Castles nearby

So yesterday and today we visited some castles near our house with my parents. Yesterday we went to Berg Nanstein in Landstuhl. We took a nice little hike up the hill, and walked around the castle, which, unfortunately, was not open. There's a very nice view over the city. The castle is popular site for family photos and such. We took some, but they're not so great! They have a little cafe that serves light food, but it's only open in summer.


Today we went to the Potzberg castle, which is very nice. It has a hotel inside it, and a very nice restaurant. It was a nice drive, and when you got into the forest, suddenly it was white. They had a heavy frost the night before that had edged everything in white. It was stunningly beautiful. And it wasn't just on the edges, it was like miniature icicles, only they must have had a good wind, because they were perpendicular to the ground, not hanging down. It was so cool! We tried to hike around a bit, but Stella started freaking out, so we had to cut it short. I think she was either cold (it was much colder up there than at our house), uncomfortable (a big, puffy jacket stuffed into our hiking backpack can't be very nice), hungry (it was lunchtime) or all three (most likely). She was crying quite angrily and loudly by the time we got back to the castle (I swear it was only 10 minutes, but it seemed like forever!). Poor thing! So we stopped in at the restaurant and had a very lovely meal.

The inside of the castle is very nice, exposed beams and thick stones and all. They have medieval banquets (kind of like Medieval Times, just without the horses, knights, and fighting) and murder mystery dinners. Now that would be a great setting...

After lunch, we went out behind the castle, where they have a zoo.

It's not like a regular zoo, with monkeys and lions and such, but just different kinds of deer, horses, goats, pigs, and birds. Some of it's a petting zoo, but really it's just like a series of pastures. Stella, of course, LOVED it, and the views of the valley would be beautiful, if not for the fog. We could just make out the hills beyond. They have all kinds of birds, especially birds of prey, like falcons and eagles and stuff. They have a big outdoor stage where they must have bird shows in the summer. We even saw a bald eagle. It will be a very nice place to go for picnics in warmer weather, when Stella will be able to just run amok.