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Published: September 10th 2012
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We got up late today. No hangover from the night before but we needed our 6 hours sleep. By the time we got started to go see a castle that was functional it was 1PM.
We would go to the castle called Eltz .
As we started I asked our driver Bernd how far the ride was, and was told about 130 kms. same as yesterday. We drove along the Autobahn at speeds of up to 220 kmh. This is normal. When we slowed down to 100 kms it felt like we were crawling.
By 2:30 PM we were hungary so we stopped on the roadside for a bite to eat which was beside the Mosel River. The wind was picking up and as we sat the umbrellas were falling down. No one was injured thank goodness. Whew...
Onward we went, for a few more kilometres with food in our bellies, wide-eyed in anticipation of our first functional castle. To my dismay after we parked, I saw no castle. What the hay!!!!!!! I didn't come all this way to park and not have a castle to look at!. It turns out that we had to walk an
additional 2.5 kms through the woods to get the eye candied castle. Hurumph... I was not happy. BUT.... with a full belly of food and great company we started out through the woods to the castle. The path was narrow in places and it was an upward climb. Up we went and went and went and went until finally we met the castle at around 4PM. Now I had to pee. Have you ever had to go and found the bathroom occupied? Lol we all have ........except the stall I wanted contained a man and his 2 twin daughters in the same stall. 5 mins... 10 mins, then finally I could untwist my legs and get relief. No further details here.
Next stop the entry to the castle through the arched gates. Of course I looked up to locate a touret. This is the location apparently of the loos in a castle. Ya see, people sit in the extended nook of this strategic emplacement and let it fall down by gravity. No need to carry the dirty deed out in a bucket. As for flushing, the water from the roof during a rainfall cleanses the you-no-what. We had a
tour of 8 rooms and were able to see the loo first hand. They wouldn't let me use it to see if it was still functional. DARN.
The tour of the castle lasted about 45mins. It was very informative in that since it was built in the 1300's it has stayed in the same family for 33 generations. It had one battle early on but for the most part remained unscathed. kudos for that.
Rich in history with the tapestries on the walls and the armories of the day it was easy to imagine what life was like. I could see myself standing guard atop the wall waiting for an indication of movement off in the distance so I could warn the Count of incoming danger. I would then imagine getting decorated to KNIGHT status and then killing the Count to take over the castle for myself. AN INTERNAL UPRISING! Lol. Sigh. It is not to be, woe is me. sigh.....
Finished up the day with a long trek 2.5 kms back to the car and then the drive through the backed up traffic on a Sunday night. We sang crazy songs to keep awake in the car with the promise of Porto when we got back home.
After we arrived back we ate and drank a white wine that was supposed to be a red wine. It did not live up to the billing. It was good though. Then the Porto... ZZZZZZZzzzzz
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