Drachenburg Castle

      Kyra and I went on a super fun adventure this week with our friend Erica. We originally saw the sign for this castle over a year ago when Dustin and I went to Koln for the first time and I just had to go! I love dragons. And Drachen for those of you who don't speak German means Dragon.

Obviously we were not on the train at the time but its a cute little guy!!

View from the bottom glad we didn't try to walk!

One of the little tunnels.

Really pretty tunnel you go through right by the big castle

Kyra and I riding the train up :D

      So Erica and I planned the trip to go out there and see it, since it is only about an hour away! She did more pre-research than me which is good cuz she found out that there was a train that takes you to the top of the mountain. But not just any train the oldest train in Germany!! So very cool! So we rode it to the top where the Drachenfels Ruins are.

"Several legends surround the Drachenfels, most famous of which is the one which recounts that Siegfried – the hero of the Nibelungenlied – killed the dragon Fafnir, who lived in a cave in the mountain, then bathed in its blood to become invulnerable. Hence, the mountain is named the "Dragon's Rock", Drachenfels."


 

View from the top!!

Ruins from just below!

Old Castles are my favorite!!

I can just imagine it in all its glory!

Kyra and I checking out the views!

Kyra in a window!

The fabulous Erica :D <3 br="">

Kyra doing a little castle climbing.

Kyra by one of the monuments

Only way we could get pictures of her was when she was sitting lol poor kids teeth hurt

     The original castle was built as a guard type castle to help protect the Koln area. As it is built on a very high mountain and can see up the river bother ways many miles. It was built in the early 12th century but was later mostly destroyed in the 30 years war with the Swedes. And has since Eroded to not much left.

You could ride a donkey up part of the way!! This little girl was too cute!

The old building we are not sure of its origins but its was cool to me none the less.

Kyra enjoying lunch!

Starting to look a bit like fall out there!

This beauty was next to the building on the hill

Kyra next to the castle!

    We ate lunch at the little cafe they have built up near the remains, enjoyed a glass of wine and watched Kyra freak out over a mouse fun stuff. Than we walked our way back down to the Newer Castle. Along the way we came across this creepy looking old building that was just sitting empty!! I fell in love I dunno why but I thought it was amazing. I am still trying to find some history on what it was.

I dunno the meaning behind the golden deer but hey they are pretty :D

Part of the dining room

Kyra and I in front of the castle!

Erica in front of the castle!

Such a big spiral staircase

Amazing art in the castle

What a beautiful castle!!

The entry way on the castle grounds

Princess Kyra

As proof that she is hitting terrible twos haha one of her fits she threw lol

Dragon head

Dragon head close up!

Erica's room

My room!!

I would certainly be alright with having this bookcase!

The office

Man cave, pool and rifles I think Dustin would be okay with this room :D

Kyras favorite room, this is one of the ones that got a lot of damage during the war.

Womens room, drinks and a great view? YES PLEASE!

Pretty stained glass!

   The Neu-Gothic Drachenburg Castle was built in the late 19th century so is not nearly as old but is currently in a liveable status so was very cool to see. Baron Stephan von Sarter built the castle in just 2 years but never did end up living in it.

  In 1903 his nephew bought the estate and turned it into a summer resort to attract tourists, he had the railroad built to allow people easier access to the mountain top. Much of what he did to make it resort like is how it is now with the restaraunt downstairs, and selling postcards.

   In 1923 the castle was sold to be Christian boy boarding school. And proved very idealistic for them. But was closed down in 1938

    During WWII the castle was taken by Adolf-Hitler The Adolf-Hitler-Schule (AHS 3) – a Nazi elite school – moved into Schloss Drachenburg in 1942. A lot of destruction was done on the building during the war and the Rhine side was completely exposed to the elements.

    The years after the war the castle was used for training, bust mostly underwent a large amount of construction to help bring it back to its original glory.

Schloss Drachenburg was eventually listed as a monument in 1986. And they finished restoring the property to become a tourist attraction once again.


Big thank you to Erica for taking pictures, I took some but she took a lot of the good ones cuz Kyra would run off or I was carrying her!!

If you follow this LINK you will be directed to the webpage of this castle where they have a video of the whole castle. It is however in German but if you want a full amazing view of the castle it is still worth taking a look!!

Necklace holder

As you all know my grandmother recently passed away! September 2nd was her Birthday I thought about her all day. She meant a whole lot to me and her passion for painting as inspired me to finally start putting more focus on my art. It is the one thing that when I am doing it I feel completely like myself. There is nothing like working on a project to relieve all my stress and worries.

So in her honor I am picking up the paint brush more often! I want to carry on her traditions and legends. Painting has never been my strong suit I do better with a pencil than with a paintbrush. But I want to learn and you never get better with out practice.

I thought what a better way to do so than by creating a beautiful necklace holder. All of her granddaughters and of course my mom were all given a chance to take what we loved most from her massive collection of jewelry. It is an honor to have so many beautiful necklaces and they shouldn't be tucked away somewhere. They should be displayed for everyone to see.

So I bought this peg board thing with intentions of making it into something for Kyra's room but than I saw it! It was perfect so I sat down and redid the paint job adding some details to it. All I have left now is to get another wall mount and hang everything up!

Kurbisfest

Pumpkin Pumpkin everywhere!!

Okay so the festival wasn't exactly as pumpkiney as I had expected!! They did have a really cool pyramid of pumpkins, but it was nothing compared to the pumpkin patches we have seen in the USA. Even Hawaii has a bigger patch!!

Plus you don't pick your own pumpkins they already did the picking. But I guess the Germans don't have Halloween in the way we do, so they aren't as excited about getting a pumpkin. For them the pumpkins are for eating and decorating during the fall.

The Pyramid of pumpkins

Kyra and her bestfriend!! Lol hard to get 2 toddlers to look at the camera at the same time.

The beauties of the pumpkin patch!

Lillia insisted on being in our picture!!

We had fun hanging out!! Love all my outings with my love!!

Again with the getting two toddlers to look at the same time is Hard

These two love each other!! I can't believe that Kyra is almost as big as Lillia, and 6 months younger!

The fest was interesting however, they had stands set up all over with cool things to look at and buy, and they even had a stand with all things pumpkin! Like Pumpkin waffles that looked so tasty!

They had pony rides, 4-wheeler rides, tractors to play on, and a hay ride. But sadly all the lines were outrageous even the one for food was moving too slow! So we opted out of doing anything besides walking around and enjoying the sites with the girls!!

Fall Bucket List

So as part of the fall fun, Kyra and I designed a fall bucket list of the top ten fall activities we want to do together!! We than drew them onto a poster board and placed it near the front door so that we can look at it everyday and than make ourselves get around to doing them all by the first of December!! I hope for no early snow so we can make them all happen!!

Here are the pictures of us making our list and the finished results!!

I got a little close and got a mark on my nose!!