Perfect Fall Day

This past weekend we went to Braubach to see Marksburg Castle and had the most amazing day. The forecast called for rain but if you let weather make your decisions for you ... you might not see anything in Europe. I believe it did rain in Bonn, but in Braubach and Koblenz we only had a perfect fall mist. It was cool enough to be called crisp and have the changing colors of the leaves make sense, but not too cold to be uncomfortable. Braubach is a very small town and it was clear that the people all knew each other. Everyone said good morning to us and it was a great Deutsch speaking experience. In Bonn, if I have to ask someone to repeat or slow down, they almost always switch to English. In Braubach, however, people were unhurried so they were happy to speak slower and simpler for me. The tours of Marksburg were only given in German with a written guide in English (or a few other languages). The written guide was about 2 sentences long for each room and the tour guide spoke for 5-10 minutes in each room. While she spoke very quickly I was able to get a general picture of the information she was giving.

Here are a few pictures of Marksburg Castle:

The castle on the hill

The herb garden (along the battlement) has been continuously cultivated since medieval times.

These window seats show the thickness of the wall of the castle.
From the kitchen -- this may have been the item that most impressed Arlo. He loves how you can see the centuries worth of use on this butcher block top.

Here is the cute tram that took us up the hill to the castle.

We walked back along a path that was once a medieval road.

Where we could look down upon the old city wall and tower.

This Inn is just outside of what was once the city gate (for late-comers I suppose).

Here is a street in the Altstadt.

Today is German Reunification Day (a national holiday) so it is only right to end this post with a picture of some pieces of the Berlin wall. These are situated at the Deutsch Ecke (German Corner) where mother Mosel and father Rhein meet (Koblenz is at the confluence of these two rivers).