Schwabisch Hall has it All

The town of Schwabisch Hall

Throwing rocks in the river

Annie at the park

Watching the ducks being fed

This one reminds me of a pic of Eli at Mt. Rushmore, circa 1983-ish

Interesting building off the town square

Town square

Rathaus (what we know as a courthouse)

Lots of little cobblestoned, pedestrian lanes here and there

We took a little field trip to the town of Schwabisch Hall on Saturday afternoon. It was a beautiful day here, sunny and almost 70 degrees, the perfect day for taking a random cruise in a random direction. I used to love just jumping in the car and driving aimlessly, taking a road I'd never tried before. But that was B.C. Now if I am in the mood to cruise, it involves potty breaks, packing like we're about to travel to darkest India, and making sure everyone gets at least one toy or book to occupy themselves!

Anyway, I randomly picked Schwabisch Hall, kind of a "throw a dart at the map and go" kind of thing. It's a smaller town about an hour northeast of Stuttgart. It took us just over an hour to get there, a pleasant drive through vineyards. Dora took us into town without incident and wonder of wonder, we found a great place to park and walked right into the old area of town. This doesn't always happen when I visit these places...I drive into town and then I'm lost. Where to park? Where exactly is the area as advertised in our travel guide? There's never an address to enter into the GPS, you know? So sometimes I end up in these towns and can't figure out how to get where I need to go, which can be frustrating.

This time, everything worked just perfectly. We walked right down the street into the town square, tried a few of the little cobblestoned and winding lanes, and ended up by a lovely river. It couldn't have been more idyllic, really. Maybe if there had been a shepherdess and a few sheep grazing, bu really...there were ducks being fed and quacking. Lovely green grass and blooming spring flowers. Couples holding hands, both young and old. The sun shining, the river burbling, the beautiful old town in the background.

And, JACKPOT: a playground! And bonus JACKPOT: a shallow stream perfect for splashing, throwing rocks and generally getting wet (despite Mother's admonitions NOT to). And guess what?

MY KID WAS THE ONE WHO GOT NAILED BY ROCKS BY SOME GERMAN KID!

I know. Breathe with me. I'm still in shock. For once, it wasn't us committing the gaffe, it was a local. We didn't have to endure the GLoD*!

Perfection!

* The German Look of Disapproval.