John and Sigrid's Adventures

Thursday, June 2, 2011

Germany - Day 1 Part II - Unterburg, Schloss Burg

After a short drive we arrived at Unterburg to visit the Schloss Burg. The literal translation of Schloss Burg is "Castle Castle". A "Schloss" is a very large and elaborate building like a castle and a "burg" is a fortified building which could also refer to a castle.

Another neat little German town. They don't create these towns to look like they do in fairy tales.......this is just the way they are. Every large/small town has these same types of old buildings that are maintained so well. Europeans don't tend to tear down old buildings to make way for new ones like we do here. Many of the old homes and business' are kept in the family for generations. In the smaller towns, they still have local bakers, butchers, and other shops that they walk to or bike to each day for their needs. The large box type stores like Wal-Mart, Costco, Target, etc. are reserved mostly for the large cities.

To get to Schloss Burg, which is on the top of the hill as a castle should be, we took the chair lift.

Gisela and Georg are on the chair in front of Sigrid and me. The seats were narrow and a little slippery so the ride was interesting for me.

Almost there.

The town on top of the hill was picturesque and dominated by the castle buildings.

We looked but didn't ride.

Lots of restaurants at the top. This is a tourist attraction for Germans as well as international travellers like us.

The castle has been destroyed and rebuilt and expanded a number of times over the years. At one time this was a hunting castle for royalty. Can you imagine having a castle that you only visit when you want to go hunting?

The castle courtyard.

What's to eat?

Archbishop Englebert II (1185-1225).....a past resident and largely responsible for the building of the castle.

What goes up must come down if you want to get back to where the car is parked.

Gisela and Georg followed us down.

On our way back home to rest and get ready for another day.

Day II will be a Rhine River walk and Georg and Gisela's home.

Germany - Day 1 Part I - Our Arrival and Altenburg

This is the first in a series of posts covering our trip to Germany from May 5 to May 25, 2011. The visit was primarily to visit friends and family and to attend a Confirmation Ceremony for Sigrid's nephew.

What you will not see posted are the flashy picture post card photos that you always see on the travel brocures for Germany. Our photos will reflect day-to-day living in Germany even though we do travel to some touristy sites. The tourist places we visit are more likely the sites that Germans go to rather than international visitors.

We started flying at 11:00 am on May 5, but didn't arrive in Dusseldorf until nearly 8:00 am on May 6th. We came to Dusseldorf first to visit our friends, Gisela and Georg. We spent the first week with them at their home in Leverkusen which is just outside of Dusseldorf. We met Gisela and Georg on top of a mountain in Rocky Mountain National Park while we were there visiting my family in May 2010. We have traded e-mails, phone calls, and Skyped together many times since then and were invited to visit them when they found that we were coming to Germany to visit Sigrid's family. We had a great time with them and they showed us all around the surrounding part of Germany. How lucky we are to have such great friends.

After settling in for a short time at their home, we were out and about sightseeing in the beautiful park area of Altenburg. Hey....once you have been up for 24 hours, you might as well keep going for 36 hours. The jet lag will get you either way. We were met first by a heron on a small pond as we walked from the parking lot.

Sigrid and Gisela.

Georg points out features of Altenburg on the map.

Altenburg was the seat of the Dukes of Ernestine until the 1800's but its history goes back much farther to at least 900 when the Slavic people built the town. The park is now government owned.