Mountain Biking as a Social Isolated Family to Landstuhl Castle

The kids really wanted to try a new bike path today.  Big Sis and M&M have been wanting to bike up to the Landstuhl Castle, but Kevin and I didn't think the two littles would be able to make the ride.  The first mile of the trail is completely uphill, and Little A has a hard time just going on a straight path for 5 miles.  After talking to the kids, they all wanted to try, even Little A. Kevin and I didn't mind the change up and challenge, plus we figured if it got too hard we could just get off the bikes and walk up the hill. We decided to call it a 'BikeHike'. So we set off up the steep hill towards the castle.  I was so surprised because Little A made it up about half a mile before she completely fell apart.  What would have taken us about 20 minutes to walk, took only about 10 minutes to bike, we totally just cut our time in half.  I got off my bike too and walked beside Little A.  We talked about how much faster that was and about how very good she did.  We really only have the one uphill, the rest of the ride to the castle is small rolling hills and some flat parts.  Once we got past the big uphill, we all got on our bikes again and rode the rest of the way to the castle.  We had a choice to go through a residential area or up a big hill in the forest behind the houses. For Little A's sake we chose the residential street.  I'm glad we did because it was all flat, except the last part to the castle was a steep downhill.  All the kids had fun zooming down the hill.  We got to the castle and rode around to the side of the castle and just let the kids explore the outside of the castle for a while. We couldn't go in the castle because it is closed due to COVID-19.

  

We found a large grass area on the furthest side of the castle and made camp there.  We brought everything for a picnic, except the blanket.  One of the kids were in charge of packing the picnic blanket, and they sort of spaced it, so we sat on our jackets or the grass.  Luckily the grass wasn't wet and it was soft enough to sit on.  We got super lucky, because the weather was so perfect for a picnic. The kids all talked about their ride and how great it was.

As a family we have been reading Harry Potter, and we are now on book 4, The Goblet of Fire.  I brought the book and read to the kids for a while.  It has been so fun reading the books together as a family.  Little A especially loves hearing the story because she hasn't read it before. It has been fun to read them again, because I have only read the books once when they first came out, and there is so much detail in the books that I have forgotten.  I really do love the books a million times better then the movies.  That might be another reason Little A has loved reading the books too, I promised that after we finish a book, we can watch that movie as a family.

We spent a little over an hour just relaxing in the shade of the trees on the side of the castle.  It was a great use of family time, and we were so blessed with perfect weather and the beautiful scenery.  We loaded the backpacks back up and set off through the castle gate to make our way home.

On the ride home we decided to take the all forest trail home.  The beginning section just after leaving the castle was everyone's favorite.  We rode on a narrow trail that was downhill.  It was pure mountain biking and it was a blast.  All the kids were whooping and hollering.  We then hit about two pretty big uphills.  Little A was not happy at all with the hills and started complaining that her bike was not working right. When that excuse didn't work with me, she started blaming her legs, saying they weren't working right.  She and I ended up walking both the hills up.  We got past the hills and had some pretty flat sections for about half a mile. When we were about a mile from the house, I was a little way in front of Little A when I hear a skid and a howl.  I stop quickly and turn around to find her under her bike and on the floor crying.  We had reached a section of loose gravel, and her bike had slipped out from underneath her and she slid with the bike and fell off scraping up her poor knee.  She had a few pretty good gashes on her knee that were bleeding.  I didn't have the backpack, because Kevin and the older girls had left us in the dust a while ago.  My brave Little A, got back up on her bike bleeding and all and whimpered her way home.  Since we were on the last mile, it was all downhill the entire way home.  That helped her to keep going, knowing she really wouldn't have to pedal, and she wouldn't have any hills to walk up.  About half a mile down, there is an arm gate that keeps cars off the path, and poor Little A miscalculated the space and hit her handle bars on the gate and once again fell off her bike.  This time she scraped up her other knee.  The poor thing had huge crocodile tear and two bleeding knees by the time we got home, but she got back on her bike both times she fell, I am super proud of her.  We got her all cleaned up, and she said even though she got all banged up, she still had a really good time.  I am so proud of her, she did something really hard today, and got beat up in the process.  She proudly explained, "Mom, I can do hard things!"  That's my girl!

