Castles & Cathedrals.
Our house is about a 15 min walk into town, which is easy on a nice day, and there are a couple of local sites the hubs and I have wanted to see since we moved here. But when our friends decided to visit, we thought we'd wait until their trip so we could be first-timers right along with them. So we loaded up the strollers and headed in for lunch at a spot we'd been dying to try: Villa Borgnis. It's a restaurant located right in the center park in Königstein. The food was amazing and we'll definitely be heading back for their Sunday Brunch one of these weekends.
From there we walked/hiked/pushed strollers [and maybe whined a little] up the hill to Burg Königstein, the fortress ruins that overlook the whole town. You can learn more about it, the rest of our town and why we decided to live in Königstein here! Once we made it up to the top of the hill...we realized [like total Americans] that we didn't have any Euros. You'll find that many places here don't accept major credit cards and either accept ONLY the EC debit cards or cash. Well, this museum was one of those places. SO...we sent the boys back down the hill to the ATM and took in the view while waiting for their return. [We can laugh about it now, can't we, husbands?]
Once we were actually able to explore the ruins, we were taken aback by its massive size and spent our time imagining what each room might have looked like and what purpose each may have served when this fortress was actually the primary protection for the town.
We walked all the way up to the tippy-top-tower [taking turns boys-vs.-girls-style so we didn't have to lug the little ones]. The boys shot a cool pic looking down on us & we had our own little photo shoot while we were standing on top of the world.
Our little Kings of Königstein.
After our staycation day in Königstein im Taunus, we packed up 2 babies, 2 car seats, 2 strollers, 2 pack and plays, like a hundred diapers, bottles, extra outfits and a bunch of emergency snacks [for the mommies, daddies and babies] in 2 cars and headed out for a 2 hr drive to Düsseldorf.
We knew we wanted to show our friends another area of Germany, but after their long travel + all the aforementioned packing, we also knew we wanted to keep the transit short. While Düsseldorf may not be the first city that comes to mind when thinking of German destinations, its not one to be missed. Düsseldorf is the 7th largest city in Germany and known for its festive Carnival celebration each year, its production of an old German-style beer called Altbier, its fantastic shopping streets and its location just beside the Rhine River. We stayed at an airbnb in the Altstadt area within walking distance of many shops and restaurants.
It was a bit chillier the 2 days we were in Düsseldorf, but we were still able to be out walking around comfortably. We stopped for lunch first, and after the drive in, I can tell you we were all experiencing the familiar disorder known as 'HANGRY.' We headed straight into Alstadt and selected the first, cutest restaurant we saw. We didn't take many pics at that first location, but the food and service was great so, if in Dusseldorf, head to the Hausbar.
After lunch we walked toward the Rhine Promenade. We were in Dusseldorf on a weekday, so many of the spots you see in these pics are way less crowded than they are likely to be on a weekend, especially in the warm weather months!
There are rows & rows of restaurants and bars that I can imagine are PACKED on the weekends.
We found a really cute nautical-looking spot called Weisse Flotte [translates to White Fleet] and stopped for a little happy hour. Funny tidbit - at 3/4 restaurants we stopped at in Dusseldorf our server was Italian! I just love living in a place where so many cultures and languages mix & mingle!
-- And now ... a classic set of J & L pics. He protests, yet another photo opp, and I roll my eyes --
From what I have experienced, so far, Europe is very baby-friendly. Asher makes lots of friends wherever he goes and we haven't had any trouble sitting down at a cafe or just doing the baby things necessary to get through the day. Plus Asher is an amazing little traveler. We're lucky that he loves [& often prefers] being out and about. He is flexible and patient [most of the time] and I hope that, even though he won't remember all of our travels, this experience will have instilled in him a sense adventure that keeps him curious and open to seeing new things throughout his life.
His [cute as a button] buddy, Walter, was an awesome little tourist too. The fact that our first visitors brought a baby was amazing. A & W [how cute is that..?] are so close in age and were basically synced up for sleeps, eats and play breaks. It was like raising twins for the week -- except we had 4 adults to trade off -- so that's actually not at all like raising twins, but still it was so cute seeing them together.
After some more shopping and galavanting around town...
...we headed back home to get the babes ready for beddy and sent the dudes for take-out! We got out the door in time for lunch the next day and headed to Cologne [Köln] to witness the marvelously majestic and historic Cologne Cathedral, Hohe Domkirche Sankt Petrus. The development of the cathedral dates back to the 1200s and it was considered to be in a 'building phase' for another 200 years. It suffered multiple aerial bombs during World War II and while it was badly damaged...it remained standing amongst a city that had been obliterated.
I never thought I would be the cathedral scouting sort of tourist...but I have definitely become one. I am just in awe of all the details.
I'll spare you the details of the traffic & baby tunes we were forced to endure on the drive home, but nevertheless, we SO enjoyed our mini getaway and I will definitely be going back to Dusseldorf [in the probably very near future] for another shopping excursion.
Up next, more pictures of our cute babies.
Embrace the Wilde,
lindsey
