Our last day of Claus' Germany

We started today's sight-seeing from Claus' home in Ulm where we stayed last night.  Our first stop was a fossil museum in Holzmaden, 60 km to the north.

The museum has a collection of fossils found

in the shale quarries in this part of Germany

The shale quarries are located in the Swabian Alps,

 hundreds of metres above sea level

The Holzmaden area was once a sea bed with a muddy

bottom that solidified into shale over millions of years

Claus showing Jenni how to tell the difference

One of the quarries is right opposite the museum.  School chilren,

with hammers and chisels, chipped away

 at the shale to find small fossils

Our next stop was a long uphill walk to the ruins of the

Hohenneuffen castle in Württemberg

The castle was added to over the centuries dating

 from the 11th century but it fell into disrepair in the 18th century

We stopped for lunch in the restaurant at the top

Claus & Jenni pondering the view

We were lucky to have a clear, cool day and we could

see the small villages dotted across the landscape for many kms

Wine grapes are grown in this area

The castle is located in the Swabian Alps, 

750 metres above sea level

Just down the hill from the castle is a village

 reconstructed from buildings around Swabia.

It functions as a museum to show people what

life was like centuries ago (terrible).

This is the last day of doing fun fun things.  Tomorrow, we drive to Franfurt, return the rubber-band car, stay overnight and then begin the long journey home. Tomorrow's blog from Frankfurt will be the last.