Prague Castle is the largest castle in the the world. It is more like a small city than just a Castle. There is a cathedral, two churches, streets with shops and cafes and at least two large garden and park areas. Currently the Prime Minister of the Czech Republic lives there so there is also a large military presence. This view was taken looking south from the upper garden.
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The view from Prague Castle
We were fortunate to be at Prague Castle during the changing of the guard. I did manage to get some video but it is a little jumpy because i was running backwards as they walked towards me. This is a still from the video which will be included in my upcoming video focused on European street musicians. Their marching cadence is a form of music if you ask me. The whole thing made me think of the movie Duck Soup for some reason.
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Changing of the Guard
I thought I would miss out on seeing Autumn colors in Pittsburgh this year since we would be away for most of October. However, due to the warm weather and absence of frost the trees still have not turned. They seem to be adapting well to global warming. This was taken on November 4th and still no frost.
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Heidelberg Castle is a essentially a ruin in the Rhineland section of Germany. It sits on top of a hill overlooking the town of Heidelberg and dates back to 1214. In 1294 a second castle structure was joined to the first. However in 1537 a lightning bolt destroyed part of the castle and later in 1764 the rebuilt section of the castle was also destroyed by lightning.
In a future post I will post pictures of the castle but as I waited in line to take pictures of the view of Heidelberg from the castle. I noticed to the left this beautiful structure. The guides didn’t talk about it, nobody else seemed interested in it but I wondered what the story was behind this beautiful palace that was just below the castle with the same magnificent view.
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The Palace near the Castle
I cannot decide which version of this image I like the most. Once again the digital dark room makes it in some ways harder to make decisions. In a real darkroom, I probably would ave not wasted the chemical, paper and time to make multiple prints but the digital darkroom makes it easy to create multiple versions and hard to choose just one. Which do you like better?
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Original
Color Edited
Monochrome
As we left Holland and cruised down the Rhine River we would sit on our veranda or the sun deck and see grapes being harvested on the sunny bank of the river, sometimes to port and sometimes to starboard as the river gently turned. In the heart of Germany these vines produce the Riesling and Gewurztraminer wines that are famous in the region. We saw people hand harvesting the grapes the way they probably have for hundreds of years.
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Vines along the Rhine
I was excited to visit Köln (Cologne). I had heard it was one of the best cities in Germany but I was more impressed withe Heidelberg, München and the smaller towns we visited. Maybe it was the guide that we had. She was the worst guide of our excursion. Maybe it was because the city was bombed to almost oblivion so it didn’t have the architectural diversity of other cities. Maybe it was the cold and dreary day that we were there.
The cathedral,Kölner Dom was magnificent however and was not bombed during the war. It goes back to the year 1270 and is one of the oldest cathedrals in the world and the most visited historic building in all of Germany. The walkway along the Rhine River is also quite a lovely place for a walk or bike ride. This picture was taken from the river walk.
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Köln Cathedral
The first two times I went to the Nederlands (Holland) I visited only Amsterdam. We did rent a car and visited Castle country but it was a gray rain filled day. Even the day we went to the Keukenhof Gardens was stormy. On this trip we started in Amsterdam but then took a river cruise and the second day we woke up in Kinderdijk Nederlands and finally learned the meaning behind the expression Dutch Clouds
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Dutch Clouds
Along the Rhine River is a stretch known as the Rhine Gorge which is a UNESCO world heritage site. Forty castles line both sides of this section of the river. Marksburg is the only castle that was never destroyed and sits above the town of Braubach. The castle is not at all “lush” like the Neuschwanstein Castle in Bavaria. It was never used as a residence but rather was a defensive fort. During times of war the Baron’s family would live in the castle along with the knights and horses used for battle.
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Marksburg Castle
View of Braubach. from Marksburg Castle
The Windmills of Kinderdijk are along the Rhine River in Holland south of Amsterdam. They are used to manage water and eliminate flooding and have been in existence since the 15th Century. The name of the town means “children’s dike” and refers to a folk tale that after the a great flood when they went to access the damage they saw a cat in a child’s cradle jumping to maintain the balance of the cradle. As the cradle drifted to shore they found a baby inside the cradle. This is the source of the folk tale, “The Cat and The Cradle”.
Although some of the windmills are still used, the main water works are provided by two diesel pumping stations near one of the entrances of the windmills site.
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Kinderdijk