Throughout this virus crisis, we’ve mostly stuck close to home – a few outings to local parks, zillions of bike rides and hikes, and of course the bakeries and grocery store – it’s all been fun, but not a lot of ‘new’ stuff happening. So today I got out the map of our German state – Hesse – and picked a new town to explore. Wiesbaden!

Matt and I have been to Wiesbaden one other time – to visit the Roman baths – but it was the first time for the kids. Wiesbaden is located right on the mighty Rhine River – not far from the wine region that is famous for producing German Riesling.

The kids and I had a great time exploring the local area, including the Schlosspark, a huge, grassy, garden-y park with both a modern palace and a castle built on medieval ruins. It’s easy to forget sometimes that we are surrounded by so much history, all the time. This spot doesn’t make most guidebooks as it’s really just a public park – but seeing both a castle and a palace on just a regular day was super cool!

A highlight was playing in the creek – and finding a few frogs!

We had some fun playing in the trees, too.

• 

• 

• 

To finish off the day, I got to drive 100mph legally on open road. Can’t think of a better way to forget the virus for an afternoon!!!