German Castles and German Chocolate

Two of my favorite things in the world are castles and chocolate. Thus, in my two short months in Germany, I have already been to two castles and the factory where they make what is probably my favorite chocolate (Ritter Sport). I did not know upon coming to Baden-Württemberg that I would be so well positioned to enjoy these wonderful things.

I went to the first castle, Castle Hohenzollern, about a month ago with the group here that organizes activities for international students. The Hohenzollern family were important in Swabian history, and it seems that their name keeps coming up (the second castle I went to is also associated with the family). Castle Hohenzollern is in the Swabian Alps, which is apparently the major mountain range in this part of Germany (beautiful, but smaller than the Bavarian Alps). Castle Hohenzollern is called the "Neuschwanstein of Baden-Württemberg," after the castle in Bavaria that served as Disney's inspiration for Cinderella's Castle, and which I've visited a few times before. It's in the most beautiful part of the Bavarian Alps, and is certainly a site to see. I would agree that this seems to be the Baden-Württemberg equivalent, and was not at all disappointed by the castle or the landscape.

The castle in the distance...on top of a hill we later walked down

Entrance to the castle

In the courtyard of the castle

Beautiful Scenery

For our tour of the castle they gave us giant shoes to wear/shuffle around in, as apparently our own would hurt the castle floor.

The tour was pretty interesting, and being in a large crowd of people with different levels of German reminded me of taking tours while studying abroad in Regensburg. It's interesting how different the language is that's used on tours of historical sites. The tour guide speaks often in the passive, which is common in historical speak, and uses much more academic vocabulary than you encounter in day-to-day conversations. As I don't read very many historical texts in German, it's vocabulary that I associate pretty much only with this type of tour, and it means that I have to work much harder to pay attention. After the tour we were told that we were going to walk back the way we had originally taken the bus. We discovered that this meant a two-hour hike to a different train station. Luckily it had gotten to be a very nice day, but after an unexpectedly steep climb up to the castle itself (think never-ending flights of very steep stairs), this was not an entirely-welcome surprise. We enjoyed ourselves, however, and with a beautiful landscape and good company it was quite a nice day.

About half-way through our walk home

An amusing sight to turn around to

The second castle that I went to was part of a day-trip yesterday with eight other people. We went to a small town called Sigmaringen, which is about an hour away from Tübingen. We wandered around briefly, and encountered a political protest involving people dressed as a dragon, before making our way to the castle.

Sigmaringen Castle

The view from the castle

 

After a tour of the castle with a few families, whose children just reminded me of how inept my German is when compared to theirs, we decided to take another twenty minute train ride to Beuron, a nearby town where there is a Kloster and some beautiful places to walk around. We spent a lazy few hours enjoying the newfound sun, walking along the Danube, and eventually trying to get apples down from high trees. It was a lovely afternoon in one of the few remaining fall days.

At the kloster

Where we walked along the river

Random swimming pool?

Hunting for apples

And now for the second part of this blog of favorite things: chocolate! After discovering that we could get to the Ritter Sport factory for free with our semester tickets, which you can purchase once you're enrolled in the University of Tübingen and which is valid for travel in much of the surrounding area (we got to both castles with it), a few friends and I headed off on a chocolate pilgrimage. After getting a little lost and wandering around a small town for a while, we eventually made it to the factory. Having heard from friends that there was a small museum about chocolate as well as a large shop, we headed into the Museum Ritter. For anyone who goes to the Ritter Sport Factory, know that the Museum Ritter has absolutely nothing to do with chocolate. After looking at modern art for a little while, we discovered that the chocolate part is above the shop in the other building. We wandered around, learned about chocolate, and discovered some amusing translations. Apparently there is a saying, "Marzipan kann anders sein, als immer nur ein rundes Schwein," which translates directly to "Marzipan can be different than always just a round pig." This was posted prominently on the display about the marzipan flavor of Ritter Sport, and to those of us who had just been skimming the English, it seemed pretty out-of-the-blue. After learning about chocolate, we went down to the giftshop, where we purchased insane amounts of it. I bought myself an advent calendar, as well as some samples of flavors that are not out yet and are still in testing mode. They also had giant squares of chocolate, and a million different varieties in every sort of arrangement. I bought myself a canvas bag as well, and had to stop myself from also buying a mug and a thermos. Ritter Sport is one of my favorite parts of Germany.

A little lost on the way to the factory

We made it!

Enjoying an educational video

More education

You push a button, and this truck comes out and gives you chocolate!

After purchasing our chocolate, we went to the cafe across the way and had a delicious lunch. With that lunch I ordered hot chocolate, which they make by melting down a Ritter Sport of your choice. I chose my favorite: marzipan. It was beyond delicious.

That's all for now. I'm off to bed to dream of castles and chocolate...and when I wake up I'll remember I'm in Germany and those are no longer things of dreams :)