Okay, so here I am striking a pose. Connie actually wanted to take a picture of my awesome outfit, but I actually thing the picture turned out well. I am standing in the woods because most of our afternoon was spent hiking to the Burg MontClair in Mettlach. Apparently, it is a very small castle, but any castle is awesome so we had a great time. The deep woods looks like something straight out of The Brother's Grimm (which I suppose it is, as I believe they were German as well). It feels, especially, which you cannot see, as it was raining, that a wolf would jump out from behind a tree and eat you. There is a feeling of darkness descending in the shadows, too bright sunlight in the open spaces and that the crows above your head are going to come down any second. It sounds scary, but in reality it is kind of romantic, in the 1800's artist sort of way. There were no bugs, snakes or anything else that could bite or sting or hurt. Connie said she got bitten by something, but it didnt last and it didnt hurt so bad that she couldnt keep walking, so I dont know...
Here is a flower that was so pretty out there, attached to some bush that looked like raspberries or something similar. We found chestnuts on the ground and collected them (they are sitting in the kitchen right now waiting to be cooked and eaten) but it was like everything around you is edible. Apples grow all over the place here and, like I said, the chestnuts were wild too. I need to find Connie's camera because we found a HUGE slug that was very cool looking. I guess it is all interesting because everything is new. All the plant life and (limited) animal life we came across was completely different than what we would find in Texas it is amazing. I think my camera did a good job, though of capturing the beauty of this flower...notice, the leaves are wet because, like I said, it was raining. Annika was very concerned about us going hiking in the rain...she said that we would get sick because of this. We scoffed and went anyways. She ended up texting us to check that we were alright about every 30 minutes. It was cute.
So, I know it is redundant but JESUS...look at it!! This picture I took while I was standing atop the tower (seen below). The rain just stopped and I guess the low spots were covered in fog/mist? Either way, it made for a great photo. Connie and I just stood at the top of this castle for about twenty minutes just watching the scenery because it is so awe-inspiring. The castle was built in 1180 (I think, because of my rough German translation that is what I gathered, but I might be wrong) so it was a military stronghold of the time, and so positioned on one of the tallest points in the area. Its amazing in Europe to spend time in a place that has been civilized for so long, seeing the same things that so many people have seen before us. The coolest tree we saw on the trip was over 1200 years old, and I climbed inside of it. I dont know, the age and what (in my mind) has transpired at these places is just awesome.
Here is the Burg MontClair. The stone is the same reddish stone that was lining the path we were walking on, pulled from the area. This is the only remaining tower at the location, with modern handrails and bridges added in for tourist's safety. You can see on the sides windows for bedrooms/working rooms, but all over the place, there are skinny "arrow slits" for battle, and it is still easy to see where the moat was originally. What is very cool, though is that from this tower you can see where we were on Day 2, in Mettlach, were we took the pictures of the bend in the Saar river. We are on the opposite bank here, at a slightly lower point, and we were over-looking the Saar here as well.
Here is Connie coming up one of the very small passageways at the castle. I guess what they say about Europeans being smaller in the past is true. All the spaces were made for very short, very skinny little people. Josh, I think you would have to bend over almost double so that you did not hit your head on these ceilings. I, of course, being a midget, had no issues and ran up and down the stairs without any problems. Even Connie, though had to duck so as to not get clucked in the head. The stone is so old, though. it is worn through, missing chunks and the mortar is gone in many places. You can practically feel the age of the castle through the walls. From my rough German translation I think I saw that the Burg MontClair was built in 1180, BUT spear heads and arrows etc. were found dating from 400 C.E., which means that the location was civilized during Roman occupation. CRAZY!! There was a Roman stone (?) I don't know what kind or what it was for, but it was in the museum section (located in the original cellar). I think that this is one of my favorite things about Germany...just the age of everything. That I was standing where a dominant western civilization had roots for over 1500 years. It is amazing... 300-400 years before America was even DISCOVERED. I dont know, all of it is awe-inspiring I suppose.
Well, that is all for now, I will update again tomorrow.
Ash
