Just when I was finishing up my blog post about landing in Ramstein and was thinking about heading back to bed for a bit, housekeeping tried to get inside the room… it was like 7:30am… I’m trying to get to the door in time (didn’t make it) to stop them from coming in and waking up my snoring husband. He hears the commotion and in a dazed state asks what’s going on, and keeps asking multiple times as I’m trying to usher housekeeping out the door. Now, the man hops out of bed, fully awake and I realize my going back to sleep has just been nixed.

I head down to the hotel eating area to find the most incredible spread laid out for breakfast. The folks we met the night before are there enjoying breakfast and we sit next to them. There are eggs, bacon, various kinds of German sausages, fruit, yogurt, brans and oats, rolls, juices, and desserts, including strawberry cheesecake for breakfast!

With that crisis averted it was time to move on and do a bit of exploring. I had asked the young desk clerk the night before how far the train station was and if it was within walking distance of the hotel. It was I was assured, just about 15 minutes up the road.

My definition of walking distance is decidedly different than his definition. Although the walk was pleasant, albeit a bit chilly walking alongside the road and then a pathway thru the woods, it took us about an hour to make it to town. I resorted to using Google Maps because I thought we must
be lost because the kid said it was 15 minutes.

When we finally found the train station, we discovered it was just a stop with no brochures or a person to help with information. I noticed a sign that said Tourist Information, so we started following its route… right through what I’m guessing was the Red-Light District. Strip club after strip club and then I saw a building with the name Hotel Tennessee on it which I thought was really cool until I looked at it closer and saw that it was a strip joint too!

Walking around reminded me of how chilly it was, and I really wanted to find a jacket, but we were still searching for the Tourist Information building, we finally found it and a young lady who could tell us nothing about the train schedule. She was able to tell me that the castle I had heard about was to the left, to the left and up the stairs.

So… we walked out, went to the left, to the left, and up the stairs… and into the woods. Steven thought I must have heard her wrong and it was the wrong spot. So we just started walking around – up one street, then down one street and we did see signs for Nanstein Castle, so we started following them. Up through an old and tiny neighborhood and then up a winding hill. It was slow going because it wasn’t just a hill but a damn mountain! We stop at Hotel Schloss to rest and get a drink. Nothing was open. I ask the front desk clerk if we’re heading the right way. She confirms we are and if we were walking it was easier to take the path through the woods. We take her advice, and take to the woods, dodging the dropping chestnuts as we walked that were steadily falling. I know those things are expensive in the US and here they are lying all over the forest floor! It just isn’t right!

We were so happy to finally reach the top! To me, it was beautiful. To Steven… a broken-down rock house, but he was happy there was a bier garten at the base of the castle. The caretaker was eating lunch and told us to walk around and find him when we were through to pay the entrance fee. Four euros for me and three for Steven because he got the senior discount.

It was an amazing piece of history, although it’s in ruins now. A medieval castle built in the 12th century out of red sandstone, by Friedrich Barbarossa (Emperor Friedrich I Hohenstaufen). The castle was occupied by the von Sickingen family in 1482 and Franz von Sickingen, a medieval warlord, took over as mercenary of the manor in 1518. On May 7, 1523, he was killed during a coup and siege of the castle brought on by his knights.

Walking through the ruins, you can imagine what life may have been those hundreds of years ago. The stone walls overlooking the forest where the archers fired their arrows in defense of the castle. The fallen stones seem to have the fingerprints of the long-ago builders indented on them. The courtyard, peaceful now, but once the stage of an epic battle. At the bottom of the keep is a room where it is said that Sickingen was mortally wounded and that inscription is carved into the doorway at the entrance where he took his last breath.

The view is amazing and you can see for miles, validating the placement of this once valuable burg. On the back wall of the castle is proof that it has held the fascination of generations, as I spotted the dates 1918 and 1941 carved into the sandstone by some long-ago visitor.

When we were done we decided to walk the road down the mountain. Wrong move! The incline was so steep I felt like my knees were going to bend forward and snap. Steven was liking the walk back, it was much easier but not to my knees!

Still cold, we walked around searching for a store that may have a jacket. We found an outdoor sports store and went to take a look. The clerk asked what I needed and I told her I needed a jacket for warmth and what size was Xlarge in European sizes. Turns out it’s like 48! Didn’t like the sound of that at all. So, I tried on a few light jackets and of course, couldn’t find one I liked in my size. I apologize and tell her I’m sorry that American women are a bit bigger and that these coats must have been made in Vietnam. She laughed and said don’t worry, German women are known to have the same problem! I finally found one I like and one that fits in the men’s section… a size 50!

By now it’s about 3:30, we’ve been walking now for about five hours and of course, I found a cemetery and had to explore for a bit. I tell Steven, we’re taking a cab back because my knees, hips, and feet are killing me. Turns out I walked that man over 7 miles today! We figure out how to order a cab and while we’re waiting, go into a store to get a drink. I spot a white Monster and I’m in heaven now as I start gulping it down, and then the cab driver shows up. I open the door to get in and he yells something in German and I think I hear the word alcohol. What? English, please.

“No alcohol allowed!”

I don’t have any alcohol I answered so confused that I told him I had juice.

“No, no, no! No alcohol!”

“Sir, it’s an energy drink. No alcohol.”

“Oh. Then that’s okay. Where you going?”

Once moving, we mentioned we walked the route in the morning but that it was told long and we needed to take his taxi back.

“Why too long? I walk it in 15 minutes.” And then he basically starts ragging us that we walk slowly and it couldn’t possibly have taken us an hour to walk, as he proceeds to tell us he walks it every day.

“We must just be old,” I replied. And that point is proven when we get back to our room at the Hotel Europa and both promptly fall asleep and wake up around 7:30pm wondering what to do for dinner now.