The Meier's German Adventure

We had a great day, bought a couple of Eggs that we will always treasure and explored part of German culture. The town seems so charming that it will be a perfect place to spend a warm, sunny afternoon.

See what I mean? They don't just dip them in PAAS !

I bought one from this artist with Frohe Ostern carved on it - which means Happy Easter.

The art of decorating Easter Eggs is a centuries old European tradition. It is amazing to see what talent and a steady hand can create out of eggs! It was not just chicken eggs either, there were also goose, ostrich and even pigeon eggs! We had never seen anything like these eggs!

This is Michelstadt! It's a little medieval town about an hour from our house in the Odenwald region. Doesn't it look like something you would see in Busch Gardens? The building with the red spired roof is the Old Town Hall which is up on stilts. Presumably, the open space was used to hold public meetings. The pink building to the left of the picture is the new town hall - the Rathaus. We came to Michelstadt to go to the towns Easter Egg Market.

Look what we found on the way home! For lunch we decided to stop in Trier, Germany. Trier is the oldest city in Germany. This is the original gate to the city from the Roman times. Wow! We just found the gate that is over 2,000 years old! I love Europe! We picked up a guide book on Trier after lunch. Trier is only about 1 1/2 ours from our house with lots more there to see.

One last shot from Luxembourg City. The kids are standing in front of The Three Acorns. Its another old fortification that is currently being restored. It was such a great trip and so close!

This was Scott's favorite picture from the castle - love the TV antennae!

We woke up this morning to a few inches of snow! After a good breakfast at the hotel we had a few more things to see before leaving Luxembourg. This is a picture of the Ruins of Hesperange Castle. This castle was definitely different - the houses are built right up against it! We couldn't even go inside the castle - or we would have been in people's homes!

Here is another shot of the casemates. Built in 1644 while the fortress was under Spanish domination, the casemates are a honeycomb of damp chambers and connecting tunnels hewn from the belly of the Bock. Originally 23km (14mi) of subterranean defensive passageways, some as much as 40m (131ft) deep, the casemates were soon the envy of Europe's warmongers - so much so that they earned Luxembourg the nickname 'Gibraltar of the North'. Unfortunately for us, the casemates are closed during the winter. Which means when some nice weather arrives - it will be back to Luxembourg! After this we found a small little restaurant to grab some dinner. It was great! They love Americans here - unlike the French they are still grateful to us for their liberation. When we were seated, a man at the bar - George - asked us if we were from the States. Of course, with the state of the world we are always a little leary about questions like this, but not in this case. George LOVES the States. He visited America about 16 years ago - and was raving about our beer! "America has the best beer - Budweiser! Its so good!" He gave us the thumbs up! We liked George.

This is a shot of Scott and the kids walking along some of the old city fortifications. These walls and casemates are amazing. The city has a gorge that runs thru it and the fortifications were built from there. They are really tall even though it is hard to see in the pictures.

Here are the kids and I standing outside of one of the Palace gates.

Once outside the Cathedral, it was just a short walk to the Palace of the Grand Duchy. The capital was founded in about 963 and this is the official residence of the Grand Duke, since 1574. Even though the Grand Duke is inside, near this entrance was only one guard. Here is in the picutre walking down towards Kaitlyn. I think he just did his fancy walk/march to give us something cool on the camcorder!

After we left the American Cemetery, we checked into our hotel which was terriffic! From there we started to discover Luxembourg City. Our first stop was Luxembourg's Notre Dame. It was very pretty, although not too large.

The cemetery, 50.5 acres in extent, is situated in a glade enframed by spruce, beech, oak and other trees. It is one of 14 permanent WWII cemeteries erected on foreign soil. There are 5,076 Americans buried here, among them General Patton. I found it fitting that he lies here - with his soldiers/heroes from the Battle of the Bulge.

It's another long weekend, February 18, 2005, and we went exploring ! This trip was to the country of Luxembourg. It was less than 3 hours away to our destination of Luxembourg City. Before we checked into the hotel we stopped just outside the city to pay our respects to thousands of American soldiers that were laid to rest after World War II.

Jake mentioned that he wished that this was our church. He thought it would be cool to come here for mass on Sunday - I would have to agree! After we left the cathedral it was time for lunch. We found a great little restaurant where we warmed up and had a great meal in a friendly atmoshpere. We were lucky that the menu was written in French and German so we could figure out what to order! The 3,000 year old town got her beginnings back in Roman times and is still thriving. It was a really pretty place to visit. Unfortunately, it was really cold this day so that is all the exploring that we could manage. It is only a little over an hour away so when the weather is nice, its definitely a place we will visit again!

There are over 1 1/2 acres of stained glass windows in the cathedral! They make it one of the brightest and warmest churches. It is also one of France's tallest cathedrals. It rises 137 feet from the floor to ceiling. We all just walked around in side with such awe. The kids were pretty impressed when we explained that this was built hundreds of years ago without cranes or any modern machines - okay, so that impressed all of us!

This morning we all got up early and went to Metz, France for the day! We began our day at the Metz Flea Market. This market is a very popular antique market that has everything from beautiful furniture form the 1700s to your usual knickknacks and some unidentified objects as well. We managed to make a few purchases - one being a beautiful French antique that now houses the kids video collection. once we were done shopping we went into the town center to go exploring. Of course - we found an amazing cathedral! The first picture is of me and the kids standing outside of the Cathedrale St. Etienne. This 12th century cathedral is known for its stained glass windows which make it one of the most beautiful in all of Europe.