Today, we realized several things…1.) The local baker comes to the resort every single morning with fresh breads (mmmm!) and 2.) our GPS only covers Germany. So, our plans to go to a WWII museum were thwarted today….seeing as how we’d have to go into the Netherlands to this museum…without any way of knowing how to get around. It’s very, very crazy getting around here and if we didn’t have our awesome GPS….we would completely be lost. So, because of the GPS issue, we had a change of plans. We read about a very cute town near where we’re staying, so we decided that was where we’d go. It was a gorgeous morning…a perfect day for exploring:
Who needs New England? We’ve got Germany in the Autumn! Sometimes I felt like we were in a fairy tale land…it was just so pretty. We headed to this little town called Monschau. The first stop was a Glass Maker’s studio where we got to watch the artisans at work.
Within the hour they were displaying their artistic prowess, they cranked out 6 different pieces! I thought there would be more glass blowing, but really, these guys knew how to blow the glass very minimally, but yet still get the desired shape. In this picture you can see the artist on the left making a decorative dish while the other artist (on the right) starts on a vase. So, so cool! We bought a vase from them and I can’t wait to fill it with flowers for years to come. Next up was the Monschau Castle Ruins:
This castle was found high up on the hill and was open to us to just explore. There were many nooks and crannies to see.
This is the inside of one of the turrets. So, beautiful.
Look at how small these passageways are!! Can you imagine having to go through those with 80 lbs of armor on? NUTS!
I love all of the stonework. It’s so neat to see…I can only imagine how hard it was to build at the time.
This is the view from the castle walls looking down on the town of Monschau itself. Isn’t this entire scene just gorgeous?!?!! Here are a couple of examples of upper middle class housing in Monschau:
Another example of upper middle class housing here:
You find many homes here with these window boxes filled with flowers. Check out this roof…it’s all actual slate…which is common here:
We walked from the top of the hill down to the town and took a tour of the “Red House” which was home to a textile maker and built back in 1790. They had a 4 story, freestanding, spiral staircase all made of oak. Here’s a close-up of the detail on it:
Next, we went to the “photography museum” where they had quite the collection of cameras and this little goodie from 1940:
It’s a camera that was in a Spitfire from WWII. Totally neat find for Keith. Walking back up to the car, we saw this on a trash can:
Hahahhahaaa!! That cracked me up!
So, overall…it was a perfect day. And as we drive down the highway, the new trees, the windmills and the fluffy clouds were a perfect ending.