halloween night in Darmstadt, Germany. The castle there is called Burg Frankenstein (Frankenstein Castle). They did a family friendly early evening. The characters were out in full force but not harassing the small children, just the adults and/or teens. It was really impressive, of course you really can't ask for a better backdrop for a haunted house than the ruins of a castle with a colorful history including an inhabitant who in the name of alchemy was reducing down human and animal body parts in hopes of creating an elixir which would grant the drinker eternal life.

Addison loved it. By the end she had "pounded" it with a troll, hugged a zombie, danced with a witch, and had a lengthy conversation with Frankenstein the monster before he turns evil and seeks to kill Victor not the green guy with bolts in his neck. (Note: Because Frankenstein was the star of the show, it having been rumored that Mary Shelley got the idea to call her scientist Frankenstein because of this very castle, they had at least three different versions of the Monster and one Victor Frankenstein milling about the castle grounds. Addie most liked the one that looks most like the version from the movie with De Niro.)

It was a pretty great Halloween.


































































































































































































































































The biggest differences we noticed between this and US haunted houses, was a) it was in a real castle that is believed to be haunted; b) the characters were allowed to touch you. They would walk up and put their hands around your throat. We saw teens pinned to the ground, carried away and locked in coffins and boxes, tied down to an inquisition style rack and stretched until he said stop (at which point he was tickled mercilessly), and at one point a skeleton wielding a real sword walked up behind Megan and ran the sword up the inside of her calf. And this was all at the Halloween for Kids version where they are all on their best behavior.

*They adored Addison though, and even at the end as we were leaving they were still pinching her cheeks and giving her high fives and ooohing and awwwing over her. One of my favorite moments of the night was when the skeleton in battle armor was pushing anyone who stood to close away to protect "Die Prinzessin". She was even giving them all hugs. They were so sweet with her, it was awesome. She kept saying "the monsters are just so totally awesome" *


Proof that she did this of her own free will!! haha

Halloween parties!

Halloween 2010!

We have been loving all the Halloween celebrations we could find!


The Halloween Carnival and trunk or treat at the church was awesome!























They had the youth in charge of carnival type games in each room of the church.

They also had an awesome photo room, with an awesome backdrop to get your picture taken.

Afterwards we headed outside for trunk or treat... so much fun!


















On friday we headed to the Germany-American Institute for the their version of a Halloween party...





















We got a good laugh at the Germans trying to carve a pumpkin for the first time! The games they had were: Squirt the candle out with a water gun, trick or treat door, bob for swine flu.. I mean apples, and eat the apple off the string (much harder than a donut) pumpkin carving and coloring. Addie had a blast



























































































All in all Halloween in Heidelberg was a success, and only got better as the weekend progressed. Stay tuned!!!

Dads new do...

Ryan and Addie laid down to take a nap. When Ryan woke up he realized that Addie had not been sleeping but playing "hairstylist"

Tort laws + Germany =

We love Heidelberg. We are all having so much fun. Addie and I are getting better at taking the buses and trains and knowing our way around the city. I go to the gym everyday with Ryan and Addie goes to the day care. Its actually down the block a bit and there are usually an average of 2 kids there when we go. Almost everyone in Heidelberg speaks some english so they talk to Addie in both German and English but the kids only really speak german. She has picked up many phrases and its really cute to listen to her speak german. I have been going to the classes and they are completely in German, most of the time Ryan comes with me. They always come up to talk to me and talk so fast I can't understand much but i usually just smile and nod. We love the kettle bell class, its intense.

We also love all the parks around town and they are everywhere. We always laugh at the rides or toys they have at the park, because they would never be allowed in the States. Spinning metal of death, metal slide with insane drop off, tower of doom... you know the fun stuff.


The slide was a little wet but Addie really wanted to go down it, so i took one for the team!
























I also love the cross walk signs. This was the guys the used in communist Germany. I am not entirely sure why they have them in part of Heidelberg.