Germany

We went to Germany for a couple of days last week. We finally broke down and purchased a GPS system, which pretty much made our trip possible. We were on several "unnamed roads" and it would have been a little difficult with a Yahoo map. :) The countryside was beautiful. Everything was green and there were lots of wildflowers on the side of the road. Our first stop was Burg Eltz, a castle in the Mosel Valley. The castle is still owned by the family and they still reside in a portion of it. We were able to take a tour of the castle and see many of the original furnishings and paintings dating back to the 12th century. Pictures were not allowed on the tour, but here are some pictures of us outside:

After our tour of Burg Eltz we decided to go find Burg Pyrmont (another castle nearby). We took a look of it from a distance, but decided not to take the hike up to it. Rachel did enjoy playing by the waterfall that was near Burg Pyrmont.After that little stop we drove through the Mosel River Valley. It was a beautiful drive and we enjoyed the scenery. We drove through a little town called Cochem. As we drove along the Mosel River the mountains on either side were covered with vineyards. The next day we spent some more time along the Mosel River. We went to a town called Bernkastel-Kues. It was a cute little German town. We found a park for Rachel to get some wiggles out. Rachel and I also enjoyed an ice cream cone at 11 in the morning! :) As we drove through the Mosel River Valley there were several more castles along the way. We then headed to our final destination, Heidelberg. We got there, checked into our hotel, and then headed out to the Heidelberg castle. It was 3:30 and the last English tour was at 4:15. So, we took off and hoped for the best. After climbing up roughly 300 stairs we made it just in time for the tour. And it was worth it! We really enjoyed the tour of the Heidelberg castle. We learned a lot of history and found it very interesting. Rachel was a good sport through the tour. We could take pictures inside this castle, so here are a few:

Rachel thought the ceiling was pretty cool!This one is for my brothers - Ruprechta? Who knew I was royalty?The many views from the castle. Heidelberg was a beautiful city.

I believe the highlight of the trip for Rachel was that evening when we went swimming. She absolutely loved it! Of course we didn't take our camera down to the pool, but she had a blast. She kept on saying "all by self" and would push herself away from us. So, finally we let her swim all by herself. Let's just say, it didn't go to well. Once she recovered though, she asked again "all by self". Before heading home the next day we decided to do something just for Rachel. She had been a trooper on castle tours and long car rides. So, we took a train ride up the mountain to Konigstuhl. There was a fairytale amusement park for Rachel to play in. It was up above the castle and the view was absolutely beautiful. Rachel's favorite discovery was the bouncer(?). I'm not sure what it's official name is, but she loved jumping. It was hard to get her away from it. After a couple of hours at the park, we started our 5-hour trek home.

Yes, I'm a big cheese in this video. I thought Andy was trying to take a picture of us. I didn't realize he was taking video. :)

It's a miracle that Rachel lasted so long without colliding with anybody.