Castle #1 (out of 4000)

During cultural training, we took a quiz to test our knowledge of German culture. Among more serious questions, such as what are the major political parties of Germany, we had more basic cultural knowledge questions, like name three German beers. (we all failed that question) Another question we failed, was estimating the number of castles in Germany. We guessed in the order of hundreds. According to wikipedia (the knowledge source of all things) there's more like 4000+. (Though what qualifies as a 'castle' is a bit unclear.)

Anyway, we internationals wanted to go see a castle. (a "real" one). Thus, we traveled to see Hohenzollern. After a fairly short trip by train (we started, but didn't have time to finish a game of monopoly) we arrived in Hechingen. Despite being quite a distance away from the castle, we could see it perched up high on the hills.

First sighting of the castle on the hill

Getting on the first bus we found (which somewhat luckily actually took us towards the castle), we wound our way through the surrounding towns, before driving about halfway up the ... large hill? small mountain? Since we're young, cheap students, we paid for our tickets at the base and took the originally labeled 15, but then refactored to 25 minute footpath. Straight up. (stairs basically all the way).

Hiking up to the castle made it seem really intimidating

But it was so worth it. Since the castle was built on top of this isolated peak, you can see for a really long way in every direction. It's too bad that it's natural strategic advantage didn't help defend it. The castle has been 3 times, most recently in the 1850s.

This castle has walls inside of walls inside of walls

The view was amazing

After touring the castle, (in German, because we liked the challenge -- and we arrived too late for the English tours) we enjoyed some nice french fries in a small Biergarten in the courtyard of the castle. Since it was only 5 (aka the 3rd hour of 2pm -- it looks like it's perpetually 2pm from 2pm - 7 or 8pm) we took the train back to Tübingen, using our nifty travel-wherever you want til 3am tickets.

The river front was popular with both locals and swans

There we found a nice typical micro brewery to round our typically German day. Eating local specialties, like Maultaschen, we watched the river (and all of the boats and swans) drift by. Like true Germans, we walked around (unfortunately, not through a forest - but around the city) after dinner, wandering in whatever direction took our fancy.

We got excited to see traditional-looking houses

Due to our wandering taking us a decent distance from the train station, we ended up on the last train back to Stuttgart - the local train, not the express we had caught coming out in the morning. With all the extra time, we were able to finish our game of monopoly. (I was honestly convinced that no one actually ever finished those games)