Our first castle

The day started with my need to go to Breuningerland (the mall) so I set out by myself to go shopping...seemed like such an easy task. Well every other German had the same plan. Once I got there they had parking guards at every lot directing traffic. People parked blocks away to try to get into the mall. Worse than Christmas shopping in the states...forget that! I'll go next week, it will be another adventure for the blog.
When I got home Michael had come up with the idea to see our first castle. And so we set out to see Hohenzollern Castle. It was only about 45 minutes away which was great! The castle fell twice to attacks. The castle was first built in 1267, then rebuilt in 1453, and 1867. It is still technically owned by royalty. I thought that was pretty cool. They also do weddings and Baptisms there. Thinking of renewing my vows there, but I'm not sure Michael would show up:)
Our first sight of the castle was so cool I told Michael to pull over so I could take a picture. While I am in awe of the beauty that you will see, taking in the history, comtemplating what has occured over past centuries, I turn to see my husband appreciating another view...hmmm, what's he doing????
You have to park at the bottom of the hill and walk up (15 minutes). We tried our best to make it a game for Jack so we wouldn't have to carry him the whole way up. It was a steep hike, but we made it up.
UNBELIEVABLE!!! It was amazing! We paid to go in for the tour which was all in German, but we picked up on a couple things (plus we got an English pamphlet that followed the tour). You were not allowed to take pictures inside the castle. Germany showed it's love for children again by giving each child a royal cape to wear throughout the tour. So cute! Ohhh we also had to wear these nasty wool slip on slippers over our shoes so you didn't track in dirt...ewwww...One size fits all, you can imagine how well it fit the kids feet.
After the tour we went underground into casemates (like the catacombs in Italy). Where weapons and explosive material were kept. The kids loved this part..
Overall, awesome experience and we look forward to our next castle...
Next up...Rookie comes tomorrow for a couple hours...next week...skiing????? Our stuff that was sent by the movers the day after Thanksgiving that was supposed to be here before Christmas is supposed to be here Sunday...we'll see, they have our skis!!!