There's such a thing as too many castles

In fact, there's such a thing as too much or too many of anything. Even things that are really cool. We visited the Rhine River where there are so many castles in such a compact area that pretty soon, we were completely saturated. The sad thing is that if you encountered any one of them, one at a time, it would be a great adventure. When we planned our days along the Rhine, I thought we could spend days exploring the dozens of beautiful castles in the area near St. Goar where we stayed. From our pension, we could see three castles. Along a ten mile stretch of the river, there were well over a dozen castles in various conditions - from ruins to restored to period conditions to renovated hotels. In the end, though, there was really just one that we'll remember for a long time.

Rheinfels Castle was an enormous compound that supported a huge community of people. There are lots of foundations and walls left, lots interesting history to learn. But, ultimately, it's about your personal experience. The absolutely best part of our visit was crawling through tunnels built outside the castle walls that historically were packed with explosives and then ignited at just the right time to blow up the attacking enemy. They were Medieval booby traps, and we were going down there!

We descended into the 3 foot tall tunnel (even Anna had to duck) with our single candle and the LED flashlight included on our cheap Spanish cell phone. Our information wasn't entirely clear about the correct path to follow, so some of us got the jitters and we backed out. Then we gathered courage - okay, so there might have been some subtle coercion - and back down we went. This time the scary tunnel was a little less scary. We peeked down the side tunnels where the castle guards packed gunpowder; we wondered if we were going the right way; we made scary noises for each other; we crouched even lower to get through narrower sections. We giggled with nervousness and delight. Eventually the tunnel surfaced once again, and we could relive the tunnel moments over and over throughout the day.

Sure seeing how the knights lived was cool. Seeing where they poured hot tar on the approaching enemies was cool. Seeing the apothecary, and the spinning wheels and looms and armor was great. Seeing a concrete example of all that stuff you read about in children's books about castle life in the Middle Ages - yes - that's pretty cool. But none of it will match the experience that we four shared down in the tunnel.

Escape to Germany

Links to selected photos now. Stories to come later.
Mainz photo album
St. Goar photo album
The Rhine, Bacharach, more castles photo album
Wurzburg, Bernd and Li photo album
Rothenberg photo album
Arzheim photo album

Novillada

I didn’t think we’d go to a bullfight while we were here. But it was kids' choice, and Alex chose bullfighting. I’m not sure if he really knew what that meant. Nonetheless, we honored his request. I think Jack and I were both curious too. And Anna thought it was actually a competition in which the bull had a choice. She kept asking, “What if the bull gives up? What happens to him then?” “Honey, the bull always dies. Even if he gores the bull fighter and kind of wins, the bull still dies.” I found this difficult to talk about. I found it difficult to admit that we were even there. I wondered if I would be able to tell friends at home.

The first bull was difficult to watch. You do absolutely witness the death of a great animal. Gruesome. We were sitting in the nosebleed section (so we could afford to sit in the shade), but the primo high-altitude seats are right on the railing. The seats were fabulous, actually. But since we were leaning over the railing with folks below us, Anna warned us that someone down there might get puked on. We both volunteered to take her out. But she refused. She thought she’d stick it out for another bull and see how she was feeling.

Then the second novillada came out. Novilladas are young bulls – less than four years old - “fought” by young matadors. Again, money saving strategy, it’s like going to a minor league game. We were all strangely transfixed. The second matador was much more skilled and far more artistic than the first. It’s a dance – a very formalized, testosterone driven dance. And the second man we watched was a much finer dancer. Even we could tell.

There are six bulls in the evening. Each follows the same ritual. Each meets the same end, eventually. But each episode was very different. And oddly, I enjoyed it.

We were all pretty quiet on the Metro ride home. Jack mentioned something about maybe we’d go again before the end of the year – maybe in another six months or so. I was struck at that moment by the fact that I really didn’t want to wait six months to go again, and I thought I’d like to see the big leagues next time. I was embarrassed to admit it, but I did, also the fact that I was feeling guilty about this. Alex admitted to the same feeling.

16 de agosto de 2009. Novillada con picadores.
Diego Lleonart: Palmas, Silencio
Paco Chaves: Vuelta al ruedo, Saludos tras un aviso
Antonio Rosales: Saludos con un aviso, Vuelta al ruedo
Seis novillos de Torrehandilla
Con mi familia.