A group of FedEx folks recently went to visit Marksburg Castle in Koblenz, Germany. We missed their trip, but followed up with one of our own during Grammy's visit. Marksburg Castle, according to the
website, is the only hill castle on the Rhine River that has never been destroyed. It has been around since the 12th century and has been lived in for 700 years.
The only way to see the castle is through a guided tour. We missed the English tour, so ours was in German, but we had a handy English guide book that helped us learn more about the castle. While we were waiting for the tour to start, K explored steps and doorways with glee...
...and caution.
Getting a 20-month-old who is not in a stroller to just kind of hang out while a rather drab woman talks about a castle in German is pretty difficult. Fortunately, Daddy stepped up to the plate and helped keep K from losing it during our tour. It was a good show of teamwork between me, Matt and Grammy.
Entrance into the castle...
Below: The Castle Forge. What is the castle forge? I'll tell you. I googled it. (I am doing virtually none of the history aspect of this from memory. It just didn't stick in my brain.) This is basically the blacksmith's workshop. So they could make things out of steel and iron here, like weapons.
One of the many flights of steps in and around the castle. Grammy navigated them like a champ and escorted K on many many repetitive trips up and down and up and down.
A cannon in the Great Battery. Pretty cool area. These cannons are aimed out towards the Rhine. The views from the next two pictures are from the window where this cannon points. Not bad.
Cool doorway.
The castle is set up to mimic life during medieval times. This is the kitchen table
and kitchen.
This is where the ladies would hang out and weave.
Guess people were a wee bit shorter back then.
This photo doesn't do it justice, but this bed is tiny!
There are a few more pics from the Marksburg Castle, but Google just informed me I have to pay to post more pics on my blog. I obliged, but now it will take 24 hours before I can post more pics. And right as I was getting to the toilet...
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Couple of things from the English speaking tour: *The castle served as a Prison at one time and since they weren't taken care of very well, the wood paneling in the bedroom was not the original because the prisoners had to burn it for wood during one cold winter. *The beds were extra small because the people believed that only the dead should like flat. They would sleep sitting upright. *The pic of Matt & K walking through the stone doorway shows how big the original doorway was to allow the knights on their horses through. Later they made it smaller to better protect the castle. *The cannons were never fired in battle. The castle was so secure that noone tried to fight it. The cannons were only fired 42 times to 'salute' the King that would be riding down the Rhine in his ship. *The pic with the weave in it shows the thickness of the outside castle wall. It's as thick as that bench in the pic. *During the winter, they would cut out blocks of ice in the Rhine, haul them up to the basement in the castle and they would have ice all summer long. *The only part of the castle noone sees is where the ministry of all German Castles lives. It is a working castle and the organization created to help preserve all German Castles is located here for their headquarters. *During the tour outside (to see the outside of the toilet), the garden still grows in 3 batches: one is for healing purposes, two is for poisons and the third (right next to it) is the kitchen herbs!
ReplyDeleteThanks, Deb for those added pieces of history! Wish we could have experienced the English tour with you guys :-)
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