Burg Eltz

On Friday July 5th we were invited to go to Burg Eltz with some friends or ours.  Burg Eltz is about an hour from our house.  It is considered the German knight's castle par excellent remained in the possession of the original family and was never destroyed.   We drove up and there was a walk down through some beautiful forest - yes I said down.  Most of the time when we go visit a castle we walk up to it.

 

Michael checking out the scenery. He decided he wanted to be in the lead while we were walking down to the castle.

 

The crew, minus the two dads, heading for the castle.

 

The family in front of Burg Eltz.

 

Of course the boys found some place to climb!!

 

And another - they have so much energy!  I really wish I could harness some of that energy!

 

All of the kids peaking over the wall - they saw water down there and then didn't really care about the castle as much.  All they wanted to do was go down and play in the water!

 

I stole his hat - and if I do say so myself, it looks good!!  The beautiful castle in the background!

 

The kiddos at the entry point for the castle.  I just think back to when it was first built and the horses that came through and how short that really looks when you think about a horse and rider making it under that arch. 

 

I know you won't believe it - but they found more rocks to climb on!!!  :-)

 

Here we are waiting for our English tour and you guessed it, they were "bored" so they found the next best thing - something to climb on.  Is there a pattern going on here?!?

 

The girls - I could look out at the scenery behind me all day.  There is a little river that goes around three sides of the castle, it is so beautiful!

 

I know what you all are thinking - what did he do to deserve this?!?  LOL  :-)  I couldn't help but put this one in, it is too funny!!!  And as you can see in the next picture, I didn't really push him over  ;-)

 

Still waiting for our tour so Michael decided it was time to fly with Daddy!!!

 

AJ wanted a turn too, but he is getting so tall and big that David is having a harder and harder time doing it!  But AJ still has a great time!!!

 

So now we were ready for the tour.  In the first room they showed all sorts of armor and weapons.  They actually had a full set of armor for only $2500 for sale there, we thought about it, but then decided not to.  :-)  The castle was erected in a strategically important position.  It was built along a trade route that linked the Moselle River - historically one of the most important trade routes in the German Empire - with the Eifel and the fertile Maifeld.  The three brothers had a dispute and the family split up before 1268.  This led to the castle and the estate being divided among the three branches of the family.  There were three kitchens, dining rooms, etc.  They were all connected by doors though.  Up until about 10 years ago one of the families still lived there.  The construction period of this castle lasted more than 500 years with each generation adding on something.  The reason this castle wasn't destroyed during the Palatine Wars of Succession is that one of the descendants was a high officer in the French army and he managed to delete the castle from the official list of buildings to be destroyed.  From 1845-1888 they started a restoration costing in today's money 15 million Euros - over 21 million US dollars.  It has been in possession of the Eltz family for more than 800 years.

 

This was one of the main bedrooms.  I never realized why they built the beds up taller, but the tour guide said it was because heat rises.  That makes total sense now - I always thought it was just because of their stature.

 

This is their main dining room.  The tapestry in the back is from the 1600s.

 

And it wouldn't be a castle without the hunting room.  They actually hunted all over Europe and beyond.

 

These are actually really neat, they shoot real shots!  This is what the children used to learn how to shoot real cannons.  How fun would that be?

 

AJ wanted his picture by some of the big guns they had on display.

 

A suit of armor just his size - they are quite heavy, small one is over 60 pounds.

 

This was the interior court of the castle.  So after the tour in the castle, which the kids were so good for, we decided we could take them down to play in the water for a little bit.

 

The kids were sooo excited!!  They started right away with throwing rocks and wanted to get in the water.  So we said go right ahead!

 

AJ was so proud of himself, he made it all the way across the river without any help!! 

 

The other kids saw this and wanted to go over too.  So I grabbed Michael and Gracie's hands and off we went.  The rocks were kind of sharp and the water was ice cold.

 

But we all made it across!!!

 

Gracie wanted to get back to shore where her dad was so AJ said that he would take her across.  He is too sweet!!

 

Hanging on the bridge - just chillin'

 

A view back up the hill at the castle

When we were leaving there was nobody in front of the castle so I had to get a picture of it.  This doesn't happen very often at all.

 

Michael stole his Dad's hat!!!

 

 

So for all you farmers out there, check this out.  You see that thing on the left?  That is a ladder because the hill is sooooo steep that you need that to get to the top.  I would not want to work on that hill, my dad's hills are bad enough.  :-)

 

So this was a castle we saw on the way home.  It was way too late to stop and see it, but it is on my list!!!  It keeps growing and growing, David said if it keeps growing we are going to need more than three years to see everything I want to see.   :-)