Castle Road Trip Part 1

Here is a post that I've been working on for way to long. Today I'll give you part one, but I will have to finish part 2 soon. Enjoy.

To finish off our summer we decided to go on a castle road trip. We had wanted to do something just as a family and this came together sort of at the last minute. I had found a website listing the top 5 castles in Germany and we decided to go to four of them.

Ready to go

Holly was especially excited about traveling by "Auto"

God blessed us with a free upgrade so we could fit all of our stuff.

Since Heather doesn't have her German license, I got to drive the whole time. 

For the logistics we decided to rent a car so we could come and go as we pleased. We also decided to stay at the Shackelford's in Idstein (near Frankfurt) for three nights, and then we found a place near Munich for three nights. The Shackelfords are a family from Good Shepherd who work for the Chaplaincy at the military base in Wiesbaden. During our time with them we had a great time just being with them and enjoying the fellowship. We talked about life in Germany, God's plan for our family, and the decision on whether to stay in Germany or move back to America. Again, it was a great encouragement to be able to talk to and be with another like minded family who is in a similar place as us.

Playing in the fountain in Idstein

The tower in Idstein.

What the Shackelfords call "the Golden Tumors" (see 1 Samuel 6)

Finding a new park to play at. 

German parks are so much better than American parks.

For our castles, the first one was Burg Eltz. This castle dates back to the 9th century and is very much intact today. There was only one attempt to attack the castle, but that ended diplomatically instead. It is nestled in a valley along the Eltz river and built on a rock crag that the river goes around on three sides. Something that we found on our tour is that castles were not built on the top of mountains but along ridges (or in this case in a valley). The idea was that your castle doesn't stand out waiting for someone to try to capture it. As we were driving to Burg Eltz we were wondering where it was. Even when we got to the parking lot to hike to the castle we still couldn't see it. It wasn't until we were very close did it come into view. Inside the castle was incredible with the paintings, armor, weapons, furniture, etc.  Three families occupied the castle until fairly recently (beginning of the 19th century). Today it is actually still owned by one of the families.

First sighting of Burg Eltz

 Inside the courtyard

Looking down on the fortification walls.

We got some great family pictures here.

Afterwards Heather and Holly took the shuttle back to the parking lot while Stanley and I hiked our way out. Ok, I hiked and Stanley rode. On the way up he would state, "This is hard work." Yeah, for me, but you have it easy.

At this first stop I noticed something. How it was so unfamiliar to hear English. We were waiting in line for the castle tour and we starting to hear American English all around us! My head started to turn left and right taking it all in. Julie Shackelford had told me how my mom noticed that I would always start conversations with English speakers in Weimar. I hadn't noticed it, but realized that I had been doing that. When you don't hear much English in public for almost a year you are drawn to those who speak your language.

The next day from the Shackelford's recommendation we took a Rhein river cruise. It was a lot of fun and fairly relaxing. Although kids don't want to just sit and watch the view, they want to get out and run around. Our trip down river only took about an hour and a half while our trip back up river took almost 3 hours! Fortunately on the way back there was a little slide and some kids play things. However, there was a lot of competition among the kids on the boat.

The castles along the Rhein (and only a short stretch of the Rhein)

Goofing off on the boat

The next day we left Idstein and made our way to Munich. Along the way we stopped in Heidelberg to check out the castle there. This castle is mostly in ruins. In a diplomatic move the King married off his daughter to the French King's brother. Then the King and his son died leaving the daughter as the only blood line heiress. The French pointed this out while the local government said no. So while the French were visiting the castle (or living there) they sabotaged it from the inside.

While in Heidelberg we became acutely thankful for having a GPS in our rental because we needed food so we searched for an Aldi, and making our way through Heidelberg to the castle also would not have been easy without the GPS.

Picnic in the Aldi parking lot

Holly taking her baby for a walk.

 Heidelberg Castle

Our family

Stanley and Holly loved this fountain.

One of the destroyed towers

Entering the Castle

Courtyard with the kids.

Inside the castle

We heard there was a giant Wine Barrel in the Castle.

This was the giant barrel.

Kids love to find caves to play in.

To be continued...

Smucker Visit

Exactly one day after my parents and Grandma Bettie left the Smucker's arrived. It was weird standing on the same platform waiting for the same train as we did the day before, but this time we were going to say hello instead of good-bye! As a quick note, Matt Smucker and I went to Willamette University together. He was on the track team as a hurdler, he was my RA (in charge of our hall) my sophomore year, part of my great accountability group in college, and I was in his wedding and he was in mine. I consider him one of my closest friends. Our families also have had fun together over the years going on a camping trip (pre kids), numerous games nights, Fourth of Julys, and New Years. With the relationship our families have Matt and Holly have been given the titles Uncle Matt and Aunt Holly (Technically Matt Smucker is Little Uncle Matt as Matt Reese is Big Uncle Matt)

Anyways we were excited to see them arrive. They were coming at the end of their family's European Vacation. They had spent the past few weeks in England, Netherlands, and Germany (around the Rhein and Leipzig). 

Enjoying Ice Cream with them.

We took them to our wonderful church. 

This was one of the few times that Heather got out because she was sick during most of their visit.

We took a day to go out to Wartburg 

(where Martin Luther translated the New Testament into German)

Picnic before heading up the hill.

Holly and her baby.

Stanley loves Uncle Matt

Grace loves her daddy more.

Afterwards we stopped by Erfurt to see the Dome.

 We enjoyed Belvedere Schloss on a beautiful day

What a beautiful girl

Kids love the fish

Daddys with their girls

Chillin' with Goethe and Schiller

Enjoying Spaghetti Ice Cream.

That is Ice Cream that looks like Spaghetti.

Unfortunately all visits must come to an end and we have to say good-bye.

Thank you Matt and Holly for taking the time and money to come visit us. We had a great time and look forward to seeing you next summer in Oregon.

Finally, here are a couple of videos we took during our time at Belvedere. All I have to say is that Stanley LOVES to perform. He must get that from his Nana.

Stanley Sings

Stanley races in the Labyrinth

Stanley and Uncle Matt's Dramatic performance.