Berg Eltz and Koblenz

August 30, 2013 - We are really getting more and more settled as the days go by.  Ryan made the 8U soccer team.  He loves it!  Erin tried out for and was selected for the Choir.  She is also in the middle of Basketball tryouts.  And will start Hip-Hop on Monday after Choir. 

We received out Air Shipment on Thursday morning.  They packed a lot of junk that we really don’t need, but we now have all of our clothing so that is good.  Our bikes however did not arrive.  The latest word is that they didn’t fit on the air shipment so were put on the sea shipment.  Let’s hope so!

Friday, Erin & Ryan were off school.  We headed two hours south to see Berg Eltz.  Never ones to take the normal way, we parked at a small hotel and hiked the 3,4 kilometers to the top of the mountains to see the castle.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Moselkern)

 

 

 

Erin and Ryan were not happy when we got to the top and someone mentioned something about the shuttle bus.  The walk was beautiful and not too steep, ok, maybe in a few places.  But we were prepared for it.  Ryan found a “lucky rock”, which he carried all the way to the top.  He said “with it, we make it, without it, we don’t”.  Well we did make it.  I can’t say if it was the rock or not. 

Construction on the castle began sometime before 1157 (yes that makes parts of it over 850 years old) The 33^rd generation of the same family currently owns it, but only visits for conferences a few times a year.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Eltz_Castle)

 

The walk back down was much faster than the way up, obviously. 

 

From there we decided to check out the town of Koblenz.  The drive there was BEAUTIFUL!  Just random castles all along the Rhine River.  Also, it was full of vineyards.  They seem to use every inch of available space, all up the sides of mountains.  I don’t know who is picking these grapes, but I’m glad it isn’t me!

 

Koblenz was a great town too.  We had dinner at this fabulous restaurant called Pizza Hut.  Have you heard of it?  I highly recommend!  (In 15 days we have eaten at McDonalds, Burger King, Pizza Hut, Subway and KFC)  Then the kids got ice cream (ok I did too) and we walked down to the river.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Koblenz)

 

 

Is that really an entire store that only sells White objects?  Yes it was.  Seems like you could really exhaust your inventory quickly.

 

Koblenz is located at the confluence of the Moselle and Rhine Rivers.  Where they meet creates a point of land with a large park and former military fortress.  The other side of the river rises steeply to high cliffs for lack of a better way to explains.  Sound familiar, Pittsburgh?  We thought so too.  Also, they have a Cable Car system, but it’s a little different than the Monongahela ones.  We’ll get back to that!

Anyway, we walked to the confluence to see a humongous statue of Wilhelm I. So impressive! Luckily I got this pic so you can understand the size.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wilhelm_I)

All this time, I was eyeing up the Cable Cars.  Ryan was all for it but Mike and Erin took some convincing.  In the end, I think they were both happy they did it.  All’s well that ends well.  I will admit, I was scared, but I had to be better than Mike and Erin, so I didn’t let it show.  Once we got to the top, we immediately got back on because if not, Mike and Erin were grabbing a cab!

After that let the kids spend some time in the fountains then headed home.  I can only imagine how many miles (or kilometers) we walked, but it was all well worth it!

 

Waffles, Chocolate and Beer

This weekend we made our first trip outside of Germany.  You might say, “But you just got to Germany”, yeah, well, we get impatient.  Advice from other Americans, “Don’t stick around home on the weekends, there is too much to do!”  So we went. 

 

Brussels is about a 2 hour 15 minute drive for us.  We left Düsseldorf by about 915 Saturday morning.  Very nice drive.  To get to Belgium, we go through The Netherlands, so we technically visited 2 countries this weekend. 

 

We went directly to Bruparck.  In the park is Atomium, which we didn’t go up in but that was ridiculously humongous.  It was built for the 1958 World’s Fair.  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Atomium)

 

We did go to a mini-amusement part called Mini-Europe.  It is a walking tour of all the monuments in Europe, Eiffel Tower, British Parliament, you name it.  It drizzled throughout our time there, but I think it was good because it kept people away.  (http://www.minieurope.eu/)

 

 

There was also a very cool exhibit all about the Eurpean Union (which is headquarted in Brussels).  Lots of interactive things throughout the park for the kids.  Also, the snack bar served beer.  Idlewild should take note. 

 

After that we went and checked into our hotel.  €79 for a Crowne Plaza, right in downtown Brussels, can’t beat it.  We relaxed in the hotel for a while and Skyped with my parents, Erin’s friends Erica & Julia , Ryan's friend Tyler & Mike’s cousin Tom.  (You want a personal shout out on the blog?, get your skype account set up lol). 

We got dressed in some warmer clothes and headed out to see Brussels.  Luckily we took our umbrellas.  We made it to within 2 blocks of the Grand Palace, when the skies opened up and it poured!  We ran to the square, looked around fast and booked it back to the nearest tourist trap Italian restaurant we could find.  They took us in soaked and all and even gave us the table right next to the fireplace. 

 

After dinner we headed back out to the Grand Palace.  Pictures cannot do it justice, but we tried.  The buildings date to at least 1679. 

So for the last few days we had been hyping up showing the kids the “most famous statue in Europe”   We told them it’s a statue of a little boy, but didn’t tell them what he was doing.  They were not amused.  Ryan said, “I pee everyday, and I’m not famous”. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manneken_Pis)

 

After that we went for some truly authentic Belgian Waffles, smothered in Chocolate, Strawberries, Bananas and Whipped Cream.  A-mazing.

 

By this point, the kids were pretty beat, so we grabbed one more beer and headed back to the hotel for a little rest.  We weren’t sure, but they rallied to get back out again to see the Grand Palace at night which was again, amazing.  (On the way, we stopped to grab roadies, the kids got ice cream, we grabbed beers, the kids ice cream cost more than our beer)  This time we skyped with Mike’s Dad (did you already forget to set up your Skype account?)   On the way back to the hotel Mike and I split a €2 Chimay Blue (this means a lot to beer snobs like my husband) 

Sunday morning we woke up and headed to the Royal Museum of the Army and Military History.  It was HUMONGOUS!  So much stuff crammed under one roof, or three, as it was at least three different buildings.  There are amazing views of the city from on top of the gate..  (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Royal_Museum_of_the_Armed_Forces_and_Military_History)

 

After that we headed back.  Of course everything, as I have mentioned, closes in Germany on Sunday.  I respect it, but it will take some getting used to.  We stopped at a mall on the Netherlands/Germany border for some shopping, including Kentucky Fried Chicken and Burger King.  It was only about 45 minutes from the house, so definitely with in driving distance!

 

All in all, we had a great weekend.  When you come visit us, we can definitely do it again!