Saturday, we chose to go to Meersburg Castle. It is the oldest castle in Germany, dating back to the beginning of the 7th century. It lies on a steep, rocky hill on the shores of Lake Constance. Here, they call this lake the Bodensee (pronounced Boe den zay.)
On our drive down there we saw rows and rows and rows of apple orchards as well as vineyards full of grapes. In both cases, the fruit was thick and full, so it must be harvest time any day now. Surprisingly, the trees and vines went right to the road, such that we felt if we put our hands out the window, we could pick some grapes or apples from our car!!
Meersburg is a cute little town right on the water. The town and the castle were believed to be originally built by King Dagobert I to protect the waterway of the lake. It was situated
on the main road route to the lake crossing. The castle was also the site of the first firearms being used in Germany during a conflict in 1334. After many MANY owners, in 1743 a new castle next door was completed. From this time forward, the old castle was mostly used for offices of the new castle and as the area court of justice until 1838, when it was supposed to be demolished.
Baron Josef von Lassberg then bought it where it became a home to many poets and writers, including the brothers Grimm of the Grimm fairy tales. Germany's most famous poet, Annette von Droste-Huelshoff, who was the sister of Baron Lassberg's wife, produced her most famous work while living in the castle, and they have a set of rooms there today devoted to her time in the castle. After Lassberg died, it was sold to the Mayerfels family, whose descendants still care for the castle to this day.
This area is the entrance hall. Religion played a major role throughout the ages in the castle, since many rulers of land were appointed by the church. Symbols of religion can be found everywhere in most German towns. The coat of arms are just some of the representative coats of previous owners and rulers of the castle.
The red bed was the bed of the castle guard.
In places, the walls are three meters thick. (How many feet is that?)
The following rooms in the castle are the guard room, the Baroque room, the hunting room and the hall that is in the residential part of the castle.
The picture below is of a part of the dungeons. Here they would put prisoners down a hole and leave them there to die. Most prisoners taken were people who unsuccessfully tried to attack the castle and were other royals or nobelmen and were therefore more literate than most of the townspeople. They have pictures on the wall that had faded too badly to show the picture to you, but they had an explanation beside the pictures to tell you about the pictures. They were taken of the walls of that dungeon area that showed the writings scratched into the walls. Some scratched tick-marks to show how long they had been left there, others had words in Latin or German such as "Christ my hope". 
This hallway was a secret passageway that led down to the lake and allowed the castle to stay fortified with food and ammunition in times of battle. 
This room was the Gothic room followed by the Hall of Arms. The boys really liked this room! That was followed by the Prince's room, where there was a throne, and the castle chapel. The armourer's workshop follows the chapel. 
There was also a well in the front of the castle that was 30 meters deep and reached down to the surface of Lake Constance.
In all it was fascinating, and the weather could not have been nicer! On really clear days, you can actually see the Swiss Alps across the lake, but there was some haze on Saturday. We wish we could have taken a picture of that for you!
Now on to the answer of the day for yesterday and the question and word of the day for today: How many countries border Germany? The answer is 9. Germany is bordered by Denmark, The Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Switzerland, Austria, The Czech Republic and Poland. How many countries can you find that border the USA?
The question for today is: When did Germany first become a country?
The word(s) for the day are the numbers 1 - 10: 1 - eins (like Heinz ketchup without the H), 2 - zwei (tsvi where the i is like kite), 3 - drei (dry), 4 - vier (like fear), 5 - fünf (foonf) , 6 - sechs (zecks), 7 - sieben (zee ben), 8 - acht (ah cht where the ch is like the sound a hissing cat makes), 9 - neun (noin), and 10 - zehn (tsehn or tsayn - depending on who you talk to). Tomorrow we'll look at 11 - 20 and then after that the colors.
