Castles and Friends

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This morning (March 20) I woke up in Burg Stahlek, can you imagine that? I got to sleep in a real castle… twice! (and for only 20 euros a night including awesome breakfast!!) At that awesome breakfast I had a roll with nutella, then another with jelly, cereal, salami and cheese roll-ups, a kiwi, and “mallow” tea (I’m not sure what it was other than pink tea…weird). The night before Hiro and I had gained another roommate named John. John is from Scotland and is a really nice elderly gentleman who loves to travel and uses his 10-day holidays to go hostelling all over the world, but more about John later.

So Hiro and I had decided to go see Rheifenstein Castle in St. Goar yesterday, and we caught the 9:21 train to do exactly that (John happened to be on this train too). On the way we passed the Lorelei which is a giant rock cliff and a famous myth of sirens calling to sailors and making them crash at this point on the Rhine. Shortly after seeing the Lorelei we arrived at St. Goar and said good bye to John (until that night when I would meet him at the hostel in Koblenz). Hiro and I then trekked up hill quite a ways to the mighty Rheinfels Castle. My realization of how overpacked I am has really begun to sink in from climbing up and down from all these castles carrying a fullsize backpack, a mini backpack, and a laptop. Thankfully, we were able to leave our bags at the desk and go explore. The castle itself is huge (and what remains is only 1/5 what it once was). I had brought Rick Steve’s walking tour along on my computer and walked around the castle reading about the history. This is a real castle, not some remodeled, never really saw any action, touristy Disney castle like Neuschwanstein (though I enjoyed that too, at least the fairytale aspect), Rheinfels once withstood an attack of some 25,000 French troops. It was the only Castle on the west bank of the Rhine to not be conquered by Louis XIV, but then later fell without a fight to French revolutionary troops who blew up the larger polygonal fort that once made up the other 4/5 of the castle. Rheinfels is a true hands-on ruin, there is no tour guide holding your hand. You can touch and climb on everything you dare. You can even go underground! Some of the tunnels are dark, like in the walls and in the “barracks,” but on the west side of the castle there is a network of small tunnels dug underneath the ground adjacent to the castle which were designed to be blown up to kill attacking troops. They are about 4 feet high and totally unlit and unmarked. I heard you could actually go in and find a way through from the Rick Steve’s info or I never would have tried it. I went alone into the first tunnel, never leaving a deep crouch, holding my laptop and flashlight, and marking my trail with little piles of rocks so I could find my way out if I got lost. I had no idea which tunnels to take (they criss crossed every which way, some with dead-ends and strange connections) but I knew that I had to go about 600 feet and around the corner of the castle so I headed in that general direction and actually never got lost. What an experience though! Totally alone with only a flashlight and a guide book’s word on an eventual exit in a maze of tunnels where I could never stand up and where my shoulders brushed the walls. Tunnels designed to be blown up! It crossed my mind at least a few times as to the integrity of their structure after almost 200 years. After finding my way through I had to go find Hiro to show him, and we both went through again this time, following my little marked trail.

Ugh, so much cool stuff about this castle but so tired of writing… umm ok yeah there was also a small museum with real old weapons and cannonballs (including a zweihander sword which made me all happy inside :D). And I saw a pair of what looked like falcons or small hawks that seemed to have their nest in the castle. There’s more but its all in the pictures on facebook.

After Rheinfels, Hiro and I walked back downhill and bought lunch supplies at the local supermarket and sat down on the Rhine for another riverside lunch. As we were sitting and eating I just happened to find a solution to my problem of how to get to my next castle (which was on the other side of the Rhine); the ferry! Hiro had to leave to catch his train to Frankfurt so he could fly home to Japan so we said our goodbyes and I headed off for the ferry.

I can now say I have not only seen the Rhine, but been on a boat on it as well. Now on the east bank of the Rhine, in a town called St. Goarhausen, I caught the next train to Braubach. As I neared Braubach, I could see the Marksburg castle on top of a large hill… a very large hill… and I was carrying my fully packed backpack, mini pack with food, and my computer. I considered just skipping it and heading for Koblenz if I couldn’t find some way of getting to the top by bus or … somehow. So I went to the tourist information center and asked about a bus up to the castle. Unfortunately, there was no bus, but they did agree to hold my bags for me as I hiked to the top.

