frankenstein + darmstadt

Sooooo, it's been a hot minute (or several...) since I last wrote a blog post.  I thought no one would really notice...boy, was I wrong.  I've had a lot of you ask when I was going to post something new, and so here I am finally to deliver.  And to those of you who have asked, thank you for being so supportive of this part of our journey and reminding me of why I started this blog to begin with!

Since I last filled you in on our life here in Germany, we've announced a new addition coming soon to join us in our adventures here!  Baby Koch is due December 31st, and we could not be more excited!!!!!  

We've taken several ridiculously awesome short trips!  Today I'll share 3 of these places with you, but I'll be playing catch up over the next couple of weeks so that nothing gets left out.  

Rich and I are STILL in awe of living here.  He's totally right when he reminds me that everything we've seen so far is within 3 hours of the house, so aside from gas, food, and our regular souvenirs (magnets, postcards, Christmas ornaments), we really haven't spent much money at all in the way of travel.  The history that we've seen here is seriously unbelievable, and Rich and I both love this so much!

A few weeks ago, we headed out on a drizzly day toward Darmstadt (pronounced darm-staht) to visit Burg Frankenstein!  In German, a burg is a castle, so you guessed it...we're talking Frankenstein Castle here!  

Built around 1250 A.D., Burg Frankenstein is rumored to be where Mary Shelley got her inspiration to write Frankenstein in 1818.  Touring this place on a cloudy day seemed to add to the eeriness of it all, too.

Our first view of Burg Frankenstein.

There was no admission charge, so we were able to walk right on in.

The chapel was just built a few years ago, but you can actually get married in there.  If you're into that...creepy...kinda thing.

It's obvious that there's been some restoration, but the older parts are definitely still visible.

This is Rich.  Not Frankenstein's monster.

This is Frankenstein's monster.  Not Rich.

Frankenstein's monster looks a lot like my husband.

As always, I got distracted while Rich went looking for the monster up the steps:

This ladybug ain't afraid of no monsters.

Once I was over the pretty distraction, I went up the steps myself to make sure the monster didn't throw my husband in a lake while making boats out of flowers.  You have seen the original Frankenstein, right?  With Boris Karloff?  Watch it.  You're welcome.

I never found Rich up there, but this monster kept scaring the fool outta me!

What. A. View.

I swear, that ol' monster had a thing for me.

The stairs leading up into the tower (pic above) are pretty worn.  Think a lot of people visit this place?

Still looking for Rich, I headed back down to ground level and down the hill where alas, I found the monster staking his claim on a big rock.  I guess he didn't want me to mess up the fancy fencework down there.  "Abby-normal?"  (Bonus points if you get that movie quote!)

While I was down there, I got distracted.  Again.  Go figure...

I didn't notice the bug hangin' out on that leaf until I edited this photo!

This bug thought he was being sly, but not sly enough.

The view from down that hill.

I eventually found Rich.  Turns out, he was chasing the monster to protect me.  See, chivalry isn't dead!  We walked back to the car and decided to go into Darmstadt to check out the digs there.

Darmstadt was chartered as a city in 1330 A.D. by the Holy Roman Emperor Ludwig the Bavarian.  It is now known as the "City of Science", as the element Darmstadtium (atomic number 110) was discovered here.

Now, for the sobering part of living in Germany that I haven't yet touched on.  In 1942, over 3,000 Jews were forced from Darmstadt into concentration camps where most spent their last time on Earth.  If you haven't ever seen the movie Schindler's List or the Band of Brothers series, please do so.  Both are true stories and will leave you with a real look at the Holocaust, the War, and how it affected everyone involved.  

Anyway, Darmstadt was severely damaged by a British air raid in September of 1944.  Most of the city was rebuilt using plain architecture, and very few buildings were reconstructed in their original historic style.  Because of this, we honestly didn't find Darmstadt a beautiful place, visually speaking.  But this goes with the history.

This guy looks down on Darmstadt's central square.

Heading toward St. Ludwig, a Catholic church supposedly modeled after the Pantheon.

This lady is on the statue in front of St. Ludwig.

The inside of St. Ludwig.

I couldn't get the whole thing in one frame!

Stepping out of St. Ludwig.

And that was our trip to Burg Frankenstein and Darmstadt!

Thanks for reading!

castles...castles everywhere!

After our excursion to Mainz, we went for a drive the next day (Sunday) toward Rüdesheim. Remember, Rüdesheim is the town where the huge statue, Niederwalddenkmal, looks down upon the valley below (this post).  I thought we were taking Mom to see the statue--but, as always, Rich had done his homework and planned a MUCH better trip than we could have imagined.  I love that he does this.  

