Castles in the Fog

Over Labor Day weekend we took a trip that's been on our list for a while.  We drove over to the Black Forest (Schwarzwald)!!  We had tried to cancel it because of William's recovery but the hotel wouldn't let us cancel with a refund so rather than waste all that money, we went anyway.  I'm so glad we did and William was fine (he's bounced back exceptionally well really).

Friday we decided to stop at Hohenzollern Castle on our way.  I would say that it's becoming a habit to visit castles in the fall except that we visit castles all year round . . . When we arrived, it was raining.  But in Germany, you do not allow rain to deter you!  We put on our jackets and boots and hiked up the trail and 136 steps (Megan counted) to Hohenzollern castle.  And this is one time that I wish I wrote poetry because a castle completely shrouded in fog is begging for an epic or gothic poem of some kind!!

Otherworldly!!

This is the ancestral seat of the House of Hohenzollern and was first built in the 11th century.  But the castle standing isn't that old.  It was destroyed and rebuilt two or three times, partly by invaders and partly by natural causes as the area is known for earthquakes.

In the mid-1800s it was rebuilt by the King of Prussia and maybe that's why I like it so much.  A lot of royals went through castle building and restoration frenzies in the mid-1800s and they all built or decorated them to reflect their ideal of the medieval ages.  They are fabulous and ornate and probably not medieval at all!

Once we reached the top, the rain had stopped but we were still in this dense white of cloud and fog.  We may not have had a view but it was really cool in the fog.  Especially since it's not an overrun castle like Neuschwanstein.  There weren't that many people around!

The wonderful King of Prussia.   I think what he's holding in his hand is broken because it was bent slightly, but he completely looked like he was holding a wand!  And after seeing the entrance hall genealogy, we totally starting calling this a wizarding castle.  And actually, that would be a fun Harry Potter offshoot . . . the wizarding families of Germany . . . 

I loved this door and William's great smiles

Inside the castle they had royal robes for the kids to wear.  After the entrance hall, we had to put on giant slippers (they go right over your shoes) to walk on the original wood floors.

Doesn't this remind you of Sirius Black's genealogy?  Is it sad that I'm referencing Harry Potter instead of actual history???

Ok one room I snuck a picture of and then she said no pictures.

This is a chapel on the grounds that I just adored the ceiling of.

As part of the tour we saw a room where they keep some of the treasures.  The crown of the King of Prussia was there full of diamonds and a marble-sized sapphire.  My favorite though was the gown worn by Queen Louise when she went to Napoleon to ask him to leave Prussia alone.  He didn't.  But she must have looked lovely!

When we came out of the tour the sun was peeking out!!  It took a while to clear up but we did get some of the beautiful views of the Swabian Alps.

The castle is massive and I never could get a good picture of the outside.  There is a hike you can do onto another mountain that gives you a great view of the castle as a whole but we didn't do it this time.  Although I would definitely go back!

The kids spent 5 minutes oohing and aaahing over this tiny, adorable snail.

Driving away.