Day One and Two: Burg Eltz Castle & Trier, Germany
We started our vacation by landing in Frankfurt Germany and hopping on the train to the city of Trier where we first met and joined our tour group and guides. We found it surprisingly easy to ride the train system from Frankfort to Trier even after a long night of travel and no sleep. After an orientation tour of the city where we familiarized ourselves with the historic sites of St. Peter's Cathedral, Aula Palatina, and Porta NIgra, we met for a welcome dinner and acquainted ourselves with the rest of our tour members. We truly had a great crew and were excited about what the rest of our travels would hold.
After a much needed night of sleep, we met with a local German guide who further educated us on the history on one of the oldest German cities (Trier). It was great to hear about the history of the city from a local and also to learn how the city's past has influenced her everyday life today. Day 2 was our first bus ride in which we first stopped for lunch at Beilstein which was a quaint town along the Moselle river. "Adorable" is not a word we use often to describe a town, but it certain fits the description of Beilstein with its hillside vineyards and beautiful flowers. We, then, picked up and drove off to Burg Eltz Castle. We were shocked to find that the castle is still privately owned and remains a private residents to this day (so special thanks to the family for letting us tour your home !) The castle was much larger than anticipate and we actually only saw a few of the >100 rooms within the castle. We can hardly fathom how such a large estate was built without the modern technologies we have today, which makes the castle even more incredible.