A Day in Verona: Girls Trip to Italy

We got up early to catch a train by 9:00.  This sure hasn't turned out to be a relaxing trip, there is just too much to see and too little time.  We made it to the train station, luckily, because  we knew the way now because our wandering in Venice the day before. It was a short ride of about an hour to Verona. When we got to Verona we were a little disappointed to find it wet, cold and foggy.  There was a light sprinkle and the wind was making it so freezing cold.  Luckily our Airbnb let us drop off our bags so we could go exploring.  We walked down Via Pallone to the visitor center to get a map and idea of hours for the tourist spots.  We passed by an ancient wall, which was part of the Porta Nuova.  The wall had statues and exhibits on it.

We found out from the tourist office that nothing opened today until after 1:00.  We had about an hour, so we decided to check out the outside of the Verona Arena first, then walk through the shopping district.

The Arena reminded me of the Colosseum in Rome and since I have already been in two Colosseums/Arenas, and neither Heather or Rebecca cared about going in or paying the entrance fee we were all perfectly happy just seeing it from afar and taking pictures from the outside.  We did learn that the Roman Amphitheater is still used today for summer programs and operas. That would be super cool and worth the money, in my opinion, to watch an opera in the Arena. 

The shopping streets started right next to the Colosseum, so we walked the shops.  The first shops we went by were super expensive and high end stores.  We were more looking for the cheap and dumb touristy shopping, so we kept going.  We did pass by a gelato store, and it's never too early in Italy for Gelato, right?!? The shops turned from high end modern clothes to antique and novelty stores.  We stumbled upon an old stamp and stationary store.  Now this was a cool store!  The shop even had an old Heidelberg original printing press in the back that we got to peek at.

Rebecca is a publisher and writer, so she was so excited to see the printing press and the store.  We spent a good half hour to hour in the store just looking around.  In the end, Rebecca ended up buying a stamp. We also found out that the shopkeeping can custom make stamps and letter seals.  

After leaving the stationary store, we made our way to the Ponte Pietra, which is the bride in the north part of the city. The little Italian houses before the bridge were super cute.  I love the bright and cheery colors they paint the buildings and how all the building looked so old.

From the bridge we could see both sides of the bank.  We could also see just how yucky the weather was too.  The fog was so thick and there wasn't much of the beautiful city that we could make out from the thick grey.  

After crossing the bridge we paid the small fee to ride the funicular up to the Castle San Pietro.  The best views of the city are supposed to be from the lookout at the top. The fog kinda messed that up, as all I got was a grey sad looking city.  Oh well, you win some and loose some.  

We walked all around the castle, but sadly it is currently under renovations, so you can't go in.  It also looks as if it is someones residence and the ruins were being turned into something modern.  It was a shame and a bit of a let down.  Not only did we not get a great view, but there wasn't a cool castle to see.

We left the castle and took the funicular down and decided to check out the Basilica di Santa Anastasia.  The lady that helped us at the tourist center highly recommended making a stop at this cathedral.  We bought our entrance fee and an audio guide and went around the church.  The church was cold and honestly like every other gothic cathedral I have been in.  The Saints and statues were all Saints that I didn't recognize or understand the history of, so after a few minutes, we all looked at each other and decided this was a beautifully cold gothic church and we had seen and heard enough.

As we left the church, I was even colder then when we went inside, due to how very cold it was inside.  We walked back to one of the main squares with stalls of tourist souvenirs.  We decided to check out the shops, and Heather and I were so cold we both bought hats to keep our heads warm.

Our next stop was one that I was really looking forward to, Juliet's house.  This is the house that has the balcony that inspired Shakesphere for the Romeo and Juliet Balcony scene.  I watched "Letters to Juliet" before coming and that made me even more excited to see this beautiful and romantic place.  As we came into the small yard we were first greeted with huge signs covering the arch of the entrance stating things like, "Do not write on the Wall" in a bunch of languages.  And then we walked into the full glory of the dumpster this square has become.  All the walls surrounding the small yard were covered in trash and gum and graffiti.  It was disgusting.  It wasn't even cool modern art looking, it was just gross and disappointing.

