Guest Post by Daddy

Well we went today to see a real castle, Castle Cannenburch, It was a very old castle, the original building on the site was built in 1365, the present day castle was built upon the ruins of the first. When we got there we walked down a set of stairs and  found a small nook with two iron chairs and the water from the moat was so high that it was flooding the floor under the chairs, the lady in black took a seat to view her domain!! 

We stated to tour of the castle in what was once the stable, saw a video of the various people who lived in the castle, unfortunately for me it was in dutch! Then we went to the castle proper, crossed a bridge over the moat down a steep stairs to the basement where we tarted going through the castle; they had these really cool devices on lanyards that were programmed, thankfully in English, and as you went into each area it was synced to that room and you could hear a narrative of what the room was used for and some of the history of the furnishings and portraits that were hanging there. The circular stairs throughout the castle were steep and wide, but only the outside curve was really usable since the rest was too narrow; children must have loved them though! Each room was huge, with ceilings that were maybe ten to twelve feet high. They were heated by one or two shallow high fireplaces; knowing what I know of how fireplaces work, those rooms must have been really cold except right in front; so you either baked or froze. Never mind that someone had to haul the wood up those narrow stairs. The furniture looked uncomfortable, high back stiff looking chairs and hard looking benches. The basements had the butchers room where all the game was slaughtered and hung up to dry and cure. There was the kitchen with its pantry and cold storage root cellar. There was the room of the overseer, who looked after the operations of the castle business. Interesting to find out that it was the lady of the castle who was the CEO of the place and it was her job to bring in income and resources for the castle while her husband was out usually in the military. There was the kitchen servants, the maids, the gardener, the miller, the livestock handler, etc., etc., each with his or her own areas of responsibility with underlings under them as well. There was a chapel built late as part of the castle, the residents of the castle held onto their Catholic faith when most of the country turned to other religions. We ended up in the attic, a huge space dark and cold, where they stored trunks and hung wash in winter. Up in the attic the museum had a small hologram of a man and women, something about a meeting and then he left and she was left alone, only part of the hologram was working which was too bad, it would have been interesting to see the whole thing. We finished with the castle and then wanted to see the gardens, but there was not much too them, at least at this time. So we started on our way home to the castle of Kabel!

My first fresh herring since I was here last as a lad of 14; I won't eat them everyday, but they were good!