Burg Eltz Castle

Burg Eltz Castle
(pronounced "boorg elts")

This castle is so neat and set in such a beautiful area.
Go here for more information: http://www.burg-eltz.de/e_index.html

(Unfortunately, we brought the wrong lens with us in order to do this castle justice.  I am so sad that we weren't able to get pictures of the front gate and others.  Instead, we got a lot of zoomed in 'details' of the castle and its structure.)

Elz is the name of the stream that runs past the castle and through the valley, ending in the Mosel River.  In 1157 there was first record of a Burg (or castle) on the Elz - can you believe that?   This castle has been in the Eltz family for 850 years and it pretty much looks the same as it did in 1490.  There were 3 families that lived here and would gather together in one of the rooms to discuss 'family business' together.  The tour takes you through 2 of the 3 homes.  The 3rd home is the residence of the castellan (who maintains the castle), or where the Eltz family stays when they visit.

The City of Bacharach and The Rhine River Cruise

We started our Rhine River Cruise in the City of Bacharach.  It was such a neat city to explore!!
Here is one of the original towers in the distance.

The Altes Haus

The Prunn Castle in Bavaria

We visited another Bavarian Palace over the weekend - for more information click on the link below -

http://www.schloesser.bayern.de/englisch/palace/objects/prunn.htm

I love where this castle is situated!  So picturesque! 

To tour the castle it is 5 Euro per adult and kids are FREE

Ludwigsburg Annual Pumpkin Festival

This years theme for the Pumpkin Festival in Lugwigsburg is Swiss (Switzerland)

For more information their official website is here:

http://www.kuerbisausstellung-ludwigsburg.de/de.php

To get there, plug this address into your GPS:

Kürbisausstellung Ludwigsburg

Mömpelgardstrasse 28
71640 Ludwigsburg

Adults cost 8 euro

Children 4-18 are 3,90 Euro

A Family pass is 21 Euro

Nürnberg Castle

In the Middles Ages, the Nuremberg castle was one of the most important imperial castles of the Holy Roman Empire.  It was built be the Hohenstaufen and their successors.

Fortress Rothenburg 1780

For adults it's 2,50 Euro and for children it's 1 Euro

It's open daily from Spring to Autumn

Köln, Germany

During WWI this cathedral was bombed 15 times but remained standing.  In anticipation of the war the stain glass windows and art treasures were taken to shelters and saved.

Touring Amsterdam with Kids

Every time we tour, everywhere we tour we basically follow Rick Steves' and his recommendations.  Amsterdam was no different.  We followed two walking tours in the Rick Steves book on Amsterdam and we were able to seriously see a ton!

Just a forewarning about taking your children into the heart of Amsterdam.  For the most part it was fine, but when it got closer to the end of the day we started walking by designated restaurants where everyone was smoking pot.  On our way from the Anne Frank house to the train station we walked by another designated restaurant and then walked by another special place where my two older girls did a complete double take of a woman/man.  We walked thru some pretty shady allies before we finally reached the train station.  SO...  just be careful!!

These two pictures (the above and below ones) are in the Begijnhof.  It was home of the Beguines - basically an island of women who dedicated their lives to God.

An afternoon in Brugge, Belgium

In the heart of the city of Brugge Belgium is the Belfort Bell Tower.  Of course, we climbed to the top!!  The tower is 290 feet high with 366 steps.  To enter it's 5 Euro per person (our kids, which are 10 and under were FREE).  At the top their are 47 bells and a huge barrel that spins like a music box and plays music.  It was really neat to watch!

The view of Brugge from the top of the Bell Tower

A Walk Through York, England

York, England

This was, by far, my husbands favorite place in England.  Yes, he even liked it better than London.  But I have to tell you why - he is a History Major and LOVES History.  There is a lot of history here, not that London doesn't have history too, but York has a lot of old history that is still present today and a lot of that history has to do with the Romans.

Do yourself a favor when you are in York.  Catch the free walking tour at 10:15 A.M. at the Exhibition Square in front of the art gallery.  You will not be disappointed, I promise!  It will eventually take you along the city walls which we loved.

Along the City Walls

The Highlands of Scotland

The Highlands in Scotland has these silly shaggy cows.  Don't you love their 'bangs'?!

The Culloden Battlefield

This is where the Jacobite troops, under Bonnie Prince Charlie, were defeated by supporters of the Hanover dynasty in 1746.

Walking down the Royal Mile in Edinburgh

The cultural capital of Scotland -- Edinburgh

At the top of the hill is the Grand Castle of Edinburgh.  At the bottom of the hill is the Palace of Holyrioodhouse.  In-between these two, is the Royal Mile, where we spent most of our time.

If you are interested in touring the Grand Castle, check it out here"

http://www.edinburghcastle.gov.uk/index.htm

A city view off a side street from the Royal Mile.  There is a roman column on the right and the Wallace memorial on the left (I can't remember what was in the center ... sorry)

The Lakes District of England

A short little hike up to a waterfall in the Newlands Valley

Blenheim and Oxford

BLENHEIM PALACE

pronounced "BLEN-em"

Go here for their official website:

http://www.blenheimpalace.com/

The Day spent in Bath

BATH, ENGLAND

The picture above shows the Abbey in the center and the Roman Baths and the Pump Room on the right.  It is also the meeting place for free walking tours throughout Bath at 10:30 A.M. given by professional guides who volunteer their time to tourists (like you and I) to enjoy our time spent in this historical city.  This made a HUGE difference for our experience!!

