DAY HIKE WITH THE CHURCH GROUP

October 3rd is a German Holiday and also Steve's birthday.  No work, nothing is open.  The weather was partly cloudy but not raining.  The church had a day hike in the wine country along the weinstrasse area near Battenburg in the Palatine Forest.  The forest was beautiful and some of the views into the neighboring valleys was very pretty.  We hiked along forested trails to a lunch spot at a small lake that also had a pretty large outdoor restaurant which was a really popular spot for many hikers and their dogs and a few shetland ponies.  After the hike we all met in the small town for some really tasty fresh pressed grape juice and onion cake (quiche), both favorites for this area.  The castle there is only ruins now, destroyed in 1689 during the War of the Spanish Succession by French troops.  The view from the castle wall towards Mannheim and overlooking all the vineyards was really nice.

The group assembling before hike.

We had started up this small farm field to the trail but soon realized it was blocked with heavy growth and that we needed to cross over to the trail in another place so we turned back and cut through the woods a bit to the trail.
We picked a couple of apples from the tree on the left.

Brother & Sister Lemke

At the small lake lunch spot.

Sister Holly Nufer and Sister Raquel Muncy

Germans love their dogs and take them everywhere.
This was a great hike for many dogs too.
These two are looking for some handouts.

Lillie pads on the small lake.

Someone hiked up to the lunch spot with their shetland ponies.
These guys look really well fed.
They are not much taller than a large dog.

Steve, Christian Siebert, Elder Chase Pearson, Elder Teppo Ilmari Lietsalmi.

 Elder Teppo Ilmari Lietsalmi, Elder Chase Pearson, Steve 

Carolin Broo and Sister Muncy

The group, but sister Nufer is taking the picture.  Look at Christian on the left!

We saw several of these colorful mushrooms.  We heard that these are poisonous and are radioactive because when Chernobyl blew up, the cloud of radioactive material blew over this region and for some reason the mushrooms keep growing with the radioactive properties still in them.  

More nice view points

Look Elder Lietsalmi is taller than Elder Pearson, how could that be?

After hike, before we walk through the small town.

At the end of the hike we walked through this cute town.
I really enjoyed seeing the homes and all the grape vines.

Such a pretty courtyard and grape vines.

Grape vines growing across the street on a wire. 

View from the castle wall towards Mannheim.

Vineyards can be seen for MILES!

Strange formations of sandstone and harder minerals .
The carpenter bees have made homes in the sandstone now.