OUR SPRING BREAK

For one of the first times in our family we had made plans to do something during Cael's spring break. You have to understand that planning more than a few weeks in advance is a pretty big deal for us. We are normally the kind who like to wait until the last minute and then see where the journey leads. But like I was saying, this was the time we planned serveral months ago. But here is the thing about planning: When you make reservations before you actually know if your husband can get the time off or not, you run the risk of not having your husband on the trip. AND thus... I took the boys (with some friends) on Spring break without Ben. I know what you are thinking "is she crazy?" and the answer is simply "yes". Crazy for adventure! I seriously was upset at the reasons why Ben wouldn't be able to have the time off for a trip with the family, but I also realize that we are not going to live in this part of the world forever and any opportunity to travel should ALWAYS be taken. So we loaded up the van, picked up my friend Mary Anne and her two liitle kiddos and set sail for the open road. Here is the recap of the journey...

As a little halfway point I had read about the Burg Eltz,  a castle that 3 different familites once lived in and that is actually still owned and in the family of "ELTZ's". We had a nice walk down, the boys were picking dandilions for me, running along ahead of us to stretch their legs from the first leg of driving. It was also here that I realized that I only had my big lens, so any picture I took would either need to be from far away or I would be getting extreme close-ups of everything we would see on this trip... you will see what I mean later on.... so the castle was really neat. We went throught the treasury first, changed all the dirty diapers in the group and waited for the tour. I found it very interesting how cool the temperature was in every room of the tour and how often the guide pointed out that staying warm was a very high priority. There were beautiful tapestries on the wall (fashionable and also serves as a heat retainer) seats in the windows to read and make use of the warmth from the sunlight, fireplaces in every room- sometimes two in the larger spaces, also a bed with "stairs" up to it and thick canopy and curtains to close while asleep. I really wish I could have taken pictures but it was clearly stated that we were not allowed to take photos during the tour (sad face). We also saw treasure chests and one of the smaller chests had 9 locks needed to open it. Obviously it would carry things that were very valuable. The kitchen was neat with the seperate cooking areas and tools used to regulate the cooking temperate over a fire- raise it up if the fire was too hot or lower it you needed more heat.

We made it out and soon realized that everything was closing down. We saw a shuttle van load up and drive up the hill and debated whether we were willing to drag  5 children under 6 back up the mountain on foot. It would have been difficult to say the least. Thankfully the shuttle returned for one last ride and we were all able to fit inside. I actually had all three of the boys on top of me and we were happy to pay the 1,50 euro for all of us.

After we loaded into the car my friend realized that she had forgotten her passports at home. We didn't exactly know what to do but chose to keep moving forward and see if we would be able to check into our hotel. You can imagine our relief when the hotel was run by a sweet woman when seeing the chocolate covered children and two tired looking ladies graciously handed our keys to us as we used what German we could remember to communicate with her. Also fun to haul all of our bags up to the top floor and get the children in the bath and then to bed.
AND this is only the beginning....