Day 4 - They Were Ruint When We Got There

Today (Sunday) was castle day. The weather was perfect – we both wore shorts – warm and sunny. As we were driving along, we saw a sign for Bimbo. I had to have a picture. Also, there was a house with its own quaint windmill in the backyard.

We were headed out for Hochberg, a castle ruin perched on one edge of a ridge of Black Forest mountains. You are just driving along and you turn a corner and WHAM! There is it is. It’s really huge and spectacular. Naturally, I wanted a picture, so Jane pulled over onto a side street and backed up a bit. We sat there for quite a while waiting for a little cloud to finish passing over the sun. After 4 bicycles passed us, we realized that Jane had pulled over onto the bike path. We got back on the main drag and just a little bit down the road there was an actual pullover specifically for stopping and viewing the ruins.

We drove around to the other side of the end of the ridge and parked and walked up a fairly steep switchback to the castle ruins. It turned out that they were having a fest so the place was crowded and there were all kinds of reenactors in MedEEEval costume doing period things, musicians, and some crafters. Also because it was a fest there was food so we had weinerschnitzel on a roll, a ground pork patty thingy (Frikadella) on a roll and apple juice with mineral water (Apfelsaft Schorle). We walked up to the next level of the castle and found coffee and cake, so we had coffee and cheesecake. There was a pretty view of a long, wide valley, not very populated. We could see the bike path on which we had pulled over.

There is a tiny museum with the artifacts they found when they began restoration (really just trying to keep it from crumbling further.) There was crockery, weaponry, Delft and Venetian pottery and glass, etc. There also was a model of what the castle was supposed to have looked like.

When we got back to the car there was a dairy right there which was open for visitors so we took a stroll through there. There were goats, cows and chickens. Smell that dairy air! There was a tiny fridge with milk and lots of different cheeses. You took what you wanted and left your money in a bowl. Cheese on the honor system.

From there we drove to Waldkirch, the village we had driven through the night before looking for a post-tug-of-war fest. We had seen a castle ruin lit up on the mountain and were determined to find and climb it. (It turns out to be called "Kastelburg.") We parked on the main street. Waldkirch is a very pretty and large village but it being Sunday, most places were closed. There is a river and a canal. Canal would be good for you. We stepped into a biergarten where there was a great view of the castle. I took a picture from the biergarten, then we asked the proprietor how to get up to the castle. He said, “Bei FUSS???????” (By foot?) Clearly he didn’t expect we could do it. HA.

We walked way down the main street, turned, walked the wrong way for a while, came back, and finally saw a tiny, steep path with a woman descending it. This path was about 2’ wide, very steep, rocky and with roots and stuff exposed. She was puffing and wheezing, her face was red, and she was coming down at a snail’s pace. The path was to the left, and to the right was a broad, smooth path. We asked her how to get to the ruins and she said that the broad smooth path would get you there, but her path was a shortcut - “keep going up and PPPPPPPFFT! There’s the castle.” Naturally, we went with her path.

For some reason, we had the path all to ourselves. Hmmm. Up and up and pppppffft! There it was. It’s really tiny compared to Hochberg, but pretty cool. The view is spectacular; we had no idea that Waldkirch was as big as it was. Across the broad valley there was another set of Black Forest mountains, and I counted 8 paragliders riding the thermals and landing in a meadow. Jane and I each took a picture of where we thought the biergarten was, and it turned out both of us took a picture of the same place.

Just before we left the ruins, we stuck our head in an opening and found a steep, dark staircase up to the top of the tower. So up we went, 6 flights in the dark. The only light was from slits in the wall. Spectacular view when we got up there, though, and then I descended so I could get a picture of Jane waving from the top of the tower.

We came back down the steep path (easier going down) and took a different route back into the village. One of the things we learned about Waldkirch is that it is where fairground organs are still manufactured, and in a square we saw two children enjoying a see-saw which had an organ grinder sculpture.

We stopped at our biergarten and sure enough, our pictures were of the right place! The owner was so excited that we had pictures of his biergarten from the top of the castle! We got his e-mail address and will send him the pictures.

We came back home and took a nice stroll. Jane’s village is so pretty – everyone has beautiful flowers and flower boxes – and everyone we spoke to asked about Gerald. He is a local celeb. I said he is the Vicar of Gundelfingen, making his appointed rounds to visit the sick and infirm. We never saw him, but we did run into some of his katzen kohorts.

Next we fired up the raclette grille. We got everything ready – 3 kinds of raclette cheese, ham, shrimp, herbs, veggies, etc., and then realized we’d forgotten to cook the potatoes, an essential part of the raclette. Had to back up and get the taters on. That done, we had a feast and watched “American Dreamer.”

Big G came in around 5 am, meowing, got a treat and beat paws back out to patrol the perimeter. I woke up around 6 with my right shoulder (not the arthritic one!) absolutely frozen. I am in agony but Jana is taking care of me. We are cleaning and packing and getting ready to head to Heidelberg.