Our trip to Cochem and Eltz castles

Kris had another 4 day weekend this weekend. Friday we went to Baumholder and spent some time in a grocery we hadn't been to. We ended up getting some "brot" and grapes for our lunch. I find myself making a meal of bread, grapes, cheese, and deli meat quite often.

Saturday we woke up early to make a trip to Cochem castle. We learned early on that our Garmin was taking us the scenic route. As beautiful as these winding roads are, they can make you very motion sick. Add all the changes in elevation and one crazy driver that thinks he's on a race track and we were grabbing anything we could find to prevent a mess. We ended up pulling over for some fresh air and continued on hoping we could find a place to get Kinadie a new pair of pants. Thankfully, there was a cute kids clothing store there in Cochem.

This is where we stopped for some fresh air. Friends back home will be glad to know that the Germans support JohnDeere! 

Vineyards were all along these mountains in the Moselle valley.

Here are some of the shops. They had a little brat hut on the other side of the road where we got brats and "pommes frites" for supper. Very nice people who worked the hut. We sat on the steps and watched the dinner boats go up and down the river.

 This is Cochem castle. This castle was built in the year 1000 A.D. on a high hill for the purpose of defense.

Glad these tummies were better the rest of the day! 

It was a good little hike up the hill to the entrance. Red roses were all along the entry to the castle.

The Dining Room

The Room above the last gate: This room has a hanging mermaid lamp that was hung to keep evil out of the castle. This room leads to a spiral staircase that winds the wrong way. If the enemy was going up the stair case, he wouldn't be able to use his sword (carried in his right hand) because the staircase winds to the left.

The Hunters' Room 

This boar was said to have a living weight of 400lbs. 

The Knights' Hall

 Bust of Mr. Ravene the reconstructor of the castle.

View from the balcony off the Weapons Room

This knights armour was for a middle ages man from Austria (Castle Ambras in Innsbruck) who had a height of more than 7 feet tall.

Back then, armour cost about 45 cows. The furniture is from the 16th century.

The Witches Tower: This tower is original of the castle that wasn't destroyed in 1689 by French soldiers under King Louis XIV of France.

After we had visited the castle we decided that we couldn't visit wine country without buying some "rot wein." We went throughout the town to visit all the little shops. There were a lot of clothing stores and restaurants. 

The girls enjoyed playing at the playground and we decided to visit another castle near by.

Eltz Castle

This was a 15 minute walk through the forest alongside the river Elz. The Eltz castle is 850 years old and has been very well preserved. Its one of the few castles to escape destruction.

The girls were for sure that this was Anna and Elsa's castle. See the round Troll Rocks near the bottom right corner? 

We were able to take an easier road back home and decided to tweak our GPS to get on the autobahn next time. We might keep an extra pair of clothes in the truck, too. However, it is so nice to see the green countryside. We're looking forward to the summer when we can take some trip outside of Germany.