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Koenigstein (The King's Rock) |
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My forth day in Germany began as we dropped off Bethany, Taramin's sister at the airport, and then we headed north and west towards a cozy little town called Koenigstein (pronounced Konigstine), nestled in a nice little valley between rolling hills. I have to say, having driven around the area around Frankfurt, that the countryside is absolutely beautiful. There are hills and valleys all over the place, and the German forests made some of the biggest impressions on me. The hills are just kind of low rolling hills, similar to those in California; but unlike California, with the exception of the redwood hills of Santa Cruz, the hills of Germany are overgrown with forest. It is so beautiful. The trees are real slender and they lean this way and that, and only at the uppermost parts have they any foliage. They are similar to redwoods in that, but they are much thinner and of darker color. I really loved the forests. I also like how the Germans utilize their forests. Unlike in California where I grew up where you have one continuous city from San Jose to San Francisco, the towns in Germany are these little hamlets and towns that spot the countryside- usually surrounded on all sides by these wonderful woods. Sometimes they are nestled in little valleys or along waterways. I really found this an attractive feature in Germany. Even the English have really large parks all throughout London- you can see them when you fly in. I guess what I am trying to say here is that urbanization can still take place without the loss of the beauty of the country. Somehow I think our greed for money and building on land has skewed this in certain parts of America. This of course comes from someone who grew up in a very urbanized area and spent his entire life in American cities.
Anyway, so we drive for about forty-five minutes in a northwestern direction, and we climb over this hill and creep into this little valley snuggled between two high, wooded hills. There perched in the center of the valley, raised up on this small hill was the castle of Koenigstein. What a sight! It was really grand! The castle dominated the countryside, much like the churches do here in England. We parked the car, and we started our walk through town and up the hill towards the castle proper. That is where I first saw Pimp Claus! |
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Dressed in his best Snoop Doggy Dog outfit (gotta love those shades!), Pimp Claus didn't have too much to say- but he did paused long enough for me to get a picture with my jolly home-boy. Turns out after his rough night of yearly present-giving, Santa returns to his day job as a jewelery manikin and moonlights as a German pimp. After exchanging the secret handshake, we parted ways but not before he tried to hook me up with a couple local German hoes. Had to give a shot out to my homie!
Yeah, so we walked through town and up to the entrance of the castle. |
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Turns out the regular door-keeper was out on vacation, and the temp couldn't find the tour book in English- so I really don't know too much about the place. I also later tried to buy a shirt with the castle on it, but the guy was at a total loss on where the Large shirts were. He broke out a box that had all Smalls in it. Not very helpful. So me and Taramin walked all around the castle grounds and took pictures. From my receipt, I know the castle was constructed in the 1250's, but I don't have any other information to offer up about it. |
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We probably spent a good two hours in Koenigstein total, most of it at the castle. I have to say that this castle in particular was the highlight for me as far as sites go in Germany. I really loved being able to check this place out. These are really the kind of places I expected to see more of, but because of the offseason I have not really had an oppurtunity to check out many castles here in England. While the English Cathedrals are really cool, I am much more of a castle kind of a guy. This was a real treat for me. I just wish I had more information on the castle itself.
After walking around the grounds, we climbed the main tower, and I took some pictures from up there. It was really cold at Koenigstein, as it was most of the time in Germany, and puddles were frozen into ice blocks. I tried my well honed California puddle stomping techniques on the frozen puddles, and sometimes I was successful in crushing the ice- other times not so successful. At the top of the tower it was really cold and windy, but the view was awesome. |
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Yeah, so Koenigstein was really awesome! And, as I said before, it was the coolest place that we actually stopped and checked out. But, the next day's visit to Heidelburg was probably the funnest day in Germany that I had. Tune in tomorrow for my adventure in Heidelburg! |
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BACK ONE! |
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