Emilie's Birthday

Our busy birthday season begins on May 20th with Micaela's birthday and then just 4 short days later, it's Emilie's birthday. Then, Rebecca's is June 21st. Three birthdays in a month. Yikes! We get a two month break until James' birthday arrives on August 30th.

Emilie's first gifts of the day were a day off school, a trip to Burg Eltz and a wooden sword.

Micaela didn't want us to take pictures on her birthday, but Emilie thought it would be OK on hers. Becca doesn't look happy that all these presents are for her big sister.

Opening the big one

Just what she wanted -- the Playmobil Egyptian Pyramid. Em has been studying Egypt at school and found it all fascinating.

Get ready, Micaela. You and James are going to have to put this together.

Playmobil makes great toys, but they can be pricey in the U.S. Here in Germany, Playmobil sets costs significantly less. That gets a thumbs-up from me.

Micaela and James getting down to work

Here's Em's cake -- a heart-shaped one baked in a pottery bowl I bought in Poland.

Emilie requested Moosetracks ice cream for her birthday, which we cannot find in Germany. A few times, we've made our own with vanilla ice cream, chocolate syrup and diced Reese's Peanut Butter cups (although the Reese's froze and were hard to bite). When I went shopping, however, they were all out of Reese's at the story which is not surprising since they only have 4 or 5 packs on the American shelves. I had to improvise. On-line I found a recipe for peanut butter sauce for ice cream. No one complained about the lack of Reese's when they tasted the warm peanutty sauce.

The pyramid comes with gold treasure, pharaohs, scorpions, mummies and grave robbers.

Burg Eltz

The Monday after Pentecost is a national holiday and so David and the kids had a long weekend. We're in the homestretch of our German adventure and one thing I've wanted to do for a while now is visit Burg Eltz, a 12th century castle located in the hills above the Mosel River and only a 1½ hour drive away.

The castle is still owned by a branch of the same family that lived there in the 12th century, 33 generations ago. What makes it a joy to visit is that unlike so many other German castles, this one was attacked only once in the 1300s and was not damaged. This is a perfectly preserved, furnished castle and the exterior has not changed since 1472.

We left home to blue skies and passed the ruins of nearby Eppstein Castle, another 12th century fortress.

We had a calm, leisurely drive through the Taunus Mountains. Our town is offically called Liederbach am Taunus, but is really located at the foot of the mountains. We can see the mountains, though, from our bedroom window.

An old-fashioned McDonald's restaurant with the single arches

We passed field after field of colorful rapeseed which is used to make vegetable oil and biofuel. When our navi indicated that we were within 5 minutes of the castle, I began videotaping, hoping to capture that moment the striking fortress came into view. But it never did.  It's nestled in the hills and cannot be seen from the the highway.

In the castle parking lot, there was a sign for a shuttle bus. We asked some of the people lingering about how the hike to the castle was and they said, "Well, it is steep...." We decided, between my sore foot and a four-year old with little legs, we'd be better off taking the shuttle. It was with much embarrassment that we exited the shuttle van just 30 seconds after the trip to the castle began. You see, the castle is nestled in a valley and so the trip to it was downhill and took less than a minute. Even Rebecca's little legs and my sore foot could have made that trek no problem.

Alas, the view of the castle was marred by scaffolding and a large crane. But I just shrugged my shoulders. I knew I would be able to find a nice picture of it on-line.

Approaching the castle

Looking back at the ruins of a smaller fortress built by Baldwin of Luxembourg who unsuccessfully laid siege to Burg Eltz in the 1300s...after five years he gave up.

Taking photos of this fortress is a challenge. The walls are so tall and you don't have enough room to back up to try to capture it all.

We had time before our English-language tour to visit the Treasure Vault. This statue of St. John Nepomuk, known as "Healer of the Bridge" or the silent martyr, is made of silver and partly gilded, and is one of the highlights of the collection. It was created by Franz Christoph Mäderl in Augsburg in 1752. St. John Nepomuk is the patron saint of the house of Eltz and traditionally every male family member carries his name.

Many medieval weapons were on display

This drinking vessel "Gluttony conveyed by Drunkeness"

In the inner courtyard

Waiting for our tour to begin

Eyes were on us

Rain spout. Do you think we can find one like that at Home Depot?

Pretty Madonna and child

Century after century, more would be added to the castle

Stone catapult siege balls.

We had a wonderful tour of some of the rooms of the castle, but alas, no photography or filming was allowed.  I figured I would find photos of the interior on the internet, but the family must guard such pictures very carefully.  I found nothing I could use.  I plan on buying a book on-line as so much of the interior was very beautiful and very picturesque.

We learned about how three branches of the same family lived in the castle, in separate sections, for hundreds of years, often trying to outdo each other with the building and decor of their section.

I especially like seeing the medieval toilets, which I had never seen in any other castle, but had just been featured in an episode of The Tudors. It was designed so that rainwater (and there is no shortage of rainwater in Germany) cleans the toilet.

Looking over the valley

The little sitting area of the café

Waiting for our lunch order

The charming part of the castle housed the restrooms

Emilie has been wanting a sword for a long time and since today is her birthday, we bought her one in the gift shop.  Becca pitched a fit as we did not buy her one.  We should have in retrospect; her birthday is only a month away.

We decided to hike back up to the parking lot so we could try to get some better photos.  The kids were not thrilled, but we made it.

I was finally able to capture the Burg without the scaffolding and cropped out the crane.

Stations of the cross lined the path up to the parking lot

View of the fortress

Lovely view

Many buildings in the villages near the castle were built with these dark bricks

Beautiful countryside

Just another castle on another hillside

Our neighborhood Biergarten

We joined our neighbors, the Lotzes, for dinner at Gasthaus Rudolph's Biergarten, just a 5-minute walk away.  There is always something to see when we walk down our street -- in this case some bunnies grazing in a neighbor's yard.

I would love to have a few bunnies like this.  And some ducks in a little pond would be nice, too.  And no, they would not eventually become dinner.

The five-hundred year old house around the corner undergoing renovation is almost finished.

Making our way to the Biergarten

The Biergarten is a large area located behind the restaurant.

Many people forgo their cars in nice and not so nice weather.

The sandy play area for little ones. What could be better than enjoying a meal outside in beautiful weather with your kids playing nearby? You can fully enjoy your beer or apple wine.

Your dog is welcome, too. The restaurant provides water bowls.

Order your kids Spezi, a mixture of Coke and Orange Fanta.

Order enough Apfelwein and it will be served in a Bembel, a traditional stoneware pitcher of Hessen.

Another view of the Biergarten

James and Jette

Capris are for women and men in Germany.

Playing "Trapped Prisoner"

 Springtime is Spargel time in Germany.  Spargel is white asparagus and it is very popular here, more popular than green asparagus.  David ordered the Spargel soup.  The kids and a few adults ordered various kinds of Schnitzel and right as the waiter arrived at our table with a large tray of the yummy cutlets......

........CRASH!  The plates slid around the tray, tipping it and everything fell to the floor at my feet.  Here are some of the remnants of our first Schnitzel order.

Here is a remnant of the Frankfurt green sauce, which gives Schnitzel a nice herbal flavor.

Beer is often served in high glasses.

The second round of our Schnitzel order. It was all tasty. I highly recommend Jäger-Schnitzel, a veal or pork schnitzel topped with a burgundy-mushroom or a creamy-mushroom sauce. Accompanied by potatoes or Spätzle (soft egg noodles), it is a delicious meal.

I asked David, "Is there an American equivalent to a Biergarten?" He couldn't think of one. Let us know if you do.