How sad! Our last day trip in Germany! We will be leaving soon (5-02-08) and then Shawn will come home about a week later. This is a long post...
As we drove to Mosel Valley there were yellow flowers everywhere in the fields and made it look like huge fields of yellow. Very pretty!
Hard to see but this sign says AUSFAHRT. That means EXIT and you see them all over. I had to take a picture before we left because we liked to laugh when we saw them.
Wondered why the kids were being so quiet...once again stickers and pretzels saved the day!
Finally everything is turning green! I wish we didn't have to leave next week. I love trees and they were such a crisp color-I couldn't capture it with my camera of course but you get the idea!
I also wish I would have taken a video of us driving through the mountains up to where our TLF on base was. What a gorgeous drive (this picture reminds me of it however this is not it!) I loved driving on that road-the views of the valleys below with the dark orange roofs, green fields and the thick forest on either side of the road with colorful trees. I am sad I never got a video just before we left. It would have been the perfect time!
Am I weird to love trees? Oh well!
We drove by a few castles on our way to the Cochem castle.
Here is the view from this one.
A cute town across the Mosel River
Okay. See this mountain side? See how it has lines that go across all over? Well, they are vineyards. There were vineyards all over in Southern Germany. I really like how they made use of the mountain side! I think there are vineyards in most of my pictures in this post-next to, behind, or in front of what I was taking a picture of.
Notice the name in white? They would also post who owned the vineyard-interesting.
These ruins are on the other side of the river in Mosel Valley.
Wonder how the people got up to the vineyards? First there are steps...
..then see that little car? It rides on these tracks...
...and they go up the mountainside! Tada! Now you know!
We loved Mosel Valley! Last time we drove down from the north and went to Burg Eltz and we went through several small (awesome) towns and there were rolling hills and mountains as the scenery. This time we came from the south and there were beautiful meadows, fields and hills (and vineyards..) ;D
Here is another castle on our route. This is Burg Metternich. Moseltal Valley has MANY castles that were built along the river.
Here's the town next to that castle. It was built into the hillside.
Karah loves taking pictures with her camera too...glad we brought it with us!
I love the contrast of colors!
Okay! We are here! Ready to walk all the way up to the Cochem Castle?
Oops! So the kids started out in the stroller but I guess we didn't go the handicap accessible route because there were a MILLION stairs that Shawn had to carry the stroller (and sometimes a kid) up!
Pausing for a breather! April and Alyssa
Just a little bit further! (See more vineyards!)
A view of the town of Cochem and the Mosel river.
Karah really wanted a picture of these "beautiful" flowers!
Lala being silly while Karah was taking a potty break!
Shawn and Karah
This castle we could take pictures in...but no flash!(Notice the detail in the ceiling! Crazy! My ceiling doesn't look like that-my home isn't a castle either though!)
Ever tried to take pictures without a flash and with a wiggly toddler in your arms?
It's hard to get a clear shot! Oh well!
I love these windows!
These hand-carved panels filled all the walls in this room.
You could make a wish on this mermaid while rubbing her belly.
This plate is cool-very intricate-I guess it had to be a bigger picture to really see what it looked like! So click on it and it will get bigger! ;)
A painting of the castle with knights and royalty.
Pretty windows! The stained glass windows at the cathedrals are hard to take pictures of because it's dark and they are up high. It was cool to see thes up close!
See the v-shaped metal piece on the door? It was so people could unlock their doors when they came home drunk at night. People would party and drink (also to keep them warm I guess) and then when they'd get to their room they'd have a hard time getting their key in the lock. This is a guide for them!
These window have shields on them.
Folding chairs! Cool huh! Oh ya, I forgot to mention that this castle was built in 1000 A.D.
Here is the dining room with the fire place...
the amazing ceiling and chandelier
This sprawled out statue's crotch in your face as you eat... I was debating if I should mention that but I guess I already did! Not a good decorating choice to me... Just saying I wouldn't probably pick that statue for a table I would be eating at!
There were two polar bear skins in this room-you could tell they were very old!
I do like this couch though!
There were three different sized suits of armour in this room-also a small cannon and a three legged chair. The chair has an armrest and three legs for knights in their armor. They would straddle it and sit down, then when it was time to get up, they'd use the armrest and they could get up by themselves.
