Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: A Castle, a Cannon, and a Squirrel

Castle Fürstenau was first built in the 14th century, but most buildings date from the 16th century. Parts of the castle are used as Town Hall.

This one had a restaurant in it, but it was closed due to 'you know what'.

It has a tower as well.

I think this used to be the prison. There was a headless body hanging from a window dressed in prison stripes.

We had to take a closer look at the cannon of course.

Man the cannon!

It might not be a really big castle, but I think it's a cool one.

I spotted some signs.

This one had a woman and child on it to indicate it's a walk path. In the Netherlands it used to be a man and a child before they changed it to unrecognizable stick figures. It's fun to see the difference in signs between different countries.

No fishing with Minnie Mouse ears and dogs need to be leashed.

The weather was lovely so we sat in the sun to eat and relax.

There was a heart with all kinds of locks on it.

They all had names of couples on it and dates. I think it was for couples who just got married in Town Hall.

Back at Diana's place we read and relaxed some more. And we spotted a squirrel!

In the evening Diana lit the fireplace. It was an awesome day.

More on our trip tomorrow
 

Gilbert - A Trip to Germany: Flowers and a Castle

 We went on a trip!

My owner was invited by her friend Diana to come visit, and as we were feeling a bit down, we immediately took her up on the offer and packed our suite case.

We arrived on Sunday afternoon. We got a yummy dinner and after a relaxing evening we went to bed. We'd be going on an outing the next day.

On Monday we first visited a memorial site for prisoners of war who died during the war. This used to be their burial site, but most were reburied somewhere else from what I could decipher on this sign. I need to brush up on my German.

It's been 75 years since the end of the war, so there were flowers at the monument in the center as remembrance.

Next we went to a garden center! I spotted these piggies and a hedgehog.

There were goats lounging among the flowers.

And a baby cow!

There were also tons and tons of hippos.

I spotted a really cool plant: a Potatom.

It's a plant that has both tomatoes and potatoes. I wanted to get one as I wanted to know if the tomatoes and potatoes would taste normal or different than normal ones, but my owner said it wouldn't do well on our balcony, so I was overruled.

After the garden center we drove to Fürstenau to visit castle Fürstenau. It was surrounded by water, and I spotted a cannon on the earthen wall. Looks like a well defended castle.

There was a statue of a guy tooting his own horn.

He had a wicked looking halberd so maybe he had a right to boast. 

More pictures of castle Fürstenau coming tomorrow.

Gilbert: A Walk into Town

 

We haven't been doing much lately, but on Friday I took a walk into town. It was sunny, but cold, so it was quiet on the streets.

I hope we'll be able to go on more outings soon.

Gilbert: A Forest Walk

 

Yesterday we wanted to go for a walk, but because it's very crowded at our usual route we decided to go to Drenthe for a walk, away from all the city crowds.

It was close to the radio telescope of Westerbork. There was a sign telling you to shut of your phone if you were walking in the direction of the radio telescope, so we decided to go in the other direction. We needed our phone to take pictures after all.

No people in sight!

Let's go this way.

It was a lovely sunny day.

I did some exploring and climbed some trees.

I enjoyed the sun.

What a fun walk.

Hmm.. Let's go this way now.

This sign means you should keep your dog on a leash. Luckily I'm a piggy.

There was a tree with a big stone in front of it with text on it.

"Through the window of my eyes."

It's a monument to the song Window of My Eyes by Harry Muskee from the Blues band Cuby + Blizzards. It's on one of Harry Muskee's favorite spots and where he got the inspiration for the song apparently.

I can understand why he liked it here.

This is a marker stone so you know where you are, I think.

I spotted this next to the marker stone.

It's a wooden chip with something written on it in a language I don't know.

More tree climbing.

Checking if my owner is paying attention and still taking pictures.

After our walk we got French fries and chicken nuggets and then we went home again. On our way home there was a lot of fog, so we were lucky to have such a nice sunny afternoon.