Heidelberg

 (January 27, 2014)

On a beautiful winter's day we drove to the college town of Heidelberg to visit the ruined castle overlooking the city.

walking through town

Heidelberg castle was originally built in the 1200's, but has been partially destroyed several times from fire and wars.  The last destruction of the castle was from a lightning bolt that started a fire and it wasn't rebuilt.

entrance to the castle

overlooking the city and Nekar River

taking in the view

Grayson entering the inner courtyard

Burg Hohenzollern

{October 2013}

Less than an hour from our house is a beautiful castle that housed the Prussian princes.  Burg Hohenzollern is impressive as you drive up to it on the top of a hill.  Its strategic location gives it 360 degree views of the surrounding countryside.  

checking out the views

Triberg Waterfall

{November 2013}

Our first adventure into the Black Forest (just 1.5 hours south of us) to us to the town of Triberg where the specialize in beautiful wood carvings, specifically cuckoo clocks.  There is also a beautiful waterfall that we hiked around.  I love all the moss covered rocks and logs littering the forest floor.

these birds would swoop down and grab peanuts from your hands

my three loves

Alsace 2013

{Nov. 19, 2013}

In November we decided to explore the Alsace region of France, famous for its wine and charming towns.  We drove down through the Black Forest with plans to explore Colmar after going to a little French linen store to do some shopping.  The store was up a snowy mountain road, so it took a little longer than expected and we made it to our little room in Zellenberg in the dark.  When we woke in the morning and saw the town for the first time there was a thick mist enshrouding the town.  It was enchanting with its deserted cobbled stone streets.  

Zellenberg

As we were leaving town, we rolled down the windows to clear off the moisture and one of them became stuck down.  Our first stop on the wine road was Riquewihr, which has become our favorite Alsace village.  Since our window was stuck down, Jake and I had to take turns exploring the village, but fortunately by the time we left we had gotten the window up and were able to enjoy the rest of the day.  Riquewihr is a cute walled town that basically looks the same as it did in the 16th century.  It felt like it was straight out of a storybook and that if we just walked behind the buildings we'd see the movie set that we were really in.   

Avery at one of the gates in Riquewihr

along the outer wall

a trip to France isn't complete without macaroons 

 We spent the rest of the day traveling up the wine road (Rue du Vin) and stopping at all the little villages along the way.  Our favorites were Riquewhir, Ribeauville, Kaysersberg, and Hunawihr.

Our kids have become quite the travelers!

found a little playground for the kids

Switzerland with the Strongs

{December 26-28, 2013}

Our first experience in Switzerland was a short 3 day trip with our neighbors and good friends, the Strongs.  This is also the trip that I learned how to better plan my trips (with gps coordinates), thanks to Cody who planned this trip.  We left the day after Christmas first thing in the morning to make the 6 hour drive with a planned stop in Lauterbrunnen.  After making it to Lauterbrunnen in a snow storm, we realized there was no point in going up to Gimmelwald since we wouldn't be able to see anything, so we trekked on to our apartment.  The snow was coming down pretty heavily, which didn't make it very easy for our friends minivan to drive on the mountain roads, so we had to turn around at one point and go around the mountain instead of over it.  This and other little stops turned this into a 10 hour drive, which we were not prepared for, but it was so worth it in the end!

the mountain road we couldn't pass

The next morning we woke to beautiful views of a snow covered mountain valley!  We drove about an hour to Engelberg to spend the day on Mount Titlis.  

our morning views

a beautiful drive

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the Swiss alps

 We had to take several lifts up to the mountian and the views were extraordinary!  After insisting that she go down alone and then falling off her sled on the first run, Avery refused to go down any more so she played in the snow banks for a while.  Eventually I was able to convince her to try one more time, going down with me and she loved it so we had an enjoyable second half of the day!

ready for a fun day on the mountain

The next day we headed to Lucerne to explore the city.

saying goodbye to our mountain village

a crazy little family in Lucerne

Avery + Jake at Lake Lucerne

An afternoon pick me up: Berliner

Avery + Eve

Hofkirche

Avery + Eve at the Lion monument

 The Lion of Lucerne monument was sculpted in 1821 in memory of the Swiss guards who were massacred in 1792 during the French revolution.  It is a beautiful sculpture that Mark Twain praised as "the most mournful and moving piece of stone in the world"

Kapellbruke

 Probably one of the most iconic pieces of architecture in Lucerne is the Kapellbruke, which is a wooden covered bridge that spans the river, which was built in 1333.  The bridge and the paintings that are on each of its arches had to be restored after a fire in 1993.