Bath has beautiful gardens and they are always winning awards about how beautiful they are presented and landscaped.  There are little plaques all over the gardens.

Driving around to Avebury, Stonehenge and Salisbury Cathedral

AVEBURY

This is another location where prehistoric Neolithic pagan stone circles exist.  They date back to 2800 B.C. and here in Avebury they are 16 times the size of Stonehenge.

Check out this cute building with the thatched roof top!

I made my husband take this photo - I thought this store was so charming!

A quick stop at Windsor Castle

How cool is it that Windsor Castle is the largest and oldest occupied castle in the world?!  It was the official home of England's Royal family for 900 years!!  I seriously had no idea.

For more information about visiting Windsor go here:

www.royalcollection.org.uk

London (too many pictures, but yet, not enough)

From Germany we drove to Calais, France to catch the ferry across the channel to Dover, England.  We used P&O Ferries (found HERE) to book our tickets ahead of time.  I highly recommend doing it before you go, I hear they are double the price if you buy your tickets on site.  You don't have to be there on time either like the Chunnel (found HERE), which is why we didn't use it.  We booked a time for 13:50 and we could show up 4 hours before OR after our scheduled time.  It worked out quite nicely, especially since we missed our appointed time.  

Don't forget your passports either - Very Important!

Our first day we visited the Natural History Museum (FREE)

It is absolutely perfect if you have children - our kids LOVED it!

Go HERE for their website.

Next stop: Buckingham Palace

Melk Abbey, Austria

This treasure is about an hour outside of Vienna (or Wein), Austria.  It was incredible!

(11.50 Euro per adult with a guided tour)

As we were headed home we remembered this abbey or monastery off the side of the road so we decided to check it out.  Turns out that this place is pretty famous and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.  Who knew?  It was so neat to discover and explore!

Vienne (Wein), Austria

Vienne, Austria

A-mazing!!

Here is the view from the back of the Belvedere Museum

(the official website is HERE)

There are a lot of ticket options but the most worth while ticket was just for the Upper Belvedere which ended up being 11 Euro's per adult.  If you have the Vienne card it's discounted to 9 Euro.  I highly recommend getting the Vienna Card (found HERE)

Verona, Italy

Remains from Roman Times.  I love it how they have kept the old and just added new to it.  When you walk through these doors and down the street you can find more and more Roman ruins.

Cinque Terra, Italy

I absolutely LOVED exploring these little towns - they have so much character!  Don't those stairs look inviting?  If only I wasn't holding an infant ... and had lost all the weight I gained with the infant I could see myself going in for a dip.

The first town of the Cinque Terra - Riomaggiore

Elba Island, Italy

Just a few shots of our short trip to Elba Island, Italy

It was such a great side trip!  There weren't a lot of crowds, the kids LOVED the beach, and the scenic drive was beautiful!

Milan, Italy

Where da Vinci's Last Supper is located: we just got our tickets through Viva Tickets

We booked super late and so one ticket was for 12:15 and the other one was 2:15, our kids weren't able to see it.  We had to wait around this church for practically the entire day.  The kids did great though and we were right next to a really clean bathroom which makes a HUGE difference.

An Evening in Lucca, Italy

We loved just wandering around this city at dusk.  Granted a lot of the big points were closing when we snuck in but it was so much fun to just walk around, window shop, eat dinner, grab some Gelato,  and let the kids run free without disturbing anybody.

Church and Baptistery of San Giovanni and Reparata

Siena, Italy

I LOVED Siena!!! 

It's only about an 1 hour drive from Florence and totally worth the trip!

I loved wandering around the town and soaking up all the Tuscany feel of Italy!

For more information go HERE, at least it looks like a good website.

Florence, Italy (second time around)

Santa Croce Church, Florence

Venice, Italy

Before you get started ... park in the parking garage Tronchetto, it's pretty secure and cheap.  

(Go HERE for more information about it)

Then take the 'people mover' over to Venice.  The 'people mover' is 1 Euro per person.

To get the most of your 'boat' experience take Boat #1 to Piazza San Marco, where St. Marc's Basilica and Doge's Palace are located.  This boat stops at almost every stop but it has great scenery and tons of history to see.  Below are some of the sites you see.

the market

Rock Labyrinth, Luisenburg Germany

This place is an outdoor dream for children.  It's a rock maze winding in and out of rocks, trees, cliffs and such.  You have to climb, crawl, and squeeze through rocks.  You follow the BLUE arrows up the path and the RED arrows down the path.

Our first trip to Paris, France

Back in April 2012 I took my parents to Paris, France.  It was a great experience! It was seriously really fun to tour around together!  Even better was being able to see where my dad spent 2.5 years of his life teaching the French about our religion.  If you are interested in what he taught go HERE or HERE

The Eiffel Tower -

The tower admission is not included in the Paris Pass (which is awesome!).  So you just have to swallow your pride and pay to go to the top.  We went first thing in the morning and had to wait FOREVER to take the lift up to the top.  I would recommend standing in the shorter line which lets you climb half way up and then you take the lift to the top.  It would save you so much time!

Go HERE to purchase tickets ahead of time (if you're lucky & they aren't sold out already)