Annweiler am Trifels

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This past weekend we traveled a short distance (less than 30 miles) to the small village of Annweiler am Trifels still located in the Rhineland-Palatinate area of Germany (where we live). The small village has a booming tourist industry thanks to King Richard I of England, AKA Richard the Lionhearted. It seems that good King Richard was imprisoned in The Castle of Trifels from March 31 to April 19 1193. How they have such specific dates is beyond me, I gleened this bit of information from Wikipedia. He was held by the Holy Roman Emperor Henry VI until ransom was paid for his release. Every year the town of Annweiler commemorates this historical event during its Richard the Lionheart festival (from the USO tour book). Why they celebrate this event in July rather than April is also unknown to me.

The town is quaint and beautifuly nestled within the rolling hills of the Palatinate forest. The winding streets were lined with vendors selling very authentic medieval wares from wood carvings, to stone masons, to hand built furniture. We even had a lesson on medieval fasteners (before the advent of buttons). I purchased one such fastener for the beautiful McKenzie Tartan Bill brought home from Scotland last year, it is a couple of centuries out of date with medieval times but it is still very cool.

In entertainment and food vendors were set up in the town square. The entertainment consisted of musicians ,jugglers and magicians. While the food consisted of, what we like to call “Meat on a stick”. Of course, in Germany, no festival would be complete without Bier and Wien vendors (beer and wine). Bill and I enjoyed a cup (no glass at this festival) of Met (mead) which is fermented honey and quite tasty.



My favorite attraction were the owls. Glorious creatures with huge golden eyes and a very calm disposition. One look at those eyes and you know why Owls have the reputation of being “wise”.

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