The Flora and Fauna of Alsace

On our trip to Koenigsbourg, I just couldn't help but take some shots of the flowers and such growing in and around the castle.   So, if you will, here's some of the FLORA there:

I know this isn't a gorgeous photo, but this tree is growing in a courtyard that is in the middle of the castle at about the 4th or fifth floor level.  They just built walls and rooms all the way around the trees up near the top of the mountain.  It's really cool to see the trees growing out of the middle of the castle (look back at the brochure in my other post and you can see the trees---you just don't realize how much castle surrounds them).

There was a small garden area along one of the outer walls.  I just loved these irises.

There were several of these arches (arbors maybe) throughout the garden.

Now for the FAUNA (animal) part:

Remember my fascination with storks' nests last fall in Colmar and again in Riquewihr and again near the Roman ruins at Augusta Raurica in March.   Well, THEY'RE BACK, not just the nests, the STORKS!  In village after village, we saw a stork or two storks in nest after nest.  On the way home, DJ stopped in one of the villages so that I could get some pictures (I'm only posting the one where you can see his/her awesome beak the best):

That's it.  Not much, I know; but my other post was getting too long.  I don't want to ever forget the beautiful flowers we've seen here, and I will now always have a fascination for storks---still want to bring back a stork stuffie for the playroom.