Haut-Koenigsbourg...our Local Castle

After what is now being called by students, "Ian's moderate hike," we ate lunch and then headed off to another local mountain with the castle Haut-Koenigsbourg on it. The exact date that Haut-Koenigsbourg was built is unknown, but the first mentions of its existence start around 1147. After that, it changed hands many times, and finally ended up in the hands of the German emperor Wilhelm II in 1899. By this time it was in disrepair, so he commissioned an architect to rebuild it to its pre-30-Year-War state (early- to mid-1600s). What is there now is a reconstructed castle on the foundations of the original. It has great views of the valley and, although it's rebuilt, one of the best castles I've been to.

Here is a model of what the castle looked like before the reconstruction began:


And what it looks like now:


Here we are before we found out that we couldn't take the stroller in:



I can never resist these shots:

And apparently, neither can Sophie!

A nicely lit stairwell:


A strange dragon floating over the castle's dining table:

The view:

Here Sophie is admiring the kids costumes. Needless to say, she didn't get one of these, but she did get a little princess figurine.

Whew! Now I'm ready to start posting Paris pictures...just in time for us to take another daytrip with the students tomorrow!