Day 39
I really should have posted this week ago when it happened; time did not work in my favor. After having worked for a while, I met a few interns, and I went on this trip with them. We met up in the morning to take the regional express train to Tubingen. Upon arriving, we made our way to the old town. While walking, we saw a river separating the town similar to Heidelberg. The streets also looked similar to many historic German cities. There are probably some distinct differences between each city, but I’m not knowledgeable enough about the architecture of the period. We then took a bus to the main attraction of the town, the Bebenhausen Abbey.
Walking around the monastery kept reminding me about Diablo II (the nerd in me talking). It was quite reminiscent of the Rogue Monastery, but we obviously were not being chased by sword-wielding skeletons. Located in the outer cloister is the tourist information center, church, cemetery, and various historic buildings.
Walking further into the monastery, we came arrived at the inner cloister. A large hallway enclosed the area on all sides, with doors in the hallway leading to rooms for public display. Along the wall were stone plaques dedicated to the history of the place. In the center is a fountain that has been dried up and I don’t know if it is used in the summer. It kind of reminded me of an exhausted health/mana fountain.
The rooms inside the monastery contained information and artifacts displayed for people to see. In one of the rooms, there was a entrance to the catacombs. Maybe if I went down there I’d find Andariel.
The next day, we went to visit Hohenzollern Castle, the ancestral seat of the Hohenzollern family. Two castles had previously been constructed there before, but were destroyed during war or due to lack of care. The castle that remains today was constructed for Frederick William IV of Prussia. The sole purpose of the castle’s construction was as a memorial to the Hohenzollern family and not as an actual residence for anyone.
Along the battlements of the castle stood statues of Prussian royalty. They probably didn’t fight in many battles and since they didn’t look very physically fit to me. They probably just ate a lot.
The castle possesses a lot of defensive structures, but since this castle was built only as a memorial, it was all just for show.
The top level of the castle was the central courtyard. Along the battlements was a view from 855 m above sea level.
We took a tour inside the castle, but unfortunately, they did not allow photography on the premises. The ballroom of castle contained pillars of pure marble even though nobody ever used it. Nowadays, the castle is open for tourists and private functions such as weddings.
Inside one of the rooms were paintings on the wall dedicated to remembering each member of the House of Hohenzollern. In the hallways were paintings of various people and of the two previous castles that were built. One of the paintings was of Baron von Steuben. He assisted the Americans during the Revolutionary War and received a thank you letter from George Washington for his service. Since monarchies dominated at the time, there was talk of choosing a king to govern the United States, but obviously that never happened. At the time, their choice was one of the members of the Prussian royal family.
Some rooms displayed some personal items of the Prussian Kaisers. Apparently, a lot of them liked tobacco and even had a really fancy looking box for tobacco snuff. Despite how unhealthy that sounds, one of those boxes took a bullet for one of the Kaisers and saved his life.
The most significant item was the Crown of Wilhelm II. It contained so much and so many different kinds of gems that it was worth millions. It sat inside clear glass display, but looking closely at it, there was a whole slew of motion detection devices around it for security. Unfortunately, because of my terrible memory, I can’t really remember much more. I thought the castle was Heidelberg was amazing, but this one completely beats it.
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