Typically, I'm not too good at keeping surprises or secrets from my bride. First, I just get so overwhelmed with anxiety, that I just can't help but share the secret with her. Second, she likes to fully enjoy our adventures, and thus wants to know where we are going to stay so she can appropriately “plan” for the event. But, I did a pretty good job at keeping the castle thing mum. 
Castles here (in the Netherlands) are called Kasteels. Ours is Kasteel Geulzicht.
It's located in a cute little countryside village – the kind that all the ski resorts in the US attempt to imitate. But, this little village is REAL. The streets are lined with old shops and boutiques – candle makers, shoe stores, brassiers, etc. It's difficult to describe in words how the old buildings and cobblestoned streets/sidewalks twist their way along the hillside to create a medieval scene from a story book.
Our room was HUGE (especially compared to the London B&B and the Paris hotel.) The ceilings must have been about 15 feet tall. The bathroom was also large, with a sunken, all-marble, Roman tub in the floor.
Our room was accented by real wood paneling, floor-to-ceiling bookcase, oil paintings on the walls, a huge chandelier – even our very own REAL Christmas tree adjacent to the fireplace.
The Castle also had a VERY unique elevator (post-installed) to assist you in getting your luggage up such HUGE flights of stairs. It was small and round. Then, as it went up, it spun a bit! Apparently, the first-floor opening is offset from the second & third floors. So, the elevator needed the ability to "twist" as it reached the ground floor. It's somewhat surprising! (There are no handles and no signs to warn you of the impending "twist." It's like some sort of time capsule -- crossed with the elevator from Willie Wonka and the Chocolate Factory!
We didn't receive any snow to speak of yet (just an occasional flurry.) But, here in the countryside, the dew each night freezes to the trees and the grass every morning. It creates a quite beautiful and interesting ice-covered appearance. I have been teasingly referring to our place as the “Ice Castle.”
After our romantic evening in the castle, we head to Amsterdam for a day, and then to Düsseldorf, Germany to meet-up with Amanda and her host family. (I have been hauling a Mighty Tonka truck and other various Christmas gifts all over Europe, and I look forward to lightening our load. ;-)
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