Walhalla

Our next adventure was to Walhalla!

Walhalla is located near Regensburg, Germany. It sits above the beautiful Danube River. Walhalla is a temple surrounded by columns. The kids told me that it reminded them of the Lincoln Memorial building in Washington D.C. The architecture and sculpting of the building, pillars, and statues are just pristine.

Walhalla was built under the order of the Bavarian King Ludwig I. King Ludwig built this temple of remembrance for German-speaking men and women of outstanding merit as an inspiration for the nation. Walhalla was named after the warriors' paradise of Germanic mythology, Valhalla.

Walhalla was built by King Ludwig I's favorite architect, Leo von Klenze. The foundation was laid in 1830 and the building was opened 12 years later in October 1842.

The temple was originally designed to be the 'Hall of Expectation' containing the busts of people to be honored in the future. The walls inside are lined with busts and memorial plaques of individuals chosen by King Ludwig I and his advisors, a selection of rulers, generals, scientists and artists considered exemplary in the 19th century.

Starting in 1962, new busts have been added to the original 96 busts. The selection of the new busts are chosen by the Bavarian Council of Ministers, advised by the Bavarian Academy of Sciences. A few of the busts included inside are I. Kant, J.W. von Goethe, Sophie Scholl, W.A. Mozart, H.S. von Hallwyl, and many more.

~Walhalla is open April - October 9:00 a.m. - 5:45 p.m. November - March 9:00 a.m. - 3:45 p.m.
~Closed on January 1, Shrove Tuesday & December 24, 25, & 31
~Admission Fee into Walhalla is 4 Euros per person.
~There are no guided to tours but there is an audio guide available in German and English for about 5 Euros.
~There are many signs around the building and on the building directed to the "Danger of Accident". There are some big drop offs where anyone that falls (especially unsupervised children) could be gravely injured.

Another great exploration for our family! So glad that we can share it on here with all of our family and friends.

Until next post......Get out, Explore the World that we live in! ♥

Flossenburg Concentration Camp and Castle Ruins

For our first real exploration in Germany, we were lucky enough to have my cousins show us around Flossenburg! First stop was Flossenburg Concentration Camp.

Flossenburg was where a Nazi concentration camp was built in May 1938. 

The camp was liberated by the U. S. Army in April 1945. 

About 100,000 prisoners passed through the camp. At least, 30,000 prisoners died at the camp.

There are a couple memorial buildings on the site that are educational and very impactful. The Memorial is opened to the public March - November 9:00 a.m. - 5:00 p.m. and December - February 9:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m. On December 24/25/26 and 31 and on January 1 the Memorial is closed. From December through March the crematorium is not accessible. Admission to the Memorial grounds and the exhibitions is free.
The Memorial offers a guided tour, for groups, of the Memorial grounds in English. The tour takes at least 2 hours, and includes the former roll grounds and the "prisoners' bath".

After the Concentration Camp, our next stop was the Flossenburg Castle ruins.

The entrance to the path, to the ruins, is a bit hidden away. The trail is right behind the cemetery. Take the path up to where it splits into two trails, take the path to the right and it will lead you up a large  hill straight to the ruins.

The Burg Flossenburg Ruins are gorgeous! With absolutely amazing views. The kids LOVED running around and climbing and exploring. Things they can do only at ruins, rather than fully intact castles.

The construction of the castle had started around the year 1100. It was destroyed during the Thirty Years' War and never renovated. 
Today it is considered to be one of the most beautiful ruins in all of the Upper Palatinate. 

The above picture is the tower and we were lucky enough to have a beautiful day to climb to the top and check out the amazing views! You can see so far from the top and the country is absolutely breath taking.

Entrance to the ruins is absolutely free and opened every day, all year long. I highly suggest checking out these two places and enjoying your time in beautiful Flossenburg. Amazing ruins, views, and the weather was perfect for us!! 

For our first exploration trip......I don't think it could have went better. We are excited to get out and do some more exploring! 

Until next post......get out and explore the world you live in! 

Our First 3-day Weekend of Exploration

So a couple of weekends ago, we were able to go for a little exploration near by! We got our house and our car and decided, "what a better time to explore". Thankfully, I also have a cousin (Aaron) and his family (Kim, Kaylee, and Keldon) that just happen to be stationed in Stuttgart, Germany and so they drove up to Vilseck to show us around a little bit for a couple days. We started our voyage, on Friday, driving towards Amberg, Germany!

On our way to Amberg, Aaron and Kim showed us some of the German equivalent stores to Walmart, Lowes, Ace hardware, furniture stores, grocery stores, pet stores, liquor stores, etc. Then we went into Market Square in Amberg. We got to see the beautiful buildings, churches, fountain, and bridge. We even got to try the ice cream! Can I say, the Germans do some AMAZING ice cream! After walking around Market Square checking out all the stores and enjoying our ice cream, we headed back home.

The next day, Saturday, Aaron and Kim picked us up again and we were on our way exploring. Aaron was in charge of where we were going and what we were seeing/doing. So he took us to Flossenburg, Germany. Flossenburg is beautiful. Our first stop was the Flossenburg concentration camp. Talk about an emotional visit. The amount of deaths and torture that was experienced on those grounds makes you think twice about how good we have it now.

After the concentration camp, we walked up to the Flossenburg Castle Ruins. The ruins were full of history and destruction but oddly enough it was gorgeous! We climbed to the top of the tower and the view from up there was breathtaking! We had so much fun exploring the ruins and taking in the views. Aaron and Kim needed to head home so we headed back towards home. (Thank you again to Aaron and Kim for taking time out of their lives to take us around and spend time with us! Can't wait to do it again.)

On Sunday, we decided to explore on our own as a family! Mike, the kids, and I all drove up to Walhalla. Walhalla is a type of 'hall of fame' for influential people in German history. It contains busts of these people. The building is amazing and inside is even more detailed. Also, just like most places in Germany, the view is remarkable!

We had fun at Walhalla and then we headed back home to catch Alice in Wonderland: Through the Looking Glass at the theater here on post! Needless to say, our first 3-day weekend was so much fun and quite the adventure. Can't wait for the next one!

Check back soon for more detailed posts on each of the places we went during this weekends exploration! Get out and explore!