deep winter in the drachenfels

it was a boring sunday afternoon, my feet were itching again to go out, but i don want to spend a boring winter in düsseldorf, because i've seen all the places and theres not much going on in winter, except the karneval but i dont like it.  then i remembered, when i first came to germany, from frankfurt to düsseldorf and before cologne, in the autobahn, i saw from the car window a small group of mountains with a ruined castle on top. then i decided to go there, and pushed my friend to go out with me. i researched about the place, the ruined castle is called drachenfels or dragons rock or lair. it was built somwhere in the 11th century. thats dang old :D and according to a legend, it was were siegfried, the hero from the ring of nebelung saga slayed the dragon and bathed in its blood to prevent any sharp weapons to struck his body.   whoa! with that intro, this could become a real adventure.

 

so about 2 pm, we set out (ya ya ya, hahaha, were  bunch of lazy asses) - the ruin is located in the small town of königswinter, a little bit south of bonn and southern than cologne and the small mountain group is called siebengebirge or seven hills, of which the highest is about 300 meters and the top of it is the ruin.

 

it was about less than 2 hours driving, and actually you can park near the summit (but still a steep and zigzag walk for abour 150 meters).  if someone would just go withouth a car, in the central station of königswinter theres a tram going up until the ruin.

 

there are two castles up there, the drachenfels and drachenburg castle(was built around the 18-19th century) it was made to look medieval eventhough it was built in the prussian times. people can rent the the hall of castle for art exhibits, parties, clubbing and every gatherings. and around the burg, are small houses, and people are actually living inside the castle premises.

 

it was still a long way from the top, steep zigzaggy roads, wet and muddy because of the melted snows and rain. but the panorama on top is a perfect prize for those who are patient and strong willed :D below the ruin is a small token puppet machine, you can put 1 euro in it and it will tell the whole saga of the ring of nebelung - in german, pity. hehehe.  theres a small cafe and view deck on top too and the imposing 1/4 ruin of the castle. it was not much anymore, but one can feel the power of the place, because it is almost hidden by fog, located in the higehst hill overlooking all the surroundings in the valley and the rhine river.

 

what i hate about winter light, is that it is very difficult to take pictures, i only have a digicam. eventhough the light is surreal - pink, blue and brown for me it is very difficult to take pictures, eventhough some pictures didnt turned out good, no matter - because i can say that i was there :D

 

we went home at about 6 pm and way down we bought some honey products from a bee-man whos just living around the corner.

 

it was a nice experience going up there and rewarded with a fantastic view and feeling. i was only reading these kind of books and wathincg films when i was a kid, it never occured to me one day, that i would be able to step in such a place :D