When we got into Rüdesheim, we pulled over into the parking lot of the Rheingauer Weinmuseum (wine museum!).  The museum is located inside the Broemserburg Castle, which was built in the 11th century.  Most everything in Germany is closed on Sundays, so we didn't get to go inside.  However, I hope we get to come back here to check out what's inside.


Here are a few photos that I took here...

Rüdesheim's Rheingauer Weinmuseum is housed in the Broemserburg Castle.

Sandra Lynn, I saw this wall and thought of you!

Niederwalddenkmal gazing down from her hilltop.

St. Rochus Chapel.

We left Rüdesheim and continued a bit further down the river.  At this point, the road we're on follows along the banks of the Rhine.  So the river is to our left, and to our right hills extend straight up and away from the river.  The steep slopes in this area are covered in vineyards, like this:

A little further along, we got stopped at a traffic light.  Looking up on the hill to our right?  What?!

A castle.  Like, a real one.  This one is called Burg Ehrenfels (burg is German for castle). It was built around 1212 A.D. and destroyed by French troops during the Thirty Years' War.

Next, we stopped in a small town called Assmanhausen (yes, Assmanhausen).  This place has some pretty cool looking restaurants and cozy hotels.  

Hotel Winzerschänke.

Hotel Winzerschänke.

A glance across the river and what's that we see?  Yep.  Another castle.  This one is Burg Rheinstein, built around 1316 A.D.  By the 18th century, the castle had begun to seriously deteriorate.  In 1823, however, Prince Frederick of Prussia bought Burg Rheinstein and began the rebuild.  It remained under the owndership of German nobility until 1953 when it was purchased privately.  

Burg Rheinstein.

Just a bit further down the river, we see the town of Bacharach across the Rhine.  Burg Stahleck, built in the 12th century, sits atop the hill, and for now I can only imagine what the view from up there must look like.  *Sigh...*

Burg Stahleck.

Mom was in awe that every turn we made on the road, there was another castle to see.  I hope she was enjoying it as much as we were!

Mom next to the Rhine with Burg Stahleck in the background.

Standing from the exact point where I took this last photo looking down the river, I turned around and took the following photo looking back up the river:

Another castle!  Burg Furstenberg and was built around 1219 A.D.  It overlooks the small village of Rheindiebach.

Moving on down the Rhine, what's that in the distance?  The town of Kaub, Germany.  And what's in Kaub, Germany?  TWO castles?!  Holy history, Batman.

The first one is Burg Pfalzgrafenstein, which was built on Pfalz Island in 1326 A.D.  Actually, only the pentagonal tower was built to begin with, and the other additions were made in the 17th and 18th centuries.  We recognized this beauty from one of our Germany DVDs that we watched before leaving Texas!

Pfalzengrafenstein was used as a toll station for passing ships until 1867.  A chain stretched across the river forced ships to stop and pay their toll.  Those who chose not to cooperate and pay were held ransom in the dungeon.

Photo op!

See the beautiful church in the background?  That's the Liebfrauenkirche across the Rhine in Oberwesel, built in 1308.

  
Sorry, back to the second castle in Kaub!  

This second one is called Burg Gutenfels and was built in 1220 A.D.  It is now a hotel. Spoooooooooky!

Just a little farther and we were all feeling pretty thirsty.  Lucky for us, there was a quaint little place called Bernie's Blues Bar.  One Coke and two Diet Cokes later, we were back on our way but didn't get far before we pulled over again.  Here's the view looking back at Bernie's:

The next town on our tour was St. Goarhausen.  Was this whole place built to look like a postcard?!  Ridiculous...........

That's Burg Katz up on the hill, built in 1371 and destroyed by Napoleon in 1806.  It was rebuilt in 1896 and is now privately owned.  By me.  Just kidding.....

And here's St. Goar, just across the river.

And now, here's one thing that I was anxious to see from the first time I learned about it way before we moved here:  The Loreley Cliff.  This area of the Rhine has long been known for its treacherous waters.  And legend has it that many sailors met their fate being lured by the beautiful Lorelei (Loreley) and her siren song.

Statue of Lorelei with her famous cliff in the background.

At this point, we turned away from the river and started to head back to Wiesbaden.  But not before one last castle for the day!

In a little town called Hohenstein is situated a castle of the same name, Burg Hohenstein. Built around 1190 A.D., it's mostly in ruins these days.  However, there is still a hotel and restaurant there.  We were on our way up the steep hill to check this one out up close, but about halfway up we realized that the road was covered in ice.  Our very trusty driver managed to get the car turned around and we postponed the mission for another day.  

Not bad for a day trip just a few miles from home, right?  Again, I don't think I'll ever tire of this place and its history.