After breakfast, and hanging around the house, we drove about 45 minutes, between Koblenz and Trier, to Eltz Castle. We wound through a patchwork of fields that eventually led to a forest. The parking lot for Eltz castle was in the forest but we still couldn't see the castle; we wondered where we would find it. A shuttle bus took us down a winding road, and as we rounded a corner the forest opened up into a wide ravine, half way down Eltz castle sat looking like it was straight out of a fairytale. Far below the castle a stream, branching off of the Mosel, flows past making the setting even more beautiful.

Eltz castle is unique for a variety of reasons. It is still owned by a branch of the same family that owned it in the 12th century! 33 consecutive generations of private ownership by the same family! The castle throughout history, and up to the present is jointly owned by three parts of the family branch. This was done for financial reasons because not many Lords owned enough land to support a castle on their own. Today two parts of the family leave their portion of the castle open to the public, and the third family still lives in their part of the castle.

We walked up to the castle and into a small courtyard. To take a tour we rang a doorbell on one of the enormous castle doors. A young man answered, and told us to meet back in the courtyard in a half hour.

While we waited we walked onto the terrace and enjoyed the view of lush forests surrounding the castle.

We were very happy with the tour because it was a small group, and we were up close to everything in each room. The other castles we visited kept us back further with ropes.

The rooms of the castle are authentically furnished. Parts of the castle have heating in each room, and toilets that were flushed out by the roof gutters carrying rain water; both uncommon features in castles of that time. Our tour took us through many doors. Each time we entered a new room the kids would look around for a door to see where we might be going next. Passing through the doorways were often stairs winding us up or down into a new room. We only saw a small portion of the castle, which was hard to believe because what we saw was enormous.

After our tour we stopped at the gift shop, and then at the cafe in a terrace overlooking the creek below. Tim and I enjoyed a beer and thought the beer glasses were so nice that we bought a box of them to bring home.

We followed stairs leading down to the creek. Wild flowers, the sound of birds and running water all made the experience enchanting. Mariah and I thought about all the princesses in the past that must have loved this spot. We all cooled our feet in the creek enjoying the peaceful atmosphere and the view of the castle above us. The kids skipped stones, and dropped huge rocks in the water seeing who could get the biggest splash while I tried to catch pictures of the splashes on my camera. The sun was low in the sky giving the ravine a golden glow.

We had taken a shuttle to the castle but decided to walk out, following the road to the car park.

At home the kids watched a movie and we went for a walk. The town was predictably sleepy except for a few people at the local pub. We stopped in and ordered some wine. The pub owner, a tired looking man, said the pub has been in the family since 1628. We chatted with a few people and then walked about 40 paces to our rental house - nice location!

Another beautiful day in Germany.