Guten Tag!
To pick up where I left off…
After we got home from seeing The Fairy Tale castle and diving into preparations for Christmas we spent a few days just enjoying the cold and rainy weather. We did a little shopping and a little sightseeing in our area and just enjoyed the company.
One morning dawned cold but clear and bright and so we headed into Trier to explore the Roman ruins and the Christmas Market.
Our first stop was the Porta Nigra… As we stood at the top the clouds rolled in and it started to rain! The wind was gusting so hard that the rain drops were driving sideways through the windows and soaking us… But it was beautiful non the less…
Our next stop was the Dom of Trier. Everything inside was decorated for Christmas…
After we had walked around the inside of the Dom and it’s grounds we headed over to the Electoral Palace.
And stopped to take a few pictures…
We then walked to the Roman bath ruins… trying to beat anymore bad weather…
We walked down through the tunnels and explored the ruins.
When we were done with the Roman ruin tour we headed back into the main square of Trier to walk through the Christmas market.
We had fun shopping for ornaments and Christmas pyramids… We also bought some hot chocolate and roasted chestnuts!
After a lot of walking we headed back into Bitburg to have dinner and put up our feet…
The next morning we headed into Luxembourg to tour Vianden Castle.
We hiked up to the top of the hill and went in!
We took a few pictures in The Arms Hall with the pikes…
and the halberds on display there.
This was the knights study. I was playing tour guide with a guide book we purchased on the castle. Ryan is pointing at a display that explains how chain mail was forged.
This is the inner courtyard. It had a wonderful view of the town of Vianden and the surrounding hills.
Ryan and I in the inner courtyard in front of the windows of the Byzantine gallery.
Just us!
Mom and Dad in the inner courtyard overlooking the valley.
Ryan holding up the walls of this ancient castle.
The walkway to the chapel called Yolanda’s tower.
This is my mom in the upper chapel of the castle.
That pit that they are leaning over is the opening into the lower chapel. The chapel was built this way so that the commoners of the town and the servants could follow religious ceremonies without having to penetrate the fortress of the castle or bother the Count and his family seated in the upper chapel.
This is the Byzantine Gallery, famous for it’s ten trefoiled windows.
My mom in front of the widows facing the valley.
Ryan and I in front of an oriental tapestry in the bedroom.
Ryan in the festivity hall in front of a tapestry representing The Sacrifice of Diana.
Mom in the festivity hall.
The well was carved in the rock to a depth of 53 meters or 158 feet. This was considered a remarkable feat for the times.
This room is the large cellar.
This is the view of the valley below the castle from the top of the tower.
It was so much fun exploring castles and ruins with my mom and dad!
I’m going to leave it there for the day since the next big thing trip came shortly after these few days.
Auf Wiedersehen!
Courtney
Not All Who Wander Are Lost 32 
Thank you for always sharing so much of your travels. I feel like I’m getting to explore the world through your site! Glad you had such a great time with your parents!!!
Oh my word Germany is just breathtaking! Thank you so much for so vividly sharing it with me (us.) I may never in this life be able to visit there, so it’s amazing to have you share it in such detail. Thank you!!
Love you!
I just love looking at all your pictures and hearing your stories :). You are SO photogenic! Beautiful :).
wow! everything looks amazing! We haven’t been to either of those places… I’m putting them on my list.
Thanks for sharing!
Thanks for posting all the pictures!!
you really have quite that knack for photography. your pics are just gorgeous.everything looks wonderful.
I love reading your entries and looking at all the pictures. It makes me feel like I was right there. Sounds and looks like the visit is going well.
Thanks so much for sharing….you make me feel like I’m there when I read this. Your a great writer! *Hugs*
Oh how beautiful. I would love to visit other countries.
Once again you have wonderful pictures. The scenes are all beautiful.
This is really where the history comes from. Awesome castles and awesome pictures! I bet your parents really enjoyed this trip.