Two big weekends in a row

Berg Eltz

Germany has a lot of holidays, and I mean a lot. When the Germans have a holiday it is actually a holiday for most people. Not only are the banks, school, and government offices closed, but so are all of the stores. The only things that are open are restaurants, and then only some, and touristy places. For the Germans this is great. For me, well it takes a little getting used to not being able to run to the store really quick. However, I think it is a wonderful idea and better than having them open and the holiday being really only for those who can afford to take the time off of work.

Valerie and Johannes

Last Thursday, the 17th, was Christihimmelfahrt, Christ ascension to heaven after the 40 days. Yes it is a religious holiday. The State is not completely seperated from the church here, so there are a lot of religious holidays, today is one in fact: Pfingstmontag.  I am not exactly sure what today is for, but I know it is religious. :) Anyways, not being Catholic, Chris and I take advantage of all the extra holidays to see what there is to be seen.

On Thursday we met up with a friend from Chris's class, Valerie, and her boyfriend Johannes. We took the train out to a little town called Moselkern. From there we went on a walk through the town and then through the woods until finally we reached Berg Eltz. The Castle, as pretty much all castles are, is gorgeous! This particular castle was first build in the Middle Ages, we are talking 1300s and has been added on at various times and continually updated, so much so that the family, well decendents of the original family still live there. We were able to go on a tour though a little bit of the castle. The tour was better than Norschwanstein, and cheaper too. :) There was also a little museum we were able to go through with different artifacts from the various residents. After a lot of pictures we walked back down to the train station and went to Trier for dinner. We met up with Julia, ate and then had to say goodbye in order for Valerie and Johannes to get to their train in time.


The next day Chris and I relaxed a bit, rested out very tired feet, we both needed new shoes and got ready to head to Luxembourg. Saturday we woke up early to get the tram to catch the bus to Luxembourg, where we met up again with Julia. We had done a little research before hand and created a little self-guided tour of the city. It was fun walking around the city guessing where we were on our map and what building was in front of us. The streets, although they are labeled, are not labeled at every street corner, so you really have to pay attention to where you are. The website we found to create our little tour also gave little synopses of the different places of interest.

Luxembourg with Julia! :)

We spent the most time at the old city wall. For a small fee we were able to go inside and wander around all the different nooks and cranies and up and down very narrow spiral staircases. At one point we were went down, I don't know, about 90 stairs and started walking down a corridor only to find water dripping our of pipes and smelling a little foul. So we turned right back around and went back up the stairs. 100 stairs doesn't seem like at lot, but it is when the each stair is about 2 feet high.

Guard in front of the palace

After circling the city we went back to one of the main plazas to rest and find some dinner before we caught our bus home. We walked around looking at all the restaurants trying to find a place that wasn't 20 Euros a plate, and couldn't find any. We had seen earlier some people with "Tourist Information" on their shirts, so we decided to ask them for a cheap restaurant. Cheap isn't the right word, in German it is "gunstig" which means a relatively cheap price for good quality. Anyways, for some reason they told us to go where we just had been. It turns out 20 Euros a plate is cheap for Luxembourg City. It is a very wealthy place. After dinner at a Mexican restaurant we parted ways to go home.

Inside one of the churches

By Sunday I was exhausted and sleept in too late to go to church.:( Later that day Chris, Iris and I went and played Tennis. It was really nice to play again on clay, and the weather was perfect. We played again on Wednesday before we went to the outlet mall to buy some very sorely needed new shoes. I was able to find a new pair of walking shoes and some tennis shoes. Chris wasn't able to find any tennis shoes, but he was able to get new walking shoes. I also found a tennis skirt! :)

Saturday we hung around the house a bit, went to the Avengers, finally, and then went to a birthday party. The movie was really good, but what was best about it was that we understood what was going on and got the jokes. There were a couple of times where Chris and I were the only ones laughing, because it was American humor. That kinda made us feel good, like we are getting somewhere with our studies.

end of the day... a little tired

Yesterday, the 27th all of us, Ben, Iris, Alois, Inge, Chris and I went to a Medieval Fair at the Schloss ruins in Kollerbach. The members of what I assume to be the local Medieval chapter were all dressed up and camped out in old canvas tents, and in period clothing. There were lots of different stands with food and trinkets to buy. The fest wasn't as large as some of the ones I have been to, but it was really fun and made me think of my Dad and all the different Medieval things we have gone to over the years.

Berg Montclair

Today was the Saarschleife, the most photographed place in Saarland. It was really pretty. The Saarchleife is a hairpin U turn in the Saar river. Before we went to the river we walked through the woods in the middle of the U to a castle called Berg Montclair.  The castle is still in really good shape, at least the walls are still there and standing. We were able to walk around the walls and in the the old courtyard there was a little cafe. On the way up through the woods there were little educations centers where children could play little games and learn about the forest. I thought it was a really cool idea.

Saarschleife

After the castle we walked back to the car and drove around to the viewpoint for the Schleife. We walked around a bit, enjoyed the view and of course took some pictures. Then we went into the little town of Mettlach for dinner. We looked around a little bit too. We found this one place, I am not exactly sure what the house was or is now for, but it is absolutely amazing. I want to buy it and live in it forever with a very large English styled garden complete with a hedge labyrinth. So um yes, very beautiful building.

My newest house obsession

The old headquarters of Villeroy and Boch

Mettlach is also home of the very famous Villerory and Boch porcelain company. We went into the outlet store there and looked and dreamed about all the pretty different china patterns. Chris was able to find his Mom a very nice gift as well.







And then we came home. A very busy couple of weeks and more is planned for the comming weeks. I will keep you posted. Oh and here is a video of a frog we found by the viewing area of the Schleife!