Holly's visit - Cochem

Dear All,
This has been a busy and a fun 10 days.  Mother and Holly have fed their Weihnachtsmarkt addiction by going to 5 different Christmas markets in 5 different cities.  Holly came out of the airport about 10:00 in the morning, and by about 2:00 we were on our way to the Christmas market here in Frankfurt.  We took the Strassenbahn just for the memory.  Walked a bit around town, and showed Holly our glass mall, then it was off to the market.  Mother introduced Holly to Gluwein mugs, and so now both Holly and we have a new collection of mugs.  Getting all this stuff home will be a trip.  When we came to Germany this time the older missionaries told us about all the stuff they had bought over the time of their missions.  We said will we have enough so we won't be buying much, their response was "oh yes you will" - they were right!  

The next day we went to a little town on the Rhine River called Cochem.  We saw  the a live reenactment of the Christmas story which was done at the castle.  It was a nice experience and the pictures of the valley below, and the castle were great.  We really like the castle in Cochem, it's  the Reichsburg Castle.  Here are some of the pictures we took while there in Cochem and at the castle.

This is on the Market Square in the city.  These buildings are 3-400 years old, on the far right  you can see a more modern building.

Mother and Holly are standing by the old city square well or fountain.  At one time the villagers came here to get water each day.  The well is on the other side of the square from the buildings in the previous picture.

This is the Reichsburg Castle.  The Keep is the tall tower with the mural of St. Christopher painted on it.

Here is another view of the castle

Holly and I standing in one arch way or castle gate with another in the background. 

Holly and I standing by the castle wall with the small town of Cochem below.  The Town is on both sides of the river

Here is mother and Holly as they are sat the castle entrance.  The castle was stated to be built in 1051.  The original was added to over the years, and has been in its present form since the 1800s.  We had a wonderful day here with Holly, and then we drove back to near Frankfurt to a "Schnitzel Factory" for dinner.

We love you all,

Oma und Opa