There was a statue of Juliet below the balcony and lines of people were there to take pictures with her and I had to take a double take because they were all grabbing her boob in the picture.  Ever. Single. Person.  Girl, boy, kid, grandparent, all of them were filling up Juliet.  What the heck?  I wondered.  In an open protest we took a picture and Rebecca placed her scarf around Juliet for our picture.  Come to find out there is some story out there that says you will have good luck if you touch Juliet's right breast.  I say hogwash. There is also a saying that if your friend jumps off a cliff, that doesn't mean you should too.

We left Juliet's house disappointed and feeling violated on behalf of Juliet and made our way to the Castelvecchio Castello Scaligero. Castelvecchio means "Old Castle" in Italian, and this old castle ruled the city in the Middle Ages.

We were able to walk all around the grounds of the old castle.  There was an old bridge that crossed the river and we took a walk across.  The sky was finally beginning to clear up and the sun was coming out and melting the fog away, so from the bridge we finally got a better view of the south side of the city.  There was a place on the bridge were you could climb a small stairway to a lookout point, and we enjoyed some warm sun rays and the city view for a bit.

By this point in the day we were all starving, so we went on the hunt for food.  It literally became a hunt because every restaurant we went to was closed.  I guess Italians don't eat dinner until extremely late, so restaurants don't open until 8 pm around here.  We found two restaurants that were open, but they didn't have a gluten free option, and Rebecca needs GF, so we kept searching.  We finally found a place that had GF on the menu, so exhausted and hungry we sat down for dinner. The appetizer was so fun, it was an Italian appetizer with bread, cheese, nuts and honey.  

Before coming to Verona, I was expecting today to be my favorite day.  From all my research, everyone talks about how beautiful and enchanting the city is.  I don't know if it was due to the fog and chilly weather, or everything opening so late because it was Monday, or the massive disappointment in Juliet's house, but the sites weren't great today.  Luckily the company was fantastic, so that made the day fun.  However, Verona isn't on my list of places I would want to return to, it just wasn't all it is hyped up to be.

Bike Date to Landstuhl Castle

Kevin and I wanted to get out and have an active date, so we decided it would be fun and pretty quick  to jump on our bikes and ride up to Nanstein Castle.  According to Google Maps, it was only a 30 minute bike ride from our house.  We loaded up a backpack, checked our bike tires and set off up the hill to the castle.  The first part of the trail is uphill, and I honestly thought my heart was going to burst out of my chest.  I was so tired and so out of breath and so out of shape, but I didn't stop.  Luckily the last part of the ride was through a little village, so we had a pretty flat ride for the last ten minutes or so.  We made it to the castle, parked our bikes and caught our breath. 

The lookout for the castle is pretty great and look out over Landstuhl Village.  The castle was open, so we paid the Euro entrance fee and took our time to walk all around the castle.  There were towers, broken walls, arches and a creepy underground tunnel and huge room, that must have been a dungeon.  I think the creepy underground dungeon was my most favourite part.  It even had the echo of dripping water and dark corners and high ceilings.  It was unexpected and super dark and so very cool.

The upper floors of the castle were of course open because it is castle ruins, of course.  The side walls were still intact and we really enjoyed walking up the outdoor stairs and walking under the beautiful arches.  The views from the top were also pretty amazing.  It was defiantly a fun and adventurous date.

Luxembourg: Vianden Castle, Pirate Playground and Casemate du Bock

Welcome to the Grand Duchy, also known as Luxembourg. We left our hotel in Belgium early in the morning so we could spend a day in Luxembourg, since it was on the way home and we pass right through Luxembourg to get to Germany.

Our first stop in Luxembourg was at the Vianden Castle, or the Chateau de Vianden in Vianden.  This fortress underwent many different stages and is now just a huge museum and exhibit.  The castle was built between the 11th and 14th century and was built on top of a Roman castle.

We decided to do an audio tour to get more information and to understand more of the history of the castle.  It wasn't as entertaining as our audio tour in the castle in Belgium, but it was still filled with good historical information.  The main part of the castle was pretty much kept the same though history, but as it changed hands and ownership courts were added and additional rooms.  

