One Last Trip to Aachen

On Tuesday, the day before my mom and Doreen's flight was scheduled to leave from Frankfurt, we decided to go on one last little day trip. There were so many fun places to choose from that I wanted to show them, but we didn't have time to go see them all. We decided to go see Aachen since it was a pretty easy trip and different from anything we had seen on their trip so far.

We had a really great day. It was a beautiful, sunny day and didn't even threaten to rain like it had the other times I had been to the city. We had lunch in the square near the cathedral in the center of the city. We sat outside drinking yummy coffee and sampling different kinds of sandwiches, people watching, and listening to the live music that was playing nearby.

Mikayla really liked to stand there and listen to the music, but was a little shy about putting the money into the guitar case for them.

After lunch we toured through the cathedral, which I have mentioned before is really beautiful. It was nice because last time my pictures came out all blurry since it was so dark inside, but this time it was all lit up for some filming crews. Here is one more picture of the inside of the cathedral to add to the ones on earlier posts.

We walked around a bit more after we were through looking at the cathedral and saw some of the other fun sites of the city. And then we went to the cute little toy store that I had found in earlier trips. This time we found that in addition to the train set that kids could play with inside the store, they also had a little mechanical bear outside the store that would blow bubbles. Mikayla was very excited about the bubbles. I think that we spent a good half hour or so just watching the bubbles. It was pretty cute so see how excited she got, though.

Bubble watching

More bubble watching

We had a wonderful time in the city, but it was time to go back. We had to swing through Düren to pick up Darren from work, drive to Embken to drop Darren and Mikayla off and pick up luggage, and then it was off to Frankfurt. Mom and Doreen had an early flight the next morning, so they had booked a hotel near the airport to make the morning easier. It was hard to say goodbye, but it made it easier that we were heading home in just a couple of days. I had a wonderful time showing them around a little bit of Germany and I am glad that they were able to make the trip.

Day Trip with Mom and Doreen

On Tuesday, after our couple of days in Embken relaxing and exploring, Mom, Doreen, Mikayla, and I decided to go see the town of Bad Münstereifel while Darren had to go in to work. I had just been there when Brenda and Tony were here, but it was nice to be able to show this cute little walled town to my Mom and Doreen, too. It threatened to rain, like both the other times that I have been to the town, but it held off and we had a nice day there.

Doreen and Mom in Bad Münstereifel

Mikayla in her stroller, "talking" on the phone while we waited for Nana C and Doreen to explore one of the churches in town

Doreen, Mom, and Mikayla with their beverages at a cute little restaurant that we found in Bad Münstereifel. The waitress didn't speak any English, but we managed to order some milk for Mikayla, some Oktoberfest beer to try out, and some yummy shnitzels.

The roses on the table at the restaurant

Doreen and I at our table at the little restaurant

Mikayla, Mom, and Doreen in front of the little restaurant where we ate. Mikayla and Nana C spent quite a bit of time out in front of the restaurant while we were eating since Mikayla didn't want to sit still long enough to eat. She and Nana C "fed" the ceramic ducks that she is sitting next to in the picture. When Doreen and I came out after the meal we saw little bits of leaves on the duck's bills.

It was a fun day. We explored some of the little shops in town, ate a yummy lunch, and walked around some before we had to leave so that we could go pick up Darren from work.

Hiking in Nideggen

On Sunday, the last full day that Tony and Brenda were with us, we decided to try again to see Nideggen. The day started out cloudy and looked like it might rain, but soon cleared up and it was a beautiful day for a hike. So, we hopped in the cars and drove the short distance to Nideggen. We first walked through the town and up to the castle to see the sights there. Most of these are pictures that Brenda and Tony took with their cameras.

Entrance tower to the old part of the city of Nideggen

Tony sitting by the Nideggen city walls

Gates leading up to the castle in Nideggen

Church by the castle in Nideggen

The courtyard in the ruins of the castle in Nideggen

The walls of the castle

View from the castle out over the valley

Mikayla and I

Castle wall

Darren in the castle gate house

Tiles on the roof

After walking around and taking pictures of the castle, we went on a hike down the mountain into the valley below. We had heard about the hike from several people (including my brother Nate who had gone on a long run that included this part of the valley), so we were glad to finally be going on this hike. It was beautiful and definitely lived up to its reputation. We hiked down the mountain, through the valley for a bit, then up the mountain again to get back to the cars.

View down the path near where we started at the castle

View of the cliffs with the castle in the background

View of the cliffs with the valley below

Mikayla and I on the path

A view of the campground below in the valley. There isn't a lot of tent camping here in Germany.

