Germany Trip--Heidelberg Castle and Wurzburg

On day 3 of our trip we drove about 4 hours south to a bed and breakfast where we stayed for the next 4 nights.  On our way down, we detoured to go see Heidelberg Castle.  It was snowing a lot that day, so we didn't walk around for too long!  However, it was really neat to see.  The castle is huge and up on top of a hill overlooking the town; parts of it have been destroyed.  The kids loved seeing all the castles--everyone we saw, Kailey wanted to know if a princess lived there and Cade wanted to know if it was a pirate castle!  Here are some of the pictures:

All bundled up and walking towards the castle.

Cool gate

Part of the castle that was struck by a lightening bolt.

In front of the castle

They had a little Christmas market right by the castle--they are EVERYWHERE!!

In the castle courtyard

Kailey my little poser!

They had such interesting figures carved all over the castle

View of the town from the castle

Cool old church

  Like I said, we ended up staying at the best bed and breakfast that was right in the  middle of Wurzburg, Nuremburg, and Rotenburg--the 3 towns we wanted to go visit, so each day we took a day trip to one of the towns.  The following are pictures from our day spent in Wurzburg.  The big thing to see there is called the Residenz.  It is a huge palace in the center of town.  We ended up going on a tour of it and it was amazing.  It has the hugest fresco in the world that is overtop of the staircase--the paintings, stuccos, sculptures were breathtaking.

In front of the Residenz

In front of the big fountain in front

In the gardens behind the palace

At the Christmas market--I had so much fun seeing all the old churches and buildings--I just love that style!

More candy from Santa

All the towns we went to were just picturesque--especially covered with Christmas lights--I just can't say enough how much I LOVED Germany!

MORE CANDY!!

 The other place we went to in Wurzburg was Marienberg Fortress.  It has been a fort since ancient times--so we went to see the castle and the walls.

View from on top

You can't see her, but Kailey is standing next to this and wanted a picture--she thought this looked like Rapunzel's tower and wanted a picture with a real, live princess tower!

Germany Trip-Dusseldorf and Cologne

The beginning of December we spent a week in Germany and had the BEST time ever!   The main reason we went was to see the Christmas markets.  In Germany, like every city there in December has a Christmas market or markets.  They all have tons of beautifully decorated stalls selling a variety of handicrafts and amazing food, they are decorated with lights--just quintessential Christmas.  It was so much fun to walk around and see what was being sold and to try different German foods.  I have to say german food is AMAZING!!  Between all the different towns we went to we probably went to about 20 different Christmas markets and they were all unique in their own way.  Anyways, it was one of the best trips we have ever taken and we had a BLAST!!!  

We flew in to Dusseldorf, Germany which is up north on the Netherlands border and we spent our first day there.  They had 6 different Christmas markets and we had fun wandering around.  Here are pictures from Dusseldorf:

Ethan with a little snowman we found

One of MANY nutcrackers we saw! 

This stall sold really fun birdhouses

We saw TONS of nativities--in fact I came with 4--3 for myself and one for my mom!

The puppet lady trying really hard to sell this puppet to us!

One of the many merry-go-rounds the kids went on

Downtown Dusseldorf

The angel Christmas market

Fun statues downtown

Christmas pyramid

Fun old church we saw

The next day we drove to Cologne, Germany which was about an hour away.  Cologne is famous for it's huge cathedral the Kohlner Dom.  It is Germany's most visited landmark and one of the biggest cathedrals in the world.  It was built starting in 1248, construction halted in the 1400s and it wasn't finished until the 1800s.  It was originally built to house the relics of the 3 wiseman and apparently they are buried there.  It was one impressive building.

Top of the cathedral

Kailey in front of the cathedral

Inside the cathedral

The stain glass inside was so impressive--this picture does not do it justice!

Guy dressed up as a statue outside the cathedral

Better picture of the stain glass inside--the church was covered with this--I can see why it took so long to build--the details inside were amazing!

These guys were outside and to this day I can't figure out how that guy is sitting up on top--there was NOTHING under him.

Father Christmas--this Santa was SOOO nice--he gave the kids big stuffed animals for free--did we mention that we LOVE Germany!!

It was a lot of fun to walk around and see so many different interpretations of the nativity

Me in the Christmas market by the Cologne Cathedral

Outside one of the many markets

Overlooking the market from the ferris wheel--at night the markets were gorgeous all lit up.

Another view from up on top

Cade with a lego pirate--he is OBSESSED with pirates 

One of the markets had this procession with angels and a donkey and they came through and were handing out candy and little gifts to the kids 

We saw SOOO many castles

Kohlner DOm lit up at night--impressive!!

Fun with Grandma

Grandma always brings the best toys to keep the kids entertained--here she is blowing up balloons and I am surprised she didn't pass out because she blew those balloons up a LOT!!

Here the kids are chasing the balloon that Grandma just blew up!

Eric and his mom went to another 'pueblo blanco' called Arcos de la Frontera

Arcos