On Saturday we took off down towards the Rhine. On the Rhine River there are tons and tons of castles, some restored and some just ruins. We headed for Schloss Rheinfels this time. It is one that is ruins but there are many tunnels that you can go exploring in, which we thought the boys would LOVE!! So we took some flashlights and headed that direction.
On our drive I saw so many vineyards on these steep hills. I looked at them from the perspective of having to harvest and knew that I wouldn't want to be the one picking, you have to be good on your feet. Like in apples and pears, it is all done by hand. But more about this later.
We all needed to use the restroom at the castle and this was the sink. I thought it was really neat!!! The flusher for the toilet was like this, except you pulled down on a metal ring that was attached to a long metal rod.
We went into the castle and Michael was off. He was extremely excited to go exploring into the castle especially because it had tunnels!! Schloss Rheinfels is the ruin of a spur castle, which means it was built on a mountain spur by at least two sides of steep terrain formation below the hilltop. Excavation has shown that this area was already settled in Roman times. Navigation of the Rhine required extra help in order to negotiate the underwater reefs on the Loreley (more explanation of this later). In 1245, the castle was of Diether V of Katzenelenbogen and built as a means of consolidating the very profitable activities of the customs point on the Rhine. Soon after, in the year 1255, an army besieged the castle for over a year in order to persuade its occupants to return raised levies, but the attack was in vain. During the 14th and 15th centuries, the Rheinfels Castle was extended to become the most important residence on the central Rhine. Extravagant life at court resulted in the castle becoming the cultural center of the region.
My two boys - aren't they so cute and some brotherly love!!
This was a huge underground room used for storing wine and food supplies. They kept wine for the soldiers stationed at the castle, up to 200,000 liters.
AJ at the end of a short tunnel
looking up at one of the towers
Look at me I am King of the castle!!!
The boys thought it was so cool they could climb almost anywhere at this castle. At most of the castles you have to stay in the paths and no climbing allowed.
Up, up they go - where they stop nobody knows
David and AJ at the entrance to yet another set of tunnels
This is one of the tunnels we walked through, my flash was able to give it quite a bit of light, but it was pitch black in there.
The countryside from one side of the castle - again look at those vineyards on the hills
The boys seeing if they could squeeze through there.
This was a kid's only tunnel, we weren't sure if they were allowed to go in it or not, but you can see AJ is squatted down there. Michael went so far I couldn't see him anymore and he took another turn. I finally had to call him back because I didn't want him to get lost in there.
This one was called the clock tower
The four of us with the Rhine river behind us
The boys trying to see what is over the cliff - it was a long way down and this one made Mommy nervous
Petra checking out the view. If you look closely you can see another castle on the other side of the river up in the mountain.
This is just to give you a little perspective on how tall the castle is. That is AJ there at the bottom.
The Rhine river with a ferry chugging on down.
One of the family crests
This I thought was really cool, the one in the middle has a spear at the top - I know they all do, but look at the next picture.
This is at the bottom of that spear - so you can turn it around and shoot a gun. It is long and probably hard to handle, but at least you had a choice of gun or spear.
Since the Rheinfels was built on a slope falling sharply away towards the Rhine it was susceptible to attack from the west. That is why they built high walls and had a moat to protect this side of the castle. They first used these stone cannon balls or used catapults to throw them. As early as 1410, an armorer was employed at Rheinfels to manufacture cannons.
Here are some examples of what they used to try and siege the castle.
Michael in chains - we almost left him there to get rotten vegetables thrown at him, but decided against it. ;-)
AJ in chains also - we took them both home with us
If you look over the top of the farthest left part of the castle, you see yet another castle in the background to the left of the castle - not the same one as before. That shows you how close the castles are on the Rhine
David deep in thought...
Here is the other one to the right of the castle
A view of the castle from the highest point we could climb.
After we left the castle we drove down and took a ferry across the Rhine. There are only two bridges that cross the Rhine but at most of the cities along it, there are ferry boats to take you to the other side. This is a picture of the whole castle from the other side of the river, you can see how big it is and much of it was destroyed in the seven year war.