I was already tired, and the hike didn’t help, so I was glad to finally make it to the top. The tour of the castle was entirely in German, but between my small knowledge of the language and an English tour-book I had no trouble following along. The Marksburg is the best-preserved castle on the Rhine and I believe the only castle to never have been destroyed (all the other castles were largely ruins until being rebuilt in the Romantic period in ~18-19^th century). It is now home to the German Castle society or something like that, which oversees the preservation of all the castles on Germany. I really enjoyed the tour, my favorite parts being the living quarters and the large cannons (not replicas) still positioned along the walls. The Marksburg is also home to the first breech-loading cannon ever, but it was a poor design so it was not widely adopted for quite a while. I also really enjoyed the armory which showed a progression of arms and armor since the roman times, with more recent times being real suits of armor, axes, swords, maces, halberds, poleaxes, and another zweihander :D.

After the tour I quickly hiked back down into town, retrieved my bags, and caught the next train to Koblenz. Now it turns out I should have got the next train to Ehrenbreitstein, which is on the east bank of the river. I assumed that both sides of the river were Koblenz, and that since I was on the east side in Braubach, I would arrive at the east side in Koblenz. This was not the case. As I neared the town of Koblenz on the train I saw the imposing Ehrenbreitstein stronghold on top of a large hill in front of me, and was already dreading the climb up the hill when suddenly my train turned and crossed over a bridge to the main train station on the west bank of the Rhine. Now I had even further to walk L. I decided it was just too far (almost 4km) after a day of walking with all my bags. So I went to the tourist office again and this time, to my delight, there was a bus that would take me to the bottom of the fortress, and then an elevator/cable car that would take me up.

I got on the correct bus which proceeded to wind its way all over Koblenz before finally approaching the fortress. I just assumed it would stop at the place I wanted because I had bought my ticket from the driver so he knew where I wanted to go. I’m guessing however that this was not the case because a little old German lady, seeing my bags, asked if I was gehen zu jugendherberge? (going to the youth hostel?) I said ja and she replied nachste halt (next stop) and pressed the button that apparently I was supposed to press to tell the driver I wanted off. Looking back, I am so thankful that she said something because the driver probably would have gone right past and I would have just kept circling Koblenz assuming my stop was still to come! Thanks to her though I got off without a hitch and climbed into well, it was odd, the station was like getting into an elevator, but then it was a little car that went up the hill on a set of rails to the fortress (free because of the off-season J). At the top I walked through a small tunnel in the fort and emerged onto a large plateau overlooking the Rhine and all of Koblenz… What a view! Directly below me was the Deutsche Ecke (German Corner), which is a large monument like the bow of a ship on the corner where the Mosel river joins the Rhine, it also has a giant statue of a man on a horse (Kaiser Wilhelm?). After enjoying the view and snapping a few photos I checked into the hostel. When I got to my room I was astonished at how nice it was; my sheets were already on the bed (with a little welcome packet of gummy bears!), it was only a 4 bed room (when I could have been put in a large dorm), the bathroom was amazing (better than many hotels I’ve stayed in), and, best of all, I had it all to myself! No one else showed up for the room so I payed 21 euros for a hotel quality 4 bed room with ensuite bathroom and all you can eat breakfast! Hurray for German hostels and the off-season! Its nice to meet people since I’m traveling alone, but I’ve been living in a giant dorm for the last five months so it was really nice to finally have a room to myself.

I was heading out to do something, I can’t even remember what, when I met John again! He offered to have a cup of tea with me and I agreed, and we took them out and sat at a table outside on the plateau. We had a great conversation about life and traveling while enjoying the sunset over the view I described before. It was a great time. I ran in and grabbed my food to eat dinner, then sat eating bread smeared with blackcurrant jello that I thought was jam (it said jelly on the container), an orange, and a Clif bar, while John (who is a vegetarian) ate fruit and nuts. John is a charming old fellow with about three teeth, and a set of fakes that he enjoys popping in and out. He has a good heart, and lots of energy; he walks everywhere and even ran to kick a soccer ball when it came our way (the plateau was large enough that some German kids were kicking one around). It was another of those great travel moments; sipping brown tea from clear glasses, watching the fading sky above changing from bright yellow on the western horizon, to pink, to dark blue, as the sun fell away behind the Rhine river with its long, slow moving boats and Koblenz with the Deutsche Ecke, innumerable half-timbered German houses and old onion domed churches, all to the soft sound of church bells.

