Himmerod Abbey

Another short and sweet, yet gorgeous afternoon outing is Himmerod Abbey.
Located in Himmerod village this is just a quick 20 minute drive from Spangdahlem AFB.  DO NOT forget your camera for this outing folks.  The architecture is gorgeous here.

We went on a cloudy afternoon during a weekday this summer and it was great!
The kids got to walk around and run in a few fields as well as play on a small play area on the grounds. 

My kiddos (6 and 4 years old) had a blast looking around and as long as little ones mind their P's and Q's and don't run around screaming...it is a working monastery after all, they are welcome to explore the grounds.  

 

Wallenborn Geyser and Honey shop

If you are looking for a simple and low key 
little afternoon trip, then this is the one for you.
Kids will especially enjoy this one!

About 30 minutes from Spangdahlem AFB is a little village called Wallenborn.

Within this village are 2 small attractions:  the first is a little honey shop.  Kids can sample about 15 different flavors of honey.  The store is family and locally owned.  It has things like jars of honey, beeswax candles, gift baskets, honey jams, lotions, etc.  All are great gifts to send back home or small gifts for friends.  The address is:  Neue Strasse 3, 54570
Their Website is here.

The village is super small that you drive through.  On the last road of your trip you'll see a little shack on your right and then a couple hundred feet farther you'll see the honey shop.  It is a small shop attached to a warehouse like house on your left and there is some Bee decorations and such in the shop window.

If you have a 'panther paws' book (if you are stationed on Spangdahlem AFB you'll know what this is) then it describes that you can take a tour of the bee grounds and see how honey is made.  This, however, was definitely not true for us.  When we went, no one was available to show us around but they let us go freely on our own to the backyard area where they had bees kept and also a small bee house. 

I checked out the back first before bringing my kids back there and I'm glad I did.  There were bees swarming everywhere!  So, a note to those who go...just visit the awesome bee shop.

As I said before on your way to the bee shop there will be a small shack on the right.  This is where you go to see the geyser.  The is a natural cold water geyser.

This is the view from the bee shop to the geyser.  If you look on the left you can see a few cars and a tiny looking 'log cabin' looking shack where the tickets are sold.

You pay 1 euro per person to an attendant in the little shack/house and they give you a ticket and an information pamphlet on the geyser.  There are benches available to sit while you wait for the geyser's eruption.  The geyser erupts about every 30 minutes. 

 

There is tree cover around the benches for shade on a hot day and it's fun to sit with anticipation for the eruption.  If you have kids it’s a great little experience.  (however, there are no bathrooms anywhere for little ones-just FYI) 

We watched the geyser erupt 3 times.  In between the eruptions we played at a park down the street.  If you are at the geyser you can see it from the benches and it's about a 1 minutes walk up the street.  It's kind of primitive but they have an awesome swing zip line that makes waiting for the next geyser eruption fly by. 

Manderscheid Castle

If you are looking for great site seeing close to Spangdahlem Air Force base, we have found a great castle about 30 minutes from base.  It's called the Manderscheid castle. 
This castle was built in 1427 and is gorgeous!  It's very affordable and children under 6 are free.  Each adult is 2 euro, and children 6 and over are 0,70 euro.  It's family friendly with beverages for purchase at the entrance with a little gift shop and bathrooms.  You may also buy an English brochure on the castle for 0,50 euro. 

This castle sits beside a smaller castle that you can also visit, so it's a 2 for 1!

At the end of August there is supposed to be a huge medieval festival with games, food, and crafts and jousting shows, etc.  Also, there is a huge fireworks display on the Saturday night of the festival. This year it is on august 24th and 25th, 2013.

Here is their website

The castle is great to explore and my 3 year old was able to climb everywhere we wanted to go with some assistance.  It's not great for strollers and is better for older children or infants you can carry during the visit.  It takes at least 2 hours to walk around to every area of the main castle to appreciate the beauty of it all.

It's a great site to see and will be one to take visiting family to as well.  It's cheap, close, and really beautiful!

Type in your GPS Manderscheid (zip- 54531)  Grafenstrasse 23 to find the castle

Here is a link from mapquest from Spangdahlem AFB to the castle