The boys, of course, were starving after all of their adventures, so guess what we found...you will never guess, okay you did--ice cream!!! Here they are fully enjoying their ice cream in front of the Rhine river.
AJ in front of the town totem, it has Loreley on top with music notes around it, trains, grapes, etc. all part of the area. Next we headed up to Loreley.
The Loreley rises up almost vertically to 145 yards above the water-level. Downstream the river is squeezed into its narrowest and deepest (24 yards) point, so the Middle of the Rhine at this point used to be very difficult to navigate and the correct passage is (today) clearly marked with buoys. Even in the 19th century, reefs and rapids made it extremely dangerous for ships to pass this point. The legend tells us, there was once a beautiful young maiden, named Loreley, who threw herself headlong into the river in despair over a faithless lover. Upon her death she was transformed into a siren and could from that time on be heard singing on a rock along the Rhine River, near St Goar. Her hypnotic music lured sailors to their death.
You can see one of the red buoys in the forefront of the picture.
Michael thinking he was going to climb the fence, but no way, it truly is a vertical drop. I told him not to find out.
The boys playing around with one of the old time machinery.
There are pictures carved into rocks all over Loreley - they make a story.
AJ overlooking the Rhine
This is the other way looking at the Rhine - you can only fit one boat at a time through this part if it is a bigger boat, so there are signs that light up when boats are in the lane. It is still a dangerous place to travel, but with all the technology, buoys and signs it is much less treacherous.
A statue of Loreley
I thought this was too cool, a steam engine just headed down the track
Next we headed to Petra's home town. This is an island that she grew up playing around and it is connected to another island on the right that if the river is low enough you can walk right to it. We headed to her parent's restaurant. They have a small restaurant and a small vineyard. We felt like total royalty. Her parents were so welcoming and sweet. They don't speak any English, but Petra and Kai translated for us. I used my little German to talk with them a little bit. Her dad took the time on a Saturday night to take us down to his cellar and show us how he made his wine. It is quite a process and very interesting. They are harvesting the grapes right about now or in about a week. Usually they harvest it towards the end of September and early October. They have a gadget that they look at the grapes to see how much sugar they have in them. When it is right they harvest them. Again it is all done by hand. They do have conveyer belts that you put the grapes you picked into a bigger barrel and then they get taken down the mountain. They then get pressed and made into different types and grades of wine. One thing I found very interesting is that around Germany I had seen in many places ice wine. Now I know that to make ice wine you take a chance and leave your grapes on the vines until a freeze comes in. Once your grapes are frozen you have to have an inspector come out and verify it. Then you pick them and can make ice wine. Petra's father doesn't do this because it is chancy and they live in a valley where the air stays warmer so it is harder to get the freeze.
He buys oak wood barrels from America because it gives the red wine a much better wood flavor. He has a few different types of wood he uses for the red wines, but likes the American oak the best. He can only use the barrel about five times before it looses their wood flavor. For them to get rose wine they have to crush the grapes right away. For the red they cut them in half and let the oxygen get to them for a little bit. The red wines have to sit for a year before they are ready to drink. The white wines only have to sit for about four months.
AJ next to one of the vats they put the wine into before they bottle it.
They also put wine in these containers on the right. You can attach a water hose right to it to keep it cooled down. The process can make it really hot.
At the end of the tour, he broke out Sparkling wine, he couldn't call it champagne because that is what the French call it, and we toasted. It was really good!!! They were so accommodating that they even made our dinner family style because we didn't know what we wanted to eat. Everything and I mean everything was soooooo wonderful!!! We are definitely going to go back there. Their restaurant feels like a family. They didn't expect it to be this successful. They have had to expand twice in the five years that they have been doing this and her parents are in their seventies but seem much younger than that. They were out their joking with the customers and everything. AJ also tried everything and liked it all! I am so glad I have one adventuresome boy. :-) Michael will get there eventually, I hope. It was so much fun and it was great food, great wine and wonderful friends!!!
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