A much needed break on Die Mosel - Cochem, Germany

Back to the European vacation: we were in Munich, Germany and about to leave to Bern, Switzerland. We had been on the road 3 weeks, and we were TIRED. I had given us two days in Switzerland, one in Bern and one in Gimmelwald. And then my mom called and said, "Meet us in Cochem!" Cochem was so much closer...and so much easier to get to...

So here's Cochem:

 If you wanted a picture perfect town, you've found it:

 Cochem resides right on the Mosel, (a smaller river coming off the Rhine), a place known for its wine. See the Vineyards in the distance:

 We took a hike up to the castle in Cochem:

 View from the Castle:

 And at the castle they had a falconry class! It was in German, which luckily was easily translated by my mother.

 A very flattering picture of our falconry teacher:

 Alex is keeping his cool with a bird of prey on his head!

Looking back, I'm a little dissapointed that we didn't go to Switzerland, but going to Cochem and spending some time with my family was an unforgettable experience. The first day we arrived we came across a wine festival, where we consumed an unholy amount of the best wine I've ever had, and caught a firework show:

We stayed in an adorable little inn in the town of Ernst, where breakfast was made for us fresh every morning. We overlooked the spiders hanging from the walls, and the terrifying screams of "help" throughout the night (it was a goat. We realized it probably wasn't a person, because who would be screaming "help" in English in a German village that had a population of maybe 500 people...?). After a couple relaxing days on the river we decided to rush to the train station to use the last 48 hours of our train pass. And use it we did...