June 21, 2013 Burg Eltz & Trier

Elaine had talked to a  truck driver at the restaurant they ate at last night and he told them to go to Burg Eltz.  So she came home and told me about it and we looked up the information online and we decided to go there today.  I am sure that following the gps took us longer but it took us through some cute villages with very narrow two way streets.






And through some beautiful countryside.












They are smarter in Germany they use street lights instead of a flag man when they are doing road construction.

Germany has gotten a lot of rain lately and with that flooding.  You can see how high the Rhine river is flowing.  The area is so beautiful and green.

Well while we were driving to Burg Eltz I found information in Rick Steves Germany guide book on the castle.  In the information he said that there was a place to park away from the castle and take a bus to it so when the gps was trying to take us up a hill that we thought was just for the tour bus to take people to the castle we shut her off and thought we would find it on our own.  BIG MISTAKE.  We should have listened to her.  Because when we finally did stop and ask a man for directions he gave them to us in German but from his hand gestures we knew we should have followed her directions.  So we turned her back on and found that we still had a ways to go but she took us right to the road the castle was on.

We did pay to take the shuttle down to the castle but it would be easy to walk down as long as you don't have any leg issues and save your 2 Euros for the ride up because the road is very, very steep.  We had thought the 2 Euros covered both down and up since he gave us a ticket as we boarded.

The castle has been owned or occupied by the same family for 33 generations.

Because of a family feud they had three families occupying the castle at one time in different sections.

During the summer they have an English speaking tour every half hour.  This was our tour guide.

The rooms are all decorated as they would have been during the different time periods and are all originals.

You do have to be careful and watch your step.  They have many stone steps throughout & some are very narrow.

You also need to be careful if your tall especially in the museum that you can visit on your own either while you are waiting for your tour to begin or after.  You have to show your ticket to get in.

The grounds are beautiful.  You can come and have lunch as they have a cafe and a restaurant without paying for a tour but to see the inside you have to do a tour which cost 9 Euros.

We joked about the reason no harm from bombing ever happened to this castle was that it was so well hidden no one could find it.

When you are done exploring you can catch the shuttle back to the top for 2 Euros.

Or you can walk back up.  We saw one man pushing his wife up the hill.

As we were leaving we saw that a car club must have chosen to visit today as there were many antique cars in the parking lot.











As we were leaving we wanted to go and see this   (not sure what "this" is) in the neighboring town but we could not find it.  The gps headed us in that direction but this is where you have to be careful about trusting her to tell you where to go because she sent us the wrong way on a one way street.  We had a lady run out of her shop telling us we were going Einbahnstraße....oops. Well Roger was able to back up a little and turn around and then all was well.

So off to Trier we went.

Roger stopped in the middle of the road and told me to get out and go across the street so I could take this picture.  I was so afraid a car was going to come and he would take off with out me I didn't even try to focus and get a really good shot.

Of course up the road a little ways and they have a pull out to for a photo op.









There were signs that said you could book rooms and parties.

So after traveling on some more small roads and going through some more small villages we finally got back on the autobahn and could make up some time.

The Porta Nigra is just as I remembered.  It has been 29 years since I was lucky enough to come with my friend Sonja and her family to this lovely city.  It was kind of like coming home.

Where the Christmas market was the last time I was here was where the farmers market was being held.

Fred and Elaine found something to eat.

The Trier Cathedral is where the robe that they think Jesus was wearing, that they cast lots for, is kept.  It is only on display for limited periods every decade and I think that was last year.

There are many intricate pieces of art inside...and some people who like to make faces.

We admired some of the artwork in the park on the way to the baths.

We did not pay to go in and see the baths but were able to take pictures over the low wall.  When I was last here this was all open to the public.  It is good to know that they are working on preserving these amazing places.

Amanda at this point could care less and is just in a hurry to get back to Hailey's because they have a party to go to tonight.  So after visiting the Basilica we headed back.

We decided to walk somewhere to find something to eat, which meant we toured the town, because no one could decide on what to eat.

So we walked past the church.

And saw some of the locals.

Before ending up at a Gyros and Pizza place.  My Gyro was on a bun instead of pita bread so it threw me off a little but was ok.  Fred tried to read the German newspaper.  Then we headed home and watched a movie before hitting the hay.