Burg Colmberg, Germany

For my birthday, Todd got me a night in a romantic castle.... aaaaaand our kids came with us because we have no babysitter!  SO, SO romantic!

Burg Colmberg is traced back to the 12th century (SO COOL!).  Duke Frederic IV purchased the castle in 1318 for the Hohenzollern family and it didn't change leadership until it fell under the Prussians in 1791.  Between 1806-1880, it was the headquarters of the Kingdom of Bavaria!  For almost 40 years in the 1900s, it belonged to the last imperial consul of Japan (what?) and the Unbehauen family bought the castle in 1964 and transformed it into a hotel.

I posted this on Facebook and everyone immediately suggested this very old castle must be haunted.

Now that's not a bad view.  This is the view from our room!!!!

We went exploring around the castle before we had dinner reservations at the castle restaurant at 6:30.  There is a little wall, but you couldn't get out there.  It led to a little walkway that took you to the tower, but guests weren't allowed.  That made me sad!

A wedding reception taking place over the small town of Colmberg.  This was one of two that we saw when we were there!

The castle was FULL of stuffed, formerly live animals.  I particularly like the life sized birds.  Reminds me of my buddy Bartholomew from Madrid!

This was just a random little table nook... I kind of wanted to eat dinner here!

Half timber INSIDE of the castle!  What? 

This was our favorite little room.  Super cozy.  Felt like it belonged in a castle!

Ok the only weirdness was all of the little rockers with baby dolls laying in them.  And y'all KNOW all about my husbands weird obsession with creepy baby dolls.  There was probably a half a dozen of them laying around!

Dark hallways of Burg Colmberg.

Random taxidermic birds on the wall.

Todd just needs a big robe and a pipe and he will fit right in.  For the record, they were reading Grimm's Fairytales. ("Let's laugh at this page for the camera!")

Creepy baby doll in her bed keeps a watchful eye on my family.

Natalie discovers a camouflaged beer machine in the wall.

There was an old antique 1917 model T in the lobby!  And more (many more) taxidermic animals.

I love the vines growing on the half timber outside.

The kids could have played for hours on these. You know they go crazy for any kind of semblance of a playground!

Here is the little walkway to the tower.  I wish we could have gone up there!

There was a little open air grassy spot where weddings could take place outside.  It was so pretty!

Bailey family selfie at Burg Colmberg.

The castle from the garden, below.

View of Colmberg.  Fun fact: This tiny town of 2,000 people is where Billy Joel's grandfather is from!

Todd and I pretending to renew our vows.  (You know he wasn't being serious here... which is why I'm laughing!)

Lots of roses. I imagine that in a summer that gets a bit more rain than we've had this year, these would be even more beautiful!

 Below the castle was a fenced area that contained SO many deer!  Here are two of them, but the next day, we must have seen at least 20 of them!

Awwww.  Just married.

I love this old castle.  Check out the vines that have grown (and died?) on the wall in the background!

Finally it was time for dinner!  A local wine and a pretty paper napkin!

My dinner came with a sword.  A SWORD!!!!!!!!  It was out of this world.  One of the better meals we have ever had here in Germany!

Grant: "Mommy, stop stealing my food with your sword!"

They really should know better than to give me a sword.  Really.

We had a nice evening, and a good night sleep, but we had to get up early on Saturday to head out to nearby Rothenburg. First though, we needed to do a bit more castle exploring before the rain started.  Todd, look out for the gate! 

There were wedding receptions going on the evening before, so whenever we went through the courtyard, we kind of quietly rushed through so I didn't get to really check things out.  Look!  They have their own chapel!  Well, we MUST go see what this is all about!

The Knights of Franconia room.  They were preparing for a fairly large wedding reception!  There were lots of knights and swords and taxi dermic animals in this room!!

We finally located the church (this castle was like a maze).  It was small and very pretty.  They perform weddings and christenings of any denomination here!

A spinning wheel!  This castle was full of fun, unique things.

There was also a very large bear in the lobby.  You could even see where he had been shot!

Flowers before the rain.

This little boy enjoyed running around the castle courtyard.

On our way out, we saw this house down the hill from the castle and we were like wait... is that a Confederate flag on that roof?  It kind of looks like it, but I don't think it is?  What is going on here!?! 

Until next time, Burg Colmberg!