Travels: Belgium & Germany

My daughters had Fall Vacation last week and my husband thought it would be nice to make a little road trip to our neighboring countries instead of a flight vacation to a sunny place. We bought a Lonely Planet of Germany, since we already had one of Belgium, and looked for a couple of places we could go to. We started in Leuven and Mechelen in Belgium. 

Our first day was in Leuven, a beautiful University Town, were we did some sight seeing, shopping and eating in a delicious restaurant totally dedicated to burgers (also vegetarian, yay!)

Next day we went to Mechelen. Also a beautiful little city, but more of the same. Because it was a Sunday everything was closed, so after a coffee and a visit to Saint Rombaut's Cathedral we went on our way to Technopolis, a sort of science museum for kids with lots of experimental things to try. 

My daughters asked if they could burn a little candle in the cathedral and told me afterwards that they burned a candle for Poekie (our cat), Little Grandma (my grandmother) and Tiger (the cat of my friend), who aren't alive anymore. So hilarious and super cute at the same time. Love it.

The next day we drove to the Belgian Ardennes, a corner of the country with lots of outdoor sport possibilities. My husband and daughters wanted to do via ferratas, ziplines and abseil routes. Me not, having fear of heights. 

When we arrived the weather was not that good, with dribbling rain that seemed to be not that much, but drenched you all the way. Fortunately (especially for me, the photographer that would be standing still most of the time) the tour was double booked, so we had to go next day, which happened to be a perfectly sunny day. 

Instead of climbing we went to the Grottes de Han. 

Next day, after the climbing, we went to Durbuy, a beautiful little town (smallest city in the world, according to lots of flyers, leaflets and hand outs that we couldn't avoid) and to Weris, to look for 'menhirs and dolmen', being large stones, as seen in the comics of Asterix & Obelix.

The next morning we left for Germany. On Pinterest I found a super large suspension bridge and although I didn't look forward to crossing the bridge myself, I thought my daughters would love it. The bridge is about 360 meters long and I crossed it, but with my eyes closed.

What I thought the most beautiful, were all the colors of fall. Unfortunately it was a bit misty, so the colors aren't very bright in this picture.

 There wasn't much to do besides the bridge, so after walking to the other side and back, we went back to the car and drove to the town where we had booked a hotel room. Next day we would be visiting Burg Eltz, a very old castle that looked very beautiful in the pictures. 

 There were two ways to reach the castle: by shuttle bus or by foot. It was only a 1 kilometer walk along a beautiful path, from which you had great views to the castle. If you ever go here, go by foot (unless you can't walk for some reason of course). It was even more beautiful than the pictures I had seen. We went inside to do the tour, but unfortunately it wasn't allowed to take pictures from the interior. If I had to point out what I liked the most in this week long road trip, I would say it was this castle!

Afterwards we did a little walking tour around the town where we stayed. I took some pictures of the 'vakwerkhuisjes', as the houses are called. 

And then time was up and next day we went home, but not after visiting the Haribo Fabrik Verkauf, the place to be for kids who like awful candies that are just jellies with food coloring and food flavouring substances. And which kid doesn't like that?