Germany 16: The end of my extended stay in Deutschland

   The third castle of the previous day was Burg Rheinfels.  I attempted to enter within the last hour that it was open, and they weren't supposed to allow me in.  In response, the young man at the entrance said that I looked like a student and charged me the student rate.

  That night I played some online boardgames with my friend Dave from back home.  There was a beautiful sunset view from my room.

  The next day I left first for Cochem Castle, which only allows you in by guided tours.  An English tour was beginning within ten minutes of buying my ticket.  The tour was decent, but I spent most of my time with my camera.  I did overhear that the castle was held in family until Nazi Germany, when the taxes were so high that they were forced to lose the castle.  After the war, it was returned to the region, and eventually, the town.

  The next portion of the tour was inside, which wasn't too interesting to me, outside of a free standing balcony with excellent views of the river.

  Back outside, we were shown a deep well.

  Just a few minutes away, I stopped at the final castle of my visit near the Rhine, Metternich Castle.  Unfortunately, it was mostly just one set of walls and a tower, along with a cafe.  I climbed the tour for the views, and then stopped for coffee.

  On my final full day, the temperatures reached 93.  I chose to simply hike down to town for the supermarket.  It as a surprisingly nice hike down, with some steeper sections.  I also took pictures of my castle hotel.

My castle hotel, from down at the supermarket.

  When I left the hotel, it was on a day that reached just over 100 degrees outside.  I stopped briefly at a laundromat in Russelsheim, which was right near the airport.  The airport hotel was blissfully air conditioned, with an indoor connection directly to the airport.

  As of now, Germany is the country that I've spent the second most amount of time in.  Japan sits at around 2.5 months, and now Germany clocks in at 2 months.

Germany 15: The small town of Celle and castles near the Rhine

   Celle was a town recommended by my German friend from Denmark as an old town worth visiting.  After taking the ferry back to the mainland, I drove two hours to Celle and spent two nights in the town.  The architecture throughout the town was beautiful.  It also had an excellent castle, surrounded by a park.

  On the west side of town, there appeared to be a festival, with many pop up tents.  There was also a small band playing music.  I tried to look up festivals running in the town, but was unable to find anything.  It is possible that it is a regular weekend thing.  

  At a local coffee shop, I ordered the apple strudel.  I expected the small piece of pastry.  Instead, they gave me a bowl with ice cream and whipped cream and apple slices, along with the pastry.  Like with the two massive mugs of coffee in Dresden, I was forced to down it all.  II had to defend my honor and reputation.

  My final German destination was at a castle hotel in Oberwesel, a five hour drive south of Celle.  Again I had a wonderful view from my room.  The weather was beginning to heat up.  By my last day there, the temperature was up to 93.  

  On my first real day, I drove out to see castles in the area.  The first stop of the day was Eltz Castle.  The parking lot was about a fifteen minute walk away, with incredible views looking down to the castle.

The view from my room.

  The castle had a 12 Euro entrance fee.  I walked through a small treasury room.  People were gathered in a courtyard, awaiting a tour of the inner castle.  A woman told us that there would be an English tour shortly.  What she neglected to mention, was that when the woman appeared to start the English tour, she would announce that there would only be room for thirty five people.  The first woman had us wait on the exact opposite side, and when the large parties bum rushed the woman, I ended up as the 36th person, and they would not allow me in.  

  After having waited in the heat for quite a while thus far, I decided that I had no interest in waiting.  I walked back to the ticket office and inquired about a possible refund.  They were nice enough to refund 10 euros.  My next stop was Thurant Castle.  This castle was more my style.  There were only a handful of people, so I mostly had the place to myself.  The buildings were amazing, and you could even climb to the top of the tower.