Heidelberg

Lately Matt had been going to a bunch of different trainings and conferences. On a couple of them we decided to tag along and do some sight seeing. It has been really fun, and gotten us out of our little sphere. That is how we ended up here...in Heidelberg, for a weekend.

The main attraction for me was, yep, you guessed it, Schloss Heidelberg.

It is actually this huge fortress up on the side of the mountain. Unfortunately they are in the middle of reinforcing some of the towers, so there is scaffolding everywhere. This schloss was the last stand down between Germany and their mortal enemy...France. The French border is actually only about 80 Kilometers from Heidelberg. Anyway, this structure has seen many battles and was struck by lightening many times. Hannah thought it looked like it had been burned up by a dragon attack. Heidelberg decided not to rebuild it, but to reinforce it so it doesn't continue to crumble away.

This is how you get to the schloss and the top of the mountain, by cable car. You can drive up and park too...but this way is much more exciting.

Here we are, inside the cable car, riding it up the side of the mountain. I am not sure what is up with Hannah. Lately she has been very opposed to having her picture taken. So most that we have of her she is making a face, in some weird position or a blur. What a goof ball :)

The courtyard

They used this space for lots of different things, the girls favorite was a zoo.

Another view of the courtyard

Crossing the ramparts to the library and main area of the castle

It was fun to learn that Heidelberg at one time had the greatest library in Europe. Until the Roman Empire claimed most of the scrolls and books and took them back to Rome.

Another Warming Oven (see Bamberg's post)

They can be incredibly fancy!

Matt and Hunter in the King's Hall. This room was lovely, and the stained glass was glorious.

They rent out this room for events. I think the senior prom for the American high school in Heidelberg is usually held here...wouldn't that be cool. To go to a prom in a castle.

Apparently Heidelberg boast the biggest wine cast in the world. I am not sure if that is true, but it was very large! There were stairs and a walk way and you could walk above all around it. We are not drinkers, being members of the L.D.S. church, but we were still told it was worth seeing.

As you can probably already tell. I love finding out the stories and the histories of the places we visit. I like to talk to people who work there and find out things that maybe other's don't know. Well, while in Heidelberg castle, I started talking with a security guard, and he told me this tale. It is a sad tale, but unique. Apparently the architecht of Heidelberg castle has twin boys, like me. They were about 6 or 7, and their father would bring them to work with him when he came to the castle. The boys would play and have great adventures. Sadly, one time, there was an accident. From the guards broken english, all I could make out was, there was either a fall or something fell on the boys. They both parished inside the newly constructed halls of Heidelberg Schloss. Above one of the entrance ways is this stone medallion, two angels as a memorial to the twin boys that died.

After exploring the schloss and the market platz, we found a nice Kebab house and got some pizza. We decided to eat outside, and had a lovely view of the old town church that sits in the center of the Market Platz.

Oh how I love Europe!

Bamberg

When we found out that we were moving to Europe, we originally thought we would be moving to the city of Bamberg. However, about two months later (after we found out) our location was changed to where we are now. So we decided to take a weekend and check out Bamberg. Matt also had other motives, since we could stay on base at Bamberg, and there is also a golf course!

The first place we went to was The "Dom", which I think translates too Cathedral but I am not sure. This Dom was named twice, once as St. Peter and then again as St. James or John...I can't remember which. But during the years it just became the Dom. It was built oirginally in 1014, and then slowly added upon through the years by the Prince Bishop's of this region. The original parts of the building are still used today, it is cool to see.

The Dom is HUGE, I tried to take a whole picture of the entire building, but I couldn't fit it all in. Here I am standing maybe 2 blocks away, and I still can't get it all to fit. It is a sight to behold, with four huge steeples to match the ones in that are shown in the picture. It boasts of being one of Germany's finest medieval chapels.

It was fun to see, and we also got to see the crypt of the Emperor Henry ll

While there we toured our first German Palace. It is called the Neue Residenz, or the Residence. This was not the home of Emperor Henry ll, but of later rulers. A succession of Dukes that were also Bishops in the Catholic Church. They, as the ruling parties in the area, called themselves the Prince Bishop's. This room is a personal sitting room. I loved the floors, and the big white statue looking thing is actually a warming oven. They were all so ornate, set in grooves in the wall that were embellished. There is a small door in the outer hall that leads to the inside of these ovens. That way servants can put the wood or fuel in the oven without being seen, and the Prince's can stay warm.

I love old European ceilings.

Miss Anya, Check out the floors, all hand laid and original. They were gorgeous, and got more ornate as you went closer to the throne room and personal apartments. If you look at the floors in the first photo with the warming stove, you will see what I mean. That picture was taken in the dressing or sitting room of the Prince's wife. The floor is very ornate, all done by hand by wood carvers, and original. They have you walk on carpet strips to protect the floors.

This palace boasted of beautiful and ornate Rose gardens

Here is Cora in the Rose Garden's.

Doesn't she look like a flower pixie.

It was a fun trip, but we discovered that Bamberg is Huge, and we are not used to living in a "big city". We decided that we were happy with the change of location. While we live in the "country", there are some robust town's 5 minutes away from us, and the big cities are maybe 15 to 20 minutes away. So, we can go to a city, but enjoy the quiet of country living.

