July 2009

Going back a bit to update our travels (yes, I know I am almost a year behind!) we had some friends come to visit last summer. Scott, is a good friend of Rand's from BYU and he brought his sweet wife, Cassie, to visit us. Cassie was actually living in France for the summer so when she finished her work there they decided to drive and see us. We took a trip out to the Rhine and Mosel river valleys while they were here. We stayed in an apartment right on the Rhine river in a city called Koblenz where the Mosel and Rhine rivers meet. We were able to visit many castles in the area and also travelled out to Trier and Luxembourg. I think our favorite was the Burg Eltz castle on the Mosel river that is built in the middle of this beautiful forest. The Rhineland is the wine country of Germany and it was gorgeous to drive through all of the rolling hills and vineyards. Here are a few pictures from our trip.

This gives you an idea what it looks like looking down the Rhine River. There are castles every few kilometers on both sides of the river. Many have been turned into hotels or restaurants but some are privately owned and available to tour.

Drawbridge and Gate to the Rheinstein Castle

We climbed all the way to the top of those turrets.

Owen posing with the knights inside Rheinstein Castle.

View from the top of the turrets.

Family picture in the courtyard (see the beautiful vineyards behind us).

Burg Eltz (this castle is still owned by the Eltz family)

The town of St. Goar looking up to the Rheinfels Castle (now a hostel).

On our way out of St. Goar we passed a Volksfest and the guys had to try the Currywurst.

After seeing several of the castles we headed over to Luxembourg (we were so close, why not) to visit the American cemetery and the capital, Luxembourg City.

We didn't know General Patton was buried here (as well as some of the soldiers from "Band of Brothers").

I love how well designed the WWII cemeteries are, the rows of crosses and Stars of David are really beautiful.

Luxembourg City is not very big but we had a nice stroll and found a beautiful park to have lunch in. We even found this man that gave us a free ride on his funny, little electric train.

This was a beautiful little chapel carved right into the side of a stone cliff.

The city is built on and around this really deep gorge and this was a neat bridge that connected the town over the gorge. It looks like an aqueduct.

Our train ride that made the kids' day!

On our way back to Koblenz we stopped in Trier which is an old Roman city (I believe the oldest city in Germany). There were some really cool ruins of Roman baths and an old Roman gate known as Porta Negra. Unfortunately, my camera lens had broken so most of these pictures were taken by Scott.

The Baths

One great thing about visiting castles and ruins all the time is that there is almost always a dungeon to put the kids in when they are naughty.

Porta Negra

Finally we took them to Rothenburg (one of our favorite towns in Germany) on our way back home. We enjoyed another easy going day and were able to explore more nooks and crannies of the walled city that we love so much. We enjoyed the time we were able to spend with the Stevens' and hope they'll make it back for one more visit before we leave Germany.