Monday, April 27, 2009

2009.04. - Hessenpark & Nature Adventure Trail Neu-Anspach

We actually started our latest series of local explorations before Julia and Daniel headed to Austria for Easter.
Our first destination on a rainy day was Hessenpark, just beyond Bad Homburg.

Hessenpark – founded in 1974 as the central Hessian Open-Air Museum is a reflection of rural Hesse's of the past.


Shortly after the entrance the kids convinced us to sample the products of the pastry shop (:).

Then Annie discovered a museum and shop full of brooms and brushes.
Isn't it cool to be able to see her reflection in the shopwindow together with the buildings in the background ?
Excellent shot Annie !



The broom heads ranged from big to small, soft to rough and round to pointy - you can name the shape and the size - the shop had everything. These with the ostich feathers were Daniel's favourite.

We found the architecture style of those days beautiful.

The beams of the timber frame used to stabilize the walls were sometimes arranged in the shape of a man with arms and legs spread wide - they are called "fachmannfiguren" = "craftsmen figures".

But like many times before, the most interesting thing turned out to be nature itself.
A pond, full of frogs.

Rocks to be skipped on the lake.



And hills to be conquered.




And a bench for the people to sit and admire the first flowers of spring.









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Next day we drove to a Nature Trail in Neu-Anspach.
The "Wild Boar Trail".

We haven't seen any boar but there were other interesting things to be found.


The educational boards along the trail illustrate and explain which animals and plants are inhabitants of the region.

How they live and in what way they are useful or harmful for other creatures.

This little hut for example was a collection of things where wasps like to build their nest.


The only kind of houses Daniel was interested in were the treehouses.
The higher the better.

And the girls didn't lag much behind.

In fact, once in a while they even beat Daniel in getting to the next treehouse.










But the best seat always belonged to him.

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