Home, sweet home!

Finally! Patrick and I have moved out of the on-base hotel and in to our new home in Amberg. Above is a picture of our new front door - our German neighbor apparently put the flags up when the prior tenants deployed - the American flag on the left, and the Bavarian (Bayern) flag on the right. We are thrilled with our location and our welcoming neighbors!

With the transition plus a trip back to the states, we will not be venturing outside the city for a few weeks, but this weekend we found that we don't need to go far for a good time!
This whole week marks the Mariahilfberg Festival in Amberg. When the plague hit Amberg in the 1600s, the city turned the watchtower at the top of the hill into a chapel in honor of the Virgin Mary. After the plague ended a few months later, the chapel became a popular pilgrimage spot for people all over Bavaria. The demand was so great over the years that they built an actual (and beautiful!) church at the top of the hill. The crowds grew, and 300 years after the first pilgrimage to the mountain, the city threw a festival to celebrate the anniversary. Loosely translated to the "Mountain Festival," Patrick and I were amazed at how many people braved the heat (it was 90°!) and walked up the hill to pray and celebrate the miracle with plenty of local Biers and delicious food.
We were a sucker for the memory and bought one of the mugs we enjoyed from the local Amberg brewery, Brauhaus Amberg. Word of the wise - do not try to walk out with one of the festival mugs in hand. There were policemen planted at the exits gathering people who were trying to do just that. Thankfully, the first mug for our collection was legitimate (unlike the collection of beer glasses we have from an unnamed Winston-Salem brewery...)
The walk home was gorgeous - it's hard to make out but on the right is the view of Amberg at night!