Rothemberg & Cochem Castle

2 weeks ago we went to a medieval city called "Rothemberg," pronounced "Rotten burg."  It is a completely walled city that still has arrow slits.  It was neat to see, but they've turned the inside to kind of a tourist trap.  We happily walked into it.  There were beautiful gardens and the view from the city walls was pretty spectacular.  The churches were gorgeous.   Yesterday, April 26th, we took a drive to Cochem Castle.  You should look it up online.  It's beautiful!  Luke and Scott, our 2 Lieutenants that we've semi-adopted, drove ahead of us.  It's quite challenging to follow them.  When we stop, we remind Scott that we do NOT have a sports car. 

Most of the roads on the way there were mountain roads, not autobahn.  The autobahn, by the way, isn't so scary now.  You just have to follow the rules and go slightly faster than you would in the states.  Anyway, we got to see the Castle from different sides due to the road that wound around the mountain.  It was beautiful, and at the bottom there was a rive.  We think it was the Mosel (don't know if I spelled that right) but it's hard to tell.  Things aren't labeled clearly here.  We parked at the bottom of the Castle's hill and ate at a restaurant.  They charged us 9 Euro for 6 glasses of tap water.  That's around $14 with the current exchange rate...for TAP WATER!!!  They were small glasses too.  It was 3 Euro for 3 glasses of beer, if that tells you anything.  You have to use water to make beer, so I just don't get it.  I can't stand beer.  Ugh.  

Anyway, we hiked up to the castle, and it was quite a hike.  It was very neat, though, because there was an old man mowing his side of the mountain.  they had various tombs built into the rock and what-not.  We finally made it to the top just in time to take the next tour.  Someone was getting married, which was neat to see, and then these people walked by in German uniforms.  The specific type will remain nameless, but let's just say that we didn't think they existed or were allowed in public.  There are certain days...1935-1945 or thereabouts, that Germans completely ignore.  We'll let you do the research to figure out why.  They don't even teach those dates or historical events in their schools.  History, if not learned from, is doomed to repeat....didn't someone wise say that once?

Okay, back to the castle.  The oldest part of it dates back to 1000A.D.  Yes, that's 1,008 years old.  However, it was destroyed and rebuilt twice, so the most recent renovation was 400 years ago.  They have paintings in there that are 400 years old that are just out in the open air (open windows, no AC or central heat.)  They also have furniture pieces dating back to the renaissance that you can actually touch.  In most countries, those items would be in a vacuum sealed, temperature controlled area not to be touched by any one, but not at this castle. It was cool.  We saw suits of armor, 100 year old polar bear skins, and a few hidden doors.  It was fascinating.  None of the walls have wall-paper.  They are all hand painted, as are the tiles, and at least 300 years old.

We got an ice cream cone on the way down.  Hey, it's a long hike either way, and we had to replace the calories we burned on the way up.   Speaking of calories and beer....we saw the steins that the monks and nuns were given.  The monks were given 5 liters of wine a day, and the nuns were given approximately 3 1/2 liters of wine a day as their daily portion.  That doesn't sound like much, but it's about a gallon and a half for the guys.  (That amount of wine is yet another reason I could never be a nun. There are many reasons, but that one is important.  I can't stand wine either.)  The doors all had these metal plates and the tour guide showed us how, if it was dark or the person was drunk, you could just slide the key around and it would eventually slip into the keyhole like a guided maze.  I needed that before I had LASIK!

I'm going to find my camera and cable and attach some pictures so you can see that I'm not making this stuff up.