Wednesday, October 3rd

Oct. 3rd

Today, Laura, Mike, Chris, and I went to a castle. Germany continues to amaze me.  You can travel from a huge city to a medieval castle in one hour. The old and new meld seamlessly here, it really is incredible. I’ve been to Warwick castle in England and while this one was not as big, it was still just as impressive. It’s called Burg Altena and has been around since the 12^th century. 

The exhibits were really interesting and varied. It was even a youth hostel during the 1920s! I can’t imagine actually spending the night in a castle, but I bet it would be fun. We went all over, from the highest turret, to the dungeon torture chamber (creepy!). 

They even had what we termed “a pit of death” where they would just throw people into this gaping hole to die.

Don't fall in!

 We also got to try on armor and helmets! It was a lot of fun.

Knights of Nerdom

After this, we got back on the train and Laura took us to a nearby cave. (See what I mean about diversity!?)  It’s called the Dechen Cave (you should check out that link, the website gives you a panoramic view of most of the cave). It was discovered in 1868 and is thousands of years old. The tour guide told us that it takes 100 years for a stalagmite/stalagtite to grow one centimer. There were some in there that were at least 7 feet tall! My favorite part of the cave was the organ grotto. The stalactite formation there looks like a church organ. 

After we finished the cave tour, we headed home. Laura brought the German Yahtzee game I’d played before, so we played a few rounds of that. No 400 point score this time, but it was fun nonetheless. That’s all for now Schüss!

German Word of the Day: Die Fledermaus- “bat (the animal)” Upon entering a cave, don’t be alarmed by die Fledermaus hanging from the ceiling.