Sunday, September 1, 2013

Château Fort de Fleckenstein

When we started discussing our summer family vacation, I mentioned that I would like to see my German sister, Susi, maybe some mountains, and I would like to take the kids to Venice.  Pierre pored over many guide books and concocted a plan.  We have just returned from  16 nights on the road and we managed to do all those things and more.  Hurray for Pierre!
 We began our trip at Château Fort de Fleckentein.  It is in Alsace right on the German border and about half the visitors spoke French and half German.  The original fortress goes back to the 12th century.  The castle is perched up in the mountains.  There are three other fortresses nearby and you can hike the whole circuit in a day.
They had a great kids quiz that led us through the forest and the castle.  It took several hours and we learned all about the history of the fort and the area.  There were some bizarre sound effects involved; the giant made terrifying noises.
 My photos of the château are not great.  If you visit the website you will get a better idea of what it is like.
 Determined and strong 
They are following the clues!
 This wheel acted like a giant pulley.  If someone ran around inside of it like a hamster,  she could lift things into the château.
 The night before we left, Pierre biked to the store and bought two pairs of binoculars.
 I guess this is kind of France's part of the Black Forest.


Cheers!  To the beginning of a fantastic vacation.
School starts Tuesday!  La rentrée!

1 comment:

  1. Hurray Pierre!

    It is wise to be married to a guidebook-lover.

    "Pored over."

    ReplyDelete