A huge rock that we saw on the hike. When we walked around to the side of it, we saw that someone at sometime had built a wall up on one side of it. It made a little cave on one end.

A view of the path we took going back up to the cars

It was a good day for a hike, and it was a good way to close out our time with Brenda and Tony. We came back after the hike and had a relaxing evening with dinner at home and talking and exchanging pictures. We had a great time with them visiting and definitely hope to see them again soon. They left early in the morning on Monday morning to head back to England.

A shot of Mikayla with the wide-angle lens

The Rhine and Mosel Valleys

On Friday, Brenda and Tony took the train into Cologne to see the sights of the city. Mikayla and I stayed home so that we could get some shopping done and also rest up for the big trip we had planned for the next day, which was to drive down and see some of the castles in the Rhine and Mosel river valleys. After much research and figuring out which of the many many castles that are in the area we really wanted to see, we narrowed it down to two castles. Originally we had thought about trying to drive the entire Mosel valley as well, but once we found out that it would be about a 4 hour drive, we changed our minds.

Both of the castles that we picked, Marksburg and Burg Eltz, are among the most well-preserved castles in Germany. Both of them have stayed pretty much in the same family line and have managed to avoid most of the war and conflicts that destroyed other castles.

We started the day by driving straight to Koblenz, which is the city where the Rhine and Mosel rivers meet. Most of the interesting castles on the Rhine are south of Koblenz, and from there south is what is called "the Romantic Rhine." Marksburg wasn't very far south of the city, which is one of the reasons why we picked it since it wouldn't be too much of a back track to get to the Mosel river valley.

Our first view of Marksburg, which turned out to be the best overall castle shot since you couldn't really get a good view of it any where close to the castle itself.

Darren and I helping Mikayla up the stairs

Darren posing half in and half out of the wall

The main entrance to the castle

Since the only way to see the inside of the castle was to join a tour, we bought tickets and went along. The tour was all in German, but they did have English guide books that you could rent so we could understand what we were seeing.

Looking back over the entrance structure of the castle

A view out over the Rhine river

A castle tower

A view down the steps to the wine cellar and of the kitchen. It was really interesting to see how a medieval kitchen was set up.

A hanging kettle

Mikayla and I going through a very short door

The ceiling of the castle chapel

Darren posing with a knight's helmet

After leaving Marksburg and eating the picnic lunch we had brought along, we got back into the cars to drive to our next destination. It was nice that the drive was long enough that Mikayla had a good nap in the car on the way.

The first castle that we saw in the Mosel river valley, Burg Thurau.

And then we were at Burg Eltz. I wasn't really prepared for how beautiful the castle was, even though I had seen a couple of pictures. Its setting on a small rise in the middle of a large valley was breathtaking. We parked the cars and then had to hike for about 15 minutes down the hill before you turn the corner and there it is. It was definitely worth the hike, although we did figure that for the hike back up the hill we would pay the shuttle van to take us.

Our first view of Burg Eltz

Darren, Mikayla, and I with Burg Eltz in the background

Brenda and Tony with Burg Eltz in the background

The other side of Burg Eltz

The courtyard of the castle

Mikayla being entertained by Darren as we waited for the castle tour to start. Again, they wouldn't let you actually see the inside of the castle without a guided tour. We had to wait for a bit for the English one, but it was so nice to be able to understand what was being said in a tour that it was definitely worth the wait. They wouldn't let us take pictures of the inside of this castle, but it was very nice and well preserved on the inside with a lot of original furnishings. There was a bit of renovation work going on so that they could stabilize part of the castle, but it was still a very interesting castle to see and we enjoyed it.

A castle door

After the tour ended and we had a bit to eat in the castle restaurant, we headed back to the main road to see about the shuttle back to the cars. As we were on our way there, it started to pour down rain. This is a picture of Brenda and I as we took a bit of shelter from the downpour in the arch of the gateway.

Darren and Mikayla running back through the rain to the gate where the rest of us were. Mikayla loved the rain and getting wet and it was hard to get her to stay put under the arch and out of the rain. Luckily, I had packed along a dry change of clothes for her in the car so that she didn't have to sit in drenched clothes for the drive home.

After leaving Burg Eltz, we decided to drive a little further up the Mosel river valley to see a couple more towns before turning off to head back home. It was a very pretty drive.

The castle above Cochem

Vineyards were everywhere

We had a spectacular sunset on the way home.