This trip was a long time in the making. Like 10+ years in the making. My Dad spend many years working for a company headquartered in France. During his time working for LVMH he was able to take many trips to visit wineries and vineyards where he grew to love the country. It had been a dream of his to bring the whole family over and spend some time touring his favorite places. Now that my brother and I have children that are at an age that would remember remember this time as a family it was time to make it happen.

Day 1.

We met up in Mainz Germany and stayed in a hotel right along the Rhine river. It was just a short walk to the main square in town where we had our first of many dinners together. The plan for the week, road trip to the Normandy coast of France. My Brother and his family in one car and my parents and my family in a sweet van.

Mainz highlights…

The hotel had a small aviary so of course Sydney was thrilled and made multiple trips to see the birds.

Mainz is home to the Gutenberg Museum which I had no idea Nick and my Mom both would be so excited about.

Chloe loved all the pigeons which is odd because we do have them in the US.

We waited till last minute to book a room so we ended up with a suite that included a rap around deck.

Day 2.

we set out for the short drive to Eltz Castle. I was able to visit Eltz with my family when I was 11 and was looking forward to bringing the girls there. It is such an amazing place with such a great history.  We arrived right when the castle opened, on our walk down to the valley we had an amazing view and as we walked across the bridge we were almost the only ones there. We spent a good amount of time looking at all the weapons in the armory (Shocking right) and were able to tour the inside.

After lunch in a little town called Munstermaifeld we headed to Trier. Our hotel looked right onto the Roman gates that date from 180 AD. Even though it was a rainy in true Tippmann fashion we still marched the kids all around the oldest parts of town getting slightly lost in the process. The next morning we toured the ruins of Roman baths then piled in our van (I need to find a photo of the van) and headed to France.

Day 2 highlights…

The drive to Eltz was beautiful and I was the co pilot for my Dad

Trying to remember enough German to order food

Bringing rain coats