Berg Eltz

Another Out & About Excursion

Berg Eltz (Castle)

We visited Berg Eltz as a group in August.  This castle is only about an hour from us and is one of the only ones here in Germany that is still owned and lived in by noblemen.  Only about 1/3 of it is open to the public. It is set down in a valley so it took quite a bit of a trek to get to.  We couldn't take pictures inside so these are all the pictures outside as we walked down, during lunch and down in the stream.

Xanthe & Olivia Thorne (age 6), one of my friend's daughters.  You know, X&X, they can't resist taking care of the little ones.

Xoe & her captains hat. Remember this from the cruise? Well this trip was pre-cruise but she had already bought it at a garage sale and used it with her Adventure Pack (see below).

The full get-up

And.... The Adventure Pack. Xanthe and Xoe each have one whenever they go exploring or on trips.  Notice the sword coming out of the back?  haha. They have a compass, food, their spy kit, a picnic set (for eating of course) and random things that I don't know what they're for.

Yay! Here are some pictures of a few families walking down the hill.

Brian punked it and carried Spencer in the backpack all the way down, and then back up again.  He has some legs of steel for sure.

Xanthe and her "Adventure Pack"

About halfway down where you see the first view of the castle.

It's probably redundant posting all these pictures of our walk down, not just so you can get a good view of the castle, but also it shows just how far and steep of a walk it was.

Once we got to the castle, this was the view down.  It kind of made me queasy (remember, fear of heights?) so of course Brian had to scare me even more and see what he did in the next picture.

He was pretending to lean Spencer over the side. Not funny.

Before we went into the castle, we all sat out eating a little snack since the tour was about an hour.  It wasn't quite lunch but we didn't want the kids to get too hungry.

Going up into the castle. I don't know why I loved all these pictures of him walking. He was just exploring so much and sort of just went out on his own.  Anyway, I got some good pictures while I followed him into the courtyard of the actual castle.

Of course, he found the only puddle there. The kid is obsessed with puddles.

Look behind Spencer. You can see how crowded it was getting. I don't like crowds.

Pictures of the inside of the courtyard

I posted these next three pictures because I love Spencer's eyes and facial expressions. Random, I know, but I want them for my own personal selfishness. :) 

 

We went into the castle at this point, but couldn't take pictures.  It was cool but not the most amazing interior. Probably because we were only allowed to tour a small portion of it since a lot of it is still lived in.  We were able to also see the treasury that had gold and silver relics (candleabras, armor, etc.). But my pictures didn't turn out so well there.  You just get to use your imagination.

Afterward, we all sat down for our proper lunch that we had brought with us

This is the cute courtyard outside the castle where we commoners can eat our lunch. :)

Love the view

The girls packed an actual picnic basket with their picnic-ware for us.  This is another shout out to sis in law Katie for giving them this picnic set when they were like 2!  haha. Not that young but quite a few years ago.  7, maybe? They still love it!

The door going out.  I kinda thought it was a cool archway

I sort of had to stay and make sure everyone left okay from the Out & About Group. While Brian was patiently waiting, he took Spencer down the huge stairs (that I posted above) to let him walk through the water. This was a huge sacrifice for Brian because he had already walked up and down the stairs with Spencer inside the castle, as well as down that huge hill.  haha. Then he had to go down and back up these stairs again. But Spencer had such a great time and it was totally worth it. I love that Brian grabbed these pictures for me.

The view of the castle from down where Brian was.  So pretty, isn't it?