The Whitehills: Christmas in Cochem

On Saturday, Scott and I arranged to have Damien stay with our daycare people so we could go on a trip to Cochem (pronounced "coke-hem"), Germany on a tour offered through Ramstein. The events included visiting the Christmas market, a castle tour, and a medieval style-dinner with entertainment.

We were really looking forward to this tour, but there were quite a few things together that ruined the trip for us:

1. We knew it was going to be cold, but since we didn't get to see the castle until after the Christmas market shopping, it was too dark to really see anything outside of the castle.
2. There were TOO MANY PEOPLE! It slowed everything down because you were waiting on them. And then during the castle tour, I couldn't see or take pictures of everything I wanted to because people were everywhere.
3. People are RUDE!!! During the dinner, the King guy was giving information throughout the meal about table manners or just facts about the time period, but people wouldn't stop talking or there was an a-hole playing videos on his cell phone so I couldn't hear most of it. Then on the bus ride back, I went to recline my seat and the lady behind me asked if I could move it back. If I was more assertive, I would have said something like, "you have your seat reclined...the guy in front of me has his seat reclined, why I am not allowed to be more comfortable?"
4. Then there were other things...the bus was too warm and uncomfortable. We were supposed to be home by 1am and didn't get back until a little after 2am.

I guess since we never get to do anything fun, I wanted this to go well. Looking back at the pictures though, I'm glad we went and got the opportunity to experience something new.

Castle in Cochem

Castle from streetview. We walked up there...

Houses across the Mosel River

Around the Christmas market

View of Mosel River from the Castle

Looks orange due to orange lighting

It was hard to take pictures since it was so dark


This design is all about symmetry. The door on the right is fake, but it's there to match the door on the left (not shown).

I think the titles are Dutch??

Ceiling

Another ceiling. This one depicts 4 women on horses. Each one has a virtue written next to it.

Weird mermaid thing. There's a spot beneath the arms (used to be red) that you're supposed to touch for good luck.

Looking up from a stairwell

Hunting trophies

Tour guide showing us how the door handles were made to help guide the keys down to open the door...because they drank a lot of wine.

The table with the red fabric is a games table. Currently has an old backgammon box on it.

Giant knight

Dining area for Medieval feast

To wash hands before a meal, the servant would bring around a bucket of water.

Pictures now taken with iphone (lower quality)

The Entertainment--The two guys singing and playing instruments

They chose a guy from the dinner to be chained to a wall (for just 2 min). They used to write the person's crimes and post it next to the person being punished so people around would know what the person did wrong. Too hard to see in this pic.

The Knight games. This competition is to see who can saw through the log the fastest. There was also a singing competition and something I can't remember.