Inverts

Schwäbisch Hall has a surprising number of creepy crawlies - for some reason [can't fathom why] I though that Europe would have a little bit less insect life. Turns out I was wrong.
 
Some is harmless (large spider + web in bathroom), some is pretty (orange bugs that always cluster together in the same place at night but have a creepy affinity for dead mouse carcasses),

Some is a bit icky to step on (gigantic orange slug) - I couldn't get a picture of one with his eye-stalks and head out; they pull it back in like a snail which is kind of silly considering there's no shell involved.

The five cent coin is for scale. I didn't realize normal people do not include coins for scale until friends made fun of me, so if you happen to be in a situation where you're trying to blend in with non-biologists, it is a good idea to omit this from the photo.

Lastly, it turns out the German countryside is crawling with ticks. So horrible. Don't know why I thought Europe was exempt from this plague, but I was so wrong. Anywhere involving grass involves tick checks. There was an educational poster outside an insurance provider with about 10 tick species on it plus the diseases they carry, and I thought it was for educational purposes for people traveling internationally, but now I'm pretty sure they are all local. Charming.