Castle excursions

Last Friday I was able to take a tour of Schloss Benrath, a nearby castle located in the south of Dusseldorf.  I went with a group called the Moving Circle which includes various women from different nationalities who live in the Dusseldorf area.  This castle is a late baroque castle from the 1700's.  We toured the inside which contained beautiful rooms containing marble and wood floors, hand paintings on the walls and ceilings along with some beautiful wall coverings.  We were unable to take pictures inside in order to preserve the beauty.

Then, on Saturday, our family took a drive to another castle near Mark's work called Schloss Burg on the Wupper.  Mark showed us where he works in Burscheid which was on our way to the castle.

 

Next, we headed to Schloss Burg on the Wupper.  This castle is high up on a hill overlooking a town called Unterburg and in between is the Wupper river.  This castle is like a fortress from the mediaval times.  Much of the inside of the castle was a museum which included realistic impressions of culture from the Middle Ages and Renaissance.

Just inside the castle where you can see the lights on in the above picture, there is a chapel and a big banquet hall.  They were setting up for a wedding reception inside the hall.  What a beautiful place for a wedding reception or party!

 Here are some examples of what the museum had on the inside.

 Vivian and Jack received some swift punishment for misbehaving in the castle!  Ha ha ha...

 There was a chair lift available to take from the town of Unterburg to the castle.  We decided to take it for fun and to enjoy the view.  The chair lift goes across the Wupper river at the bottom.

The Wupper River.

 The town of Unterburg below.

Over the river and through the woods...

To the new St. George's School we go!  Vivian and Jack went back to school today.  We walked over the river and through the woods to get there.  It's nice that it is so close to our house.  The new school campus has pre-school through 12th grade, but only the pre-school through 5th Grade moved to the new campus for now.  The rest of the campus is still undergoing major construction as you can see in the pictures below and should be ready in a couple more months for the older students to join them.

 

We get to take a nature hike to school.

Their playground consists of all mud for now!

 The building on the left is the gym and will painted yellow when it is finished.  The building in the back with the red roof is where Vivian and Jack's classrooms are and the front building will be administration and higher grades.  There is another building off to the far right for higher grades too.

 Heading back home.  It was a good first day!

Happy Holidays in Bonita Springs, Florida

Mark flew home to Michigan a week before our Christmas vacation and met the kids and I in Florida on December 17. The flight home was the longest the kids and I had ever flown - 11 hours.  But, we made it and we were happy to have a direct flight to Fort Meyers!  We stayed with my parents in Bonita Springs for a couple of weeks and we were able to see my sister, Kathy, and her family because they were staying right down the road at her in-laws house for the holidays.  Our friends from Michigan, the Baumann's, came down to stay in Bonita Springs the week before Christmas so we were able to do a lot with them too.  We also took a drive north to see Mark's Dad, his wife, and his brother and sister-in-law.

Vivian and Kori Baumann hanging out on the bow of the boat.

 Eli Baumann and Jack at the pool.  
Eli made Jack a "BFF" bracelet made out of shells.

Hanging out at the pool with Papa and Nana.

Eli, Murphy, and Jack swimming in the pool. 

This ball got tons of use at the pool and the beach!

Baumann's and Kennedy's enjoying the beach sunset. 

 We all went to Fort Myers beach to go para sailing.

 Kathy, Ella, Murphy, and Jenna.

Mark, Kris, Vivian, and Jack

 Chad, Shawn, Kori, and Eli

Yup, we finally talked Dad into taking Mom para sailing!
They went the next day at Bonita Beach.

All the grandkids opening their stockings.
Santa was able to locate all of the kids in Florida!

We went to Wynsma's house for a wonderful Christmas dinner... 

 and all the kids performed a nice Christmas play.

 The kids had fun tubing behind the boat in gulf.
(pictured: Murphy and Jack)

We visited Mark's family in Sebring.

Bye Bye sunny Florida...

Hello Drizzledorf!

We were so happy to be able to go back to the US for Christmas.  We had a great time with family and friends.  The adjustment back to Germany has been difficult with the time change and weather.

Mark is toughing it out at work, but, the kids were lucky to have another week to get used to the time change since they don't start school until January 11.  They are excited to see their school friends and check out their new school building!