I slept in a bit, until 8:15 the next morning (March 21, today), before waking up to a nice shower with provided soap, shampoo, and towel and then onto another great breakfast. Shortly after I walked down the hill from the fortress and caught the next train to Cochem, which is an interesting story in itself. My debit card would not work in the ticket machine (most train stations are unmanned in Germany, you just buy tickets from a machine) so I decided to just get on the train and buy one from the conductor. But the conductor never came by so I got a free ride to the main station on the west bank in Koblenz. From there I tried the machine again but it still was not working, and the train to Cochem was at the station so I just got on assuming I would buy one from the conductor again (I’m not totally sure that is allowed… I was just banking on the “sorry I’m an ignorant tourist routine” if things went sour). This time it was on a fancy double-decker train and the ride was almost 40 minutes, but again no ticket person came by so I got a free ride all the way to Cochem (a value of about 10 euros)! The station in Cochem had an attendant so I bought my ticket for Friday from Cochem to Eschwege (which was 57 euros… yuck).

I then went to and checked into the youth hostel in Cochem which unfortunately was just a regular building this time (no castle or fortress L). But Cochem is really cool, it has a nice old town and a lot of wine cellars, as well as an awesome fairytale castle on a hill, it’s actually a circular castle on a pretty circular hill, just like you always imagined (a lot of castles have to conform to weird shapes to fit the landscape, Cochem’s landscape is already perfect for the fairytale hilltop castle). Anyways, I had a kind of lazy day here in Cochem today, just wandering around town and looking through the local market (which was just selling really dumb things like clothes and brooms and belts, not even souvenirs) and finding a local supermarket to restock on food. I found a cool restaurant called Landsknechts (which were the Prussian mercenary knights that we can trace our family line back to) but unfortunately it was closed. Also I found out today that Burg Eltz (Rick Steve’s favorite castle that I wanted to visit) is closed until after easter, which was partially the reason I had nothing to do today.

Anyways, I had a nice dinner of salami, mustard, and cheese sandwhiches. Which reminds me *Dad skip to the next paragraph if you’re reading this* there was actually a mustard museum here in Cochem! I got to go in and try all sorts of different kinds of local mustards that are made right here on the oldest stone grinding mustard mill in the world! I even bought a jar of the original 15^th century recipe to send home with David as a gift for Dad.

Tomorrow I will look for more things for souvenirs, but I’m not sure I’ll find anything. I have kind of lost belief in store-bought souvenirs, they really have no meaning, and are probably made in china anyways, and I could buy them on the internet back home for a fifth of the price. So real souvenirs are hard to come by, I do think it would be cool to get a nice stein… I would like one to go with my giant glass mug, but they are pretty expensive. And it would have to be somehow related to a castle, or Prussia, or our family or something special. Or maybe a cool carved tobacco pipe for when I’m older. And maybe a hat for dad. Ha I’m kind of just writing my thoughts now. I just realized that I’m really only thinking of souvenirs for Dad, but those are the easy ones because he likes what I like lol… I want to buy stuff for mom, my siblings, my grandparents, and my friends too, but I’m not sure what to buy. I feel weird buying girl stuff and I have no idea if they would like it or not, I have no planned money for souvenirs and no room to carry them... So yeah, if anyone is reading this who would want a souvenir send me ideas and I will do my best because I do love giving gifts and I can send things back with David! I wonder if some of the wine here would make a good gift for grandparents… I only tried one glass the other night but it was very good and I’ll try another one tomorrow.

Anyways, tomorrow I’ll tour Cochem castle, and if I’m feeling adventurous go hike out to some castle ruins before coming back for dinner at a local restaurant. Good Night!

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