Billy's all-star baseball team won their tournament here in Stuttgart in June. The regional tournament is held in Kutno, Poland about 12 hours away from here. At first we weren't going to go because we had a trip planned for the next week, but we decided to go for it!! Since the drive is long, we divided it up and drove to Berlin for our first stop. On the way we stopped at the site of Buchenwald concentration camp near Weimar, Germany. It was a moving experience. Then on to a whirlwind day and a half in Berlin......amazing!!
The gate that separates the prisoners and the guards, translated: "Each to his own".
Two powerful symbols of the concentration camp/ The pole represents the punishment the prisoners endured, and the cart signifies the forced manual labor.
This area was named the "little camp". In the next picture you can read about the significance of the site we were standing on.
A kilometer down the road there is a memorial site for Buchenwald. The view from this area was spectacular.
This sculpture was enormous and really moving.
ON TO BERLIN!! We arrived in the early evening, found our hotel, and drove into the center of Berlin. We parked just a few blocks from the Brandenburg Gates. We were in awe...this place is such a historic symbol of the entire cold war and it was amazing to stand where President Reagan gave his historic speech.
And yes, we do the silly touristy photo op. things too.
On the Spree river next to the Reichstag building. 
The Reichstag building dedicated to the German people. This building is quite a work of architecture. The top of the building is a glass dome which you can walk up to the top of and get a beautiful view of the whole city.
In the center of the dome is a tower of mirrors that reflect the light from outside to light the inside of the building. The very top of the dome is open to let the hot air from inside of the building out.
Looking out of the top.
These slabs of marble in front of the Reichstag building have the names of the 96 members of the Reichstag who were murdered by the Nazis.
The next day we decided to get up and wander around the city looking at anything we found interesting. There were only a few things on our must do list. This beautiful fountain was the first thing we stumbled upon. It is called Neptunbrunnen.
The TV tower.
We aren't sure about the history or significance of these towers but they had some very moving pictures of people protesting communism.
The founders of communism, Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels.
The Berlin Cathedral.
The Jewish Memorial. It is a symbolic cemetary with 2,711 gravestones.
The Wall.
Checkpoint Charlie.
The German Cathedral in the Gendarmarkt.
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We stopped in Mettlach, Germany on the way and did a little bit of shopping in the Villeroy and Boch outlet. The town was quaint.
The first thing we did on July 3rd after checking into our hotel, was visit the ruins of the Luxembourg Castle.
There is not much left here from all the bombings but there is enough for the kids to climb and balance on.
Dating back to 1644, these Bock Casemates in Luxembourg are amazing. They are 14 miles long and built as passage ways for times of war. Once called the best defensive fortress in the world beside Gibralter.
Billy.
Looking out from one of the "windows".
The staircases were steep and the original stone steps were well worn and not super easy to walk on.
And now....time for gelato.
Day 2...Happy 4th of July!!!! we head to General Patton's museum.
The museum had a lot of items found over the years in the country. The kids even thought it was interesting!!
On to Vianden, an adorable town nestled in the hills and home of this beautiful castle.
Time for a break from walking.
Inside the castle.
Beautiful architecture.
After the castle, we drove down the hill to a place where we could park and take this chairlift to the top of the mountain.
At the top of the mountain, after walking quite a ways, we found a high ropes course. We didn't have reservations but they said it was a slow day so Bill and the boys could go through the training course and climb. Nolan was awesome, totally conquering fears of heights and ziplines!!!
Poor Katie begged to ride this four wheeler, maybe next year Katie!!!!
Great job Nolan.
Billy loved this part of our trip and vowed to not complain at castles in the future if we can do more stuff like this.
Nolan did great with very little help from the "big boys" with his carabiners hooking and unhooking.
Towards the end, Nolan got a bit tired and decided to take a break on Bill's head.
Perhaps as close as Bill will get to surfing while we live in Europe.
Bye-bye Vianden, oh beautiful little town.
Day three, the American Cemetary in Hamm, Luxembourg.
6,000 Americans are buried here from World War II.
General Patton is buried here.
The cemetary is beautifully manicured and quite a memorial to those who fought for freedom.
Grevenmacher, Luxembourg. Butterfly garden. The kids loved this. There were butterflies everywhere, a honeycomb swarming with bees, and beautiful flowers. This was a great spot to take the kids.
Last stop...Bernard Massard wine and champagne cellars. We took the thirty minute tour and learned all about bottling and storing champagne. The tasting was fun too of course.
Cheers.
Time for one last ride before we drive home.