Fall Break: Part 1

Hi friends and family! We're in our first week back to school after the two week Fall break. Fortunately, we were able to take advantage of this break to see some new places. For our first trip we drove for just one hour to the Rhein river valley. We stayed in the adorable town of Bacharach in a castle-turned-youth hostel at the top of a hill.

Driving up the hill through what was probably part of the old city wall.

Now at the castle, the ground around is just roughly shaped stone walkways. 

 

That tiny window in the arch in the center of the picture was in our room!

There are vineyards all around this area. Looking at them gave me this weird vertigo feeling. It feels like you're looking down from a birds-eye view but its actually right across from you on a steep hill. Trust me, it was weird.

Gorgeous views everywhere you look!

We found this old church grown over with vines.

Just the bare bones.

In the town of Bacharach below our castle-hostel.

Cute "moments" as Marc calls them literally everywhere.

I would call this a cute moment.

Either Tobin is way taller than you thought or that's a teeny little door. Cute.

From the street I saw a very narrow walkway between two house. Being nosy, I had to walk through to see what was back there. It led to this bridge over a tiny stream that flows under the houses and street. Its a little shortcut for the locals and maybe somewhere people used to wash clothes (??).

Walking back up the hill to the castle.

There it is up there! And some random turn-style on the path. Maybe so goats and sheep don't get all the way down? Who knows.

Obviously its very strenuous for Marc.

View from halfway up.

Our castle-hostel

Our room actually had nine beds. Of course the boys turned it into an obstacle course and climbed all over without touching the floor.

The next morning we drove to the Mosel river which connects with the Rhein. We walked ten minutes through a forest to see Burg Eltz, which is Rick "My Crush" Steves' favorite castle in all of Europe.

Coming up around the bend...

There it is. I think its 900 years old. The same family still owns it from 33 generations ago. Its totally isolated in a valley with a stream running through and everything.

In the courtyard waiting for the tour.

 We weren't allowed to take pictures inside, but we got to see several rooms with real knight armor and furniture and stuff. Our guide was, um, basically a British-sounding German robot. This guy was so unenthusiastic and bland it was kind of hard listening to him without giggling. I guess its because he's memorized the same lines to say to groups of people twenty times per day. The inside was interesting to see, but I have to say, Rick, not my favorite. The outside look of it is much more impressive than the tour inside.

The Mosel and Rhein are dotted with ruined and intact castles everywhere you look. On the way back we saw this place pictured below. It looked so amazing from the road we had to drive up the hill to see it. Doren was asleep, though, so we didn't go inside.

Its even more beautiful in the fall with all the colors.

The next day we went to Rheinfels castle in St. Goar just up the river. Its ruined but there are still a lot of walls and stuff to see. It was completed in 1255 and was one of the strongest fortresses in it's day. What made this better than Burg Eltz is that you can walk anywhere you want without a tour. Since I'm nosy, I like being able to poke around and see whatever is available to see. In traditional castle tours I always want to know what's behind all the doors we're not allowed to enter. At this one, everything that's still standing is available to walk in.

Coming through the little door inside the really big door.

They had a map of what all these ruined rooms were used for way back when.

This was a really neat huge room but I can't remember what it was used for. Maybe the armory.

After getting our fill of Rheinfels we went into the town of St.Goar and wandered around.

This was a big store full of handmade cuckoo clocks. Rick was here!

Just your average playground with medieval ruins in the background.

We walked up to a beautiful church at the top of a hill.

Honestly, I can't. Fantasyland at Disney wishes they could be this cute.

On the way back to the car we walked part of the way on top of the old city wall.

I needed a picture in front of this cute place. Dreamin'.

Here is a postcard of the youth hostel we stayed in.

Here we are sitting in the courtyard (in the bottom left of the picture above) drinking wine from the region. 

The boys found the two ping pong tables at the hostel. This one inside the tower...

...And this one outside

Dusk on the Rhein 💗

On our third and last day, we went to one more castle - Rheinstein, built in the early 1300s. Its a gorgeous intact castle hanging off the side of a rock. An opera singer bought it years ago from one of the last descendants and helped preserve it. The singer's son and his family still live there on the grounds and give private tours if you want one.

Jonah whining about the climb to the top. He's so outraged that I can't help laughing at him which makes him even more outraged. And then I laugh harder.

Almost to the top.

A real portcullis with the pointy things like in Princess Bride.

This personal family chapel was built hanging off the side some time later. The stone coffins of Prince Friedrich, Princess Luise and their son are in plain view in the crypt underneath it.

I think the opera singer who bought it is buried there by the flowers.

They do weddings!

Way up in the top tower looking down at the castle.

Now looking out at the river. I'm pretty sure this metal basket is a medieval porch light. They would fill it with wood and light it on fire. "Hey, we're home if anyone wants to stop by!"

The descent was a little freaky. Obviously this is a modern staircase. I can't imagine how they used to get down!

Backside view of the chapel

Here come some grape pickers riding up the track. Its much steeper than it looks. Yes, we bought a bottle of their wine.

At the bottom a Japanese wedding party was climbing into the tractor for the ride up. The man in black is the opera singer's son who lives there. What a cool job!

I must disagree with Ricky this time. Rheinstein was my favorite because its the genuine old stuff that has been beautifully restored AND they've made all of it available to see on your own.

That was a fun getaway! And we were home only one hour later. Amazing.

Next stop - Italy.