The main owner of the castle was Henry I of Vianden and he had royal connections to French and Germany.  The castle was at it's height of influence and beauty during his ownership.  It was during his rein that so many modifications happened to the castle.  

We enjoyed the inside of the castle and seeing the huge fireplaces and the rooms with a few antique furniture which came from the period of Vianden.  There was even a wardrobe that once belonged to the family that was passed down and donated back to the castle.  

We enjoyed the beautiful views from the rooftop of the castle.  The castle is high on a hill and overlooks the village of Vianden, and it was a beautiful day.  We finished our tour then made our way out of the main court and out of the welcoming arches.  

As we drove away leaving Vianden we enjoyed looking back and seeing the castle up on the hill.  We continued to see it all the way until we left the city below.  The castle was pretty neat, but after visiting true authentic ruins, it was a little disappointing to see a castle that was not renovated to its original glory, it was more modern then I felt it should be.  

The city Luxembourg is a very busy city with not a lot of parking.  It took us a few tries, but we finally found a parking deck and parked the car.  I didn't even want to know how much it was going to cost us to park for a few hours, but it took a while to find the parking deck, so we didn't much care at this point.  We parked right by a park that the kids nicknamed "The Pirate Park". 

After spending the morning walking around a castle, they loved the time we gave them to play, run, pretend, swing and slide.  The kids saw the playground, started screaming and ran for the fun.  It was cute seeing them run around.  The playground was pretty epic.  It had a huge slide that Monster was scared to go down until I put him on my lap and slid down with him.  It was super thrilling.  It took a bit of climbing to reach the top, but once he had a taste of the slide, all he wanted was for me or Kevin to help him climb up so he could take the thrill ride down. 

Not only was there a huge pirate ship to play on and a slide, but there was a gigantic playground.  Monster loved climbing and running and jumping.  Even Big Sis was caught laughing and running on it.  

After playing for a little over an hour, we convinced the kids to leave the park and come explore the city with us.  We did have to bribe them with the promise of returning to the park and playing before we got in the car to leave.  We didn't have any plans for Luxembourg, so we just walked around.  The first place we stopped at was the Cathedral Notre-Dame.  This beautiful church was built in the 1600s. 

The inside of the church was pretty impressive.  There was gothic, baroque and even renaissance styles represented in the church.  The organ and stained glass behind the organ was super pretty.  I couldn't stay in the church very long because Monster decided it was super neat to hear his screams echoed throughout the stone church, which honestly echoed pretty impressively.  And nope, he wasn't mad, he just thought it was funny to yell and hear it echo.  So, I quickly exited with him. Kevin and the girls stayed longer to look around more.  

We left the church and made our way to the Casemates du Bock.  The Casemates were the only thing I knew I wanted to see before coming to Luxembourg, so this is how we ended our day.  I am so glad we were able to explore the Casemates, because it was my favorite part of Luxembourg.

The Casemates du Bock is a vast complex of underground tunnels which were built in the 1600s.  This area started as a fortress in 963, then it expanded and turned the city into one of the most powerful places in the world due to engineers that helped make the fortress pretty much impenetrable. The fortification had 24 forts, 16 strong defensive works and 23 KM networks of casemates.  These tunnels were used to shelter soldiers and horses and used as kitchen, bakeries, you name it.  It was super cool to see.

Some sections were tiny spiral staircases that just went on and on and on, going deeper and deeper.  I'm not gonna lie, I felt myself get a little clostraphoboic in these areas.  I found myself thinking of men and women who had to shelter in theses areas and just shivered.  We learned that during WWII  there casemates were used as bomb shelters and I couldn't help but imagine the sounds of planes and bombs as we walked in the narrow and dark tunnels that were super deep in the earth.

There were plenty of areas in the casemates that were not underground and were just in the side of a mountain.  These areas are now open with guardrails so you can enjoy the view of the city.  I wish we could have spent more time exploring, but it was getting late, we had a park we had promised to return to and we still needed to drive home, so we said "until we meet again" to the Casemates and made the long walk back to the park and parking garage.  I hope to return to Luxembourg and explore the casemates to their fullest.  It really was one of my favorite things we did for this trip.