Our German Home

This is the end of our tour of our sweet, little, German house. I think it will provide well for our family during the next few years that we are here. Here are some last shots of the front with our bench and my flower pots.

I loved these petunia's, the moment I saw them! I have never seen them before, but I was walking outside a shop when we first got here, and I saw them. I thought, those are unusual. They are dark purple, almost black, with yellow stripes. Well, soon after I went into the local flower shop, and I saw a pot of these same petunia's. I had to buy them, and the bonus is...they were only 1 euro!

This is my new tin wash tub. I have always wanted one, so I saw one while I was in an antique shop and picked it up.

I love having flowers again. I had them while I was at Fort Irwin, but it was a fight and struggle to keep them alive. I felt like I was battling nature to have flowers there. Here it is so effortless! I literally have planted my flowers and forgot about them...and they are still flourishing beautifully. It. is. awesome!

So that is our home. As I look back at our house, and the pictures and see all the STUFF we have, I laugh. We really haven't bought anything new since we have been here...mainly just Anya's bedroom set and a bench. Everything else we have had for awhile, and it was ALL tucked inside a tiny 1700 square foot, three bedroom home in California. So my questions are...where did it all fit and go? and how did I survive?!!!

Last, at last, The Master

Well, here we are at the end of the tour. I won't bore you with pictures of the attic, all that is up there is storage. So we are at the top floor of the house, the Master bedroom. I remember telling you that I love this bedroom. It is my favorite out of all the room's we have had. I think the only downside of this room at all, is you have to go up two flights of stairs to reach it! But it does have a great view.

some "before" shots

"after" shots

We don't have a bedroom set really, so we kept some army nightstands. We decided to keep the bed in the same spot. It offers the best "air"flow with windows opened in the summer.

Here is a sitting area, which we have really enjoyed so far.

The dressers are at the other end, after the closets (I couldn't get Matt's in the picture...but that is ok, not like it's a matching set or anything:)

This angle is from me standing over by the dressers. We have really nice, built in, wardrobes for Europe.

These are the "after" pictures of the master bath. Nothing much has changed, so I didn't post the before pictures. It's a nice size, even with the steeped roof.

Our shower, and across from it, is a window in the eaves of the roof.

Anya's Room

Anya gets her own room again! She has spent most of her life sharing a room. When we moved to Texas for three years, we had a four-bedroom home. We asked her then if she wanted her own room, thinking we could have Hannah and then Baby Cora share. She told us that she did not want to sleep by herself, and she would just go sleep in Hannah's room on the floor if she was by herself. Well, not wanting to "waist" a room, I let her conitnue sharing with Hannah and Cora got her own room. Flashforward to California, she finally was ready for her own room. That was very shortlived, since the boys joined our family and joined Anya in her room. Now She finally gets her own room, for real. She is so excited!"before"

"after"

Anya got a new bedroom set as well, since the boys took over the one she was using so they will match. We joke with her, that she now has the nicest bedroom in the house. Since Matt and I don't really have a bedroom set (haven't found one we both like yet...it has taken 14 years, wonder how much longer it will take to find one :) Anya really does have the nicest looking bed.

She has ample room for all her stuff. This daughter of mine is a packrat, and now with the addition of her desk...there is plenty of space to hide her aquisitions.

Anya has a few "loves" in life: Dragons, bats, wolfs, and...Pokemon! She is still very much into pokemon. In our last house she had a pokemon wall as well. It was really cute, because we had this awesome little friend, T., who would come over occationally and the first thing he would ask was to see the "pokemon room". Anya loved this, and loved dispersing her vast pokemon knowledge around. The reason I am posting this...Kelly, when you read this, Anya wanted to make sure that T. saw that she still had a pokemon wall in her room.

Go Pokemon!

Girls room and Kid bathroom

Here is the girls room, as we call it. Or the room that Hannah and Cora share.

"before""after"

setting up their bunkbeds really added a lot of space to their room. They have a nice open area as you first walk in to play in or sit in the bean bag chairs to read. There is also another little open area on the other side of their dresser. Hannah wants a desk, we will see about that one. I don't want their room to feel too crowded...

another shot of the little open area with their bean bags and closet.

I didn't change much in the kid's bathroom, so these are both after pictures. I basically just added mats. I do love having a separate shower and bath in kid bathroom. I can have the girls in the tup, Anya in the shower, and be done lickety split. It is awesome.

In California the double sinks were in the Master bath...here the doubles are in the kid's bath and the master just has one :( While I miss my double sinked bathroom, I am finding that I really like having double sinks in the kids bathroom. It has really cut down on arguing over space during teeth brushing and such.

Boys Room

The boys bedroom got a little more cramped since they are now in "big boy" beds.

" before "
" after "
One thing that makes me nervous about the big beds, and having them set up this way, is...the boys like to jump from one bed to the other. We have already had knocked teeth, and bumps on heads. But this set up gave the boys the most room, so I am hoping to encourage them to stop jumping...we will see how it goes?
This is over on the other side of Jack's bed. The boys love this little area by the window. On the other side is a toy box with their toys, and they will just play here for hours soaking up some vitamin D from the floor to ceiling window next to them.