Liched by Lichtenstein

Apparently, despite me loving Germany, Germany did not love me. Almost daily our original plans were foiled by traffic, accidents, emergencies at the Army base which required Joe's attention or just that really old guy on the road in front of us who made us miss the last tour of the day wherever we were headed. The first of these mishaps happened on our way to Schloss Lichtenstein.
The castle is perched on a crag high in the Swabian Alps. On approach from the road, it looks impossibly high.

Normally, this height thing wouldn't be an issue because there is a handy road with switchbacks that you drive up and then park in a delightful parking lot right next to the castle. However, this road was blocked off when we arrived by no less than two Polizei, one ambulance and two helicopters. Apparently there had been a motorcycle accident. Joe is of the opinion that the Germans tend to overdo it a bit when it comes to number of first responders. Anyway, Joe was confident that even a small accident like the one that happened would result in hours of road closure so we parked the car in a random parking lot on the side of the road and decided to hike up to the castle. It wasn't a long hike, the trailhead said 2km, but it was straight up. My calves thank you Schloss Lichtenstein.

The original castle was built around 1200 but after being destroyed twice in the 14th century, it was given up as a loss. The ruins are still pretty cool though.

Anyway, no one did anything with the property until 1802 when King Frederick I of Wurttemburg decided he would like to shoot stuff in the area and built a hunting lodge. The King passed the land on to his nephew who was apparently a reader and a bit of a romantic. He read Wilhelm Hauff's novel Lichtenstein and decided he needed to rebuild the castle to match the historical novel set in the Swabian Alps. So, if it looks like a castle from a fairy tale that's because it kind of is.

Dominika and I are sporting our new shades from H&M Her. That poor purse went everywhere with me and carried two jackets for the constantly changing temperatures.

I loved exploring all the nooks and crannies of the battlements and walls. Joe is "Dadding it up" in his glasses and baby sling. Oh yeah. How did my little brothers get so much bigger than me?

The tour of the inside was pretty fabulous but no pictures were allowed. There was an impressive array of armor and weaponry spanning from the medieval ages to the 19th century. One of my favorite things was a huge blunderbuss which required three people to wield. There was also a drinking room with many beautiful glasses and steins but also a champagne glass so tall, that it also required three people to use it. So practical. I thought it was interesting that the dining hall had an adjacent musician's chamber with vents that allowed the music to come in, but the musicians were hidden from view. No unsightly violinist was going to spoil the Duke's dinner. Come now.
It was fun to think that Lichtenstein is life imitating art, which was imitating life in the first place. So in essence, castle Lichtenstein is imitating itself. Whoa. I need go think deeply about that.