Almost Castle-d Out

Whew! We have seen a lot of castle in the last few days. I have to admit that I haven't been out of the apartment, except to get groceries, for the entire weekend due to overwhelming fatigue, possibly from castle tours.




First, there was our date at Ludwigsburg Castle on Thursday. That was blissfully child-free, quiet and peaceful. Hans and I were able to slowly amble around, leisurely viewing the castle and its treasures.



Friday, we went a little crazy and decided, quite suddenly, to go visit Schloss Sigmaringen. Here it is:



Nice little shack, huh? If I thought Ludwigsburg was cool, Sigmaringen was about ten times more impressive.

The only thing that kept me from fully enjoying Sigmaringen was Annika. That's right, for some reason, my almost-two-year-old did not appreciate the Schloss as much as the rest her family (her brother included) or the three other folks on the tour.

She cried in the bedrooms, she cried in the parlors, she cried in the ballroom, she cried in the armory. Josiah was surprisingly compliant, though he had to be told that he couldn't actually sit on the antiques. My tour guide side came right back--Josiah actually listened on the first reprimand--trust me, there were people much older than him at The Breakers who didn't seem to "get" that they couldn't actually use the settee in the morning room.

It's too bad that we couldn't take any pictures inside Sigmaringen. Afterwards, I had the brilliant idea that it would have been hilarious to take pictures of Annika crying in every room and label them "Annika crying in the Black Parlor" or "Annika crying in the Grand Reception Hall". Hans thought that was pretty damn funny.

Anyway, Annika wasn't very happy. The tour was all in German, but we had an English guidebook that helped, though juggling a crying toddler and trying to read while gawking at the magnificent rooms was a bit difficult. Sigmaringen was amazing. We may have to go back.

Without Annika.

Date on Tuesday: Schloss Hohenzollern. Stay tuned for pictures and stories of blissful, child-free castle viewing.


Comments

Lindsey said…
All I can say is WOW! That castle looks beautiful. Good for Joe for behaving so well. Annie will probably be just fine next time your out and about. You all are definitely getting out to see all the sights of Germany, and it's neat that we get to see a little glimpse of it too! Thanks!
Anonymous said…
Rachel............
All of these castles are certainly beautiful etc. etc. but I am wondering how come there seem to be so many in the local area? I assume that you guys aren't driving any long distances are you? It is a good thing that so many of these treasures survived so much warfare in the twentieth century.
MamaD4 said…
Dad, I'm wondering the same thing. Hohenzollern is closer to us than Sigmaringen, but not as close as Ludwigsburg. We also passed Schloss Lichtenstein on our drive home from Sigmaringen on Friday, so...I need to ask my husband what the deal is. My guess is that anyone in the nobility who built a large-scale dwelling called it a "castle". That's just a guess.
Peder said…
Rach, I would have found that series of pictures funny, too. The castles look very nice, no?
MamaD4 said…
According to Hans, anyone who was anyone built themselves a castle. This is why there are so many. He says that Germany was very fragmented, that Baden-Wurttemburg, for example, was its own country at one point. Lots of fighting going on, apparently, betwixt German states, etc., so fortification/castles were necessary.

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