Cochem Castle with Opa

For Opa's last day in Europe, we decided to take him to our very favorite castle out here: Cochem. We've been there a dozen times, but we still love to go. It's such a beautiful castle!

So, we got up early & thanks to an autobahn exit closure, it took us an hour & 20 minutes to get there (it's normally 45 minutes). I love how they just shut down entire exits & expect you to find your way to where you're going on your own. But we made it right around 11 in the morning. It was 1 degree outside, so it was cold. . . but it was survivable. We put the kiddos in the stroller & hiked up the steep incline up to the castle perched on the hillside. It was nice because the hike actually made us nice & warm in the freezing weather.

Once we got up to the castle, we got tickets for the tour & waited around the courtyard area for the tour to start. We took lots of pictures of the outside walls. The girls love looking over the edge of the castle. They love coming here too.

Because the castle is so high up, you get a GORGEOUS view of Cochem & the Mosel River. It is breathtaking up there.

The tour was great. We had the best tour guide. She knew we were Americans, so even though the tour was in German, she'd take us aside & explain the key points in English as well. She was SO sweet to the kids too. She always brought them up front next to her so they could see the secret passage & the knight's armor up close & personal. At the end of the tour she gave them each a chocolate coin out of a big treasure chest. We've done the tour several times, but it's still fun to go through it. Dad loved the history. This castle was started in 1000 AD & was destroyed by the French in the 1600's. Some lucky guy bought the property for a mere 500 Euro & then rebuilt the castle to it's original glory. It's spectacular. It's fully furnished with paintings, furniture, & tapestries dating from the 1500's up. I love it!!!

After the castle tour, we hiked back down into the town of Cochem where we found the most adorable little restaurant. We are wary about restaurants here because some really don't like kids. But this one was great. As soon as we walked in, they sat us & brought us a bucket of legos, a bucket of crayons, & a bunch of coloring paper. The girls were in HEAVEN!! The food was great too. The girls all got waffles with powdered sugar & whipped cream. Dad & I had gulaschsuppe & Trek had a cheese platter with bread & butter. We all shared everything because it was all so good. It was really inexpensive too. We'll definitely go back there again if we're in Cochem.

After lunch, Dad wanted another Brat before he left Germany forever. I laughed. Dad just loved all the different foods here. I was glad there was a little brat stand for him.

Since the Christmas market was still going on, the girls got to ride a ride before we left as well. They always love that.

I'm glad we could take Dad one more fun place before he left for California. We love you Dad! Thanks for coming out to visit us!