We were lucky to have a beautiful day, temps didn't really get above 80 deg F. Trail was really nice too, passing through a couple of quaint German river towns (Bachrach, etc.). Of course, on the way we also encountered some more fun outdoor exercise areas - there was a balance beam on wiggly springs that I could *barely* get across. Maya did it with ease! After we crossed the river again in 20 km, we made our way up to Braubach, found a place to lock the bikes up, and started trying to figure out how to get to the castle on the hill.
Thankfully, we (Amy) were able to talk with the helpful tourist-information lady, and she suggested NOT biking up the road to the castle. Very steep, very narrow, pretty dangerous. So we got a taxi! After taking the taxi up, I'm glad we didn't bike it!
Marksburg castle was SO COOL - not huge, but beautifully laid out. It's sort of the type of castle I think of dotting the cliffs. In fact, from below it appears almost not real - more of a movie prop, just a little *too* convincing from a distance :)
Just a random castle...
...and another...
...and another...
pretty sure this is Bachrach (much cooler than the lounge singer from the 1970's)
Those are some STEEP vineyards!
I apologize for the incredible amount of castles here! I don't remember this one either, but the Rhein was littered with them! So cool.
This is the view from our lunch patio, and it totally does not suck.
The advertising here can range from spooky and weird to just weird.
This is the view from the top (within) Marksburg. The cannon(s) can reach distances of over a kilometer (well inland from the other shore). Back in those days, seeing this view probably meant you were safer and better-fed (among other things) than the vast majority below.
This is a rare specimen of "flaches Schwein", or "flat pig". I think it's where prosciutto comes from.
Always nice to see chess sets, especially historical ones. But besides the obvious tempo disadvantage that black has, it's also starting out handicapped 11 points in pieces. (and both sides are on the wrong side of the board. Hard to see, but I think the white King is on the D file, whoops)
Maces are kewl - chain mail ain't stopping this, and my bet is that plate armor wasn't too keen with it either.
I think the horns would have intimidated the crap out of opponents.
How would you like to get kicked by one of those?!? That has to be the reason they're so pointy - I don't think this was a ceremonial set, so it had to be functional somehow.
First display of special "invisibility cloak" armor! Can you imagine how much mayhem you could cause with invisible armor back in the day? Maya made this joke to me when we were supposed to be listening. Instead, we were fighting back laughter. This happens to us a lot!
This looks like a magic/Houdini trick gone horribly wrong. Maybe they found the guy with the invisibility cloak?
There it is, see what I mean? It almost doesn't even look real!
After the tour, we all walked down the path from the castle (much easier on foot). Fun to see the "back yards" of Braubach - another town that's been around for 1400 years or so...
This was me demonstrating my mad fanning skillz to Maya on the train home.
After the train ride back (and regaling Amy and Maya with my fan dexterity), Maya and I went to the Doner place to get dinner for everyone, while Amy set up Phase 10 in the courtyard for game night.
We've had a great time in Rudesheim, and although we'll be sad to leave in the morning, we're super-excited for the next stop and set of memories.
SALZBURG AWAITS!
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