the amish, part of our trip to lancaster, pa

Being on vacation this week has allowed me the opportunity to look through my summer vacation pics.  We were quite busy during our one month in the U.S.  I had planned a lot of mini-trips within our vacation time.  It sounded all nice while planning, but let me tell you that we were hopping the entire time.  And with my pregnancy, there were many moments of me not feeling well.  But looking back at these pictures, I don't regret one bit of it.  We got to do and see new things, and little guy sure had fun.  And in the end that's what is most important to us; him having fun and making all these great memories to remember as he grows up.

My first vacation post is about our trip to Lancaster, PA.  We did many things in Lancaster (I will try to share more of them in the future), but one of the more interesting things we did was visit The Amish Village.

The Amish Village

When I was in my early teens I went on vacation with my family to Lancaster and I remember going on a tour of an Amish house.  I loved learning about their way of life.  I've always been interested in different ways of life, so I guess this interest started early.  Anyway, when we planned our trip, visiting an Amish house was a must.



An Amish House, from outside

The Amish have regular Sunday religious services.  However, they do not attend these services in a church.  In each home there is a gathering room and the families take turns hosting the Sunday service in their homes.  

Gathering room

An Amish kitchen doesn't look all that different from any other kind of kitchen.  In fact, you will find many electrical appliances.  However, they are not powered by electricity.  The Amish have found other ways to power these appliances, such as using gas tanks.

An Amish kitchen

On the left is a lamp powered by a gas tank.  On the right is the stove, which I love.

The Amish choose to wear simple clothing.  No flashy colors or decorations.  And to help avoid flashy buttons, the women use straight pins to keep their aprons on.  I would surely poke myself, but these ladies are very talented and have no problems with this technique.

Typical Amish wardrobe.

The bedrooms had beautiful, hand-made quilts decorating the beds.  And there was a lot of beautifully, hand-crafted furniture.  The Amish only use paint colors that represent nature.  Mostly blue (as in the sky) and green (as in the grass/earth) are used when painting the interior of an Amish home.

An Amish bedroom (there were three in the home we toured).

It is common for Amish families to live in farmlands, where many families grow crops as a source of income.  And Lancaster County definitely has a lot of farmlands. 

An Amish farm (this is not in the Amish Village that we toured, this was taken from our train ride which I'll blog about later).

If you're ever near Lancaster, I would definitely recommend going on a Amish tour and learning about the Amish.  I find their way of life very peaceful.  I think the place we toured was nice and it only took one afternoon of our trip there.  We toured the house and then had as much time as we we liked to walk about the premises, looking at replicas of buildings you might find in an actual Amish village, including an adorable school house.  And by the way, we loved their gifts shops; homemade jams and sweets, hand-made quilts and things, and even toys for little guy.  Despite my pregnancy complications that day, I'm sure glad we went.

For more information (whether you're planning a trip or just want to learn some cool facts), click here for The Amish Village website.

All pictures taken by yours truly.  :)