A family picture outside on the balcony.
In one of the secret passageways they had a trunk with chocolate coins for the kids!
Isn't this suit of arms cool!
A picture outside the castle
More of those hand cut rock shingles that I am obsessed with! I just can't believe how many they had to make to cover the roof and someone had to sit and hand carve them individually! We've seen them on other castles and I am still amazed! Simple things for simple minds eh? They probably had someone like me doing that job!
Here is the well for the castle. It was so deep that the guide (who was a way cool guide by the way) dropped a coin in there and counted slowly till we heard it hit the bottom. I can't remember if she counted to 7 or 4 but still it was a long time till we heard the splash!
My kids were in HEAVEN! They love rocks, like their mom, and enjoyed being in the courtyard where there were plenty of rocks!
A view from the other side of the castle
torches that used to light up the outside at night
little cannons
We grabbed the kids a treat on the way down (Notice the stroller? This time we went down the "right" way!)
Alyssa was sharing with Karah (and we made sure Karah didn't share with her since she had an icecream thing and Lys can't have dairy!) It was kind of funny because a group of teenage girls were saying "look how cute they are! etc..." and when I wasn't looking they took a picture of the girls! Okay tourists! I thought it was funny!
We walked down through the tiny streets in town.
It was neat! I like the half-timbered houses!
I couldn't resist!
Ever tried to take pictures without a flash and with a wiggly toddler in your arms?
It's hard to get a clear shot! Oh well!
I love these windows!
These hand-carved panels filled all the walls in this room.
You could make a wish on this mermaid while rubbing her belly.
This plate is cool-very intricate-I guess it had to be a bigger picture to really see what it looked like! So click on it and it will get bigger! ;)
A painting of the castle with knights and royalty.
Pretty windows! The stained glass windows at the cathedrals are hard to take pictures of because it's dark and they are up high. It was cool to see thes up close!
See the v-shaped metal piece on the door? It was so people could unlock their doors when they came home drunk at night. People would party and drink (also to keep them warm I guess) and then when they'd get to their room they'd have a hard time getting their key in the lock. This is a guide for them!
These window have shields on them.
Folding chairs! Cool huh! Oh ya, I forgot to mention that this castle was built in 1000 A.D.
Here is the dining room with the fire place...
the amazing ceiling and chandelier
This sprawled out statue's crotch in your face as you eat... I was debating if I should mention that but I guess I already did! Not a good decorating choice to me... Just saying I wouldn't probably pick that statue for a table I would be eating at!
There were two polar bear skins in this room-you could tell they were very old!
I do like this couch though!
There were three different sized suits of armour in this room-also a small cannon and a three legged chair. The chair has an armrest and three legs for knights in their armor. They would straddle it and sit down, then when it was time to get up, they'd use the armrest and they could get up by themselves.
A family picture outside on the balcony.
In one of the secret passageways they had a trunk with chocolate coins for the kids!
Isn't this suit of arms cool!
A picture outside the castle
More of those hand cut rock shingles that I am obsessed with! I just can't believe how many they had to make to cover the roof and someone had to sit and hand carve them individually! We've seen them on other castles and I am still amazed! Simple things for simple minds eh? They probably had someone like me doing that job!
Here is the well for the castle. It was so deep that the guide (who was a way cool guide by the way) dropped a coin in there and counted slowly till we heard it hit the bottom. I can't remember if she counted to 7 or 4 but still it was a long time till we heard the splash!
My kids were in HEAVEN! They love rocks, like their mom, and enjoyed being in the courtyard where there were plenty of rocks!
A view from the other side of the castle
torches that used to light up the outside at night
little cannons
We grabbed the kids a treat on the way down (Notice the stroller? This time we went down the "right" way!)
Alyssa was sharing with Karah (and we made sure Karah didn't share with her since she had an icecream thing and Lys can't have dairy!) It was kind of funny because a group of teenage girls were saying "look how cute they are! etc..." and when I wasn't looking they took a picture of the girls! Okay tourists! I thought it was funny!
We walked down through the tiny streets in town.
It was neat! I like the half-timbered houses!
I couldn't resist!
