Summer holiday 2014 : Rügen and Saxony, August 2014

Suitcases unpacked, washing drying on the line, no.1 son packed off to cub scout camp, no.2 with his father for the weekend. Ahhhh.. time to look back at all our lovely holiday photos.

The first part of our holiday was spent on Germany's largest island, Rügen which is on the Baltic Sea

The beautiful early 1900's resort architecture of the island

Sunbathing in style. Beach basket chairs for two people

Beautiful natural white sand beaches. We made sure to stay on the Textil Strand (swimwear is worn). FKK means nude bathing (free body culture). No nudity please, we are British! :D

We walked through the UNESCO status National Park Jasmund

The white chalk cliffs were so beautiful against the blue sea and the forests above

We watched a snake catching frogs for its dinner

The older buildings on Rügen have thatched roofs which to me seem so fairy-tale like

We went on a woodland walk to find the famous flint fields

We were on a special mission to find...

magical stones - adder stones. A stone with a natural hole through the middle. These stones act as good luck charms.

It is said that if you look through the hole it is a good way to check for disguised fairies or witches. I'm keeping my stone on a piece of string  tied to my front door. You never know who comes knocking! 

We visited a strawberry farm

and watched the jam being made

the whole barn was decorated with thousands of coffee pots

Isn't this a cute chandelier?

Of course I HAD to buy some

We hired bikes for the day and cycled from our apartment in Göhren to Binz

The cycle was so peaceful and almost the whole route was through woodland

It was all so charming until....

We got caught in a freak summer rain storm without shelter

We pedalled like crazy the last 6km to  Binz

to warm up and dry off drinking hot chocolate, coffeee and cake 

I spotted a German apprentice carpenter  in his traditional journeyman clothes. 

We ate at a local fish restaurant. This one specialised in smoked fish "Die Räucherei"

Translation service needed 

Then we headed back to Dresden for the second part of our holiday

We all made a pear cake with pears from the Lehmann orchards

One of us even had time to do some scientific experiments 

creating crystals

A little trip on the motorbike

Archery practice in the woods

A trip to a dinosaur park

We drove to Saxon Switzerland and climbed the Schrammsteine

Beautiful sandstone formations make perfect climbing

And what a view at the top...

Beautiful Saxony

Nothing like an iced coffee after a hard day in the mountains :)

We ate out at a rollercoaster restaurant in Dresden. Order by tablet..

and watch your drinks miraculously land down at your table via a rollercoaster track mounted above our heads

Now for the schnitzel..

We bought dirndls! And wore them in the garden eating Flammkuchen and drinking Federweisser

The next day I spent the day as if in a fairy tale...

suddenly there was movement in the reeds ...

real life beavers

I saw